Clearly, the Barack Obama campaign sees his spoken essay on race to be an asset to the campaign. Otherwise, they’d hide it away. But they’ve done the reverse. A direct link to it is the first thing you see when you visit his website this morning, three days after the speech:
Although not too many people saw the speech as it first aired, word has spread and people are watching the speech on Obama’s webpage and elsewhere. There are multiple copies of the speech up on YouTube; one of them shows two and a half million views. Now people are talking about the speech, and talking about the issues raised by the speech, both seriously and comically. Barack Obama has shifted the national conversation, something that a good president is able to do.
The third thing you see, as the website scrolls through the menu, is a poll showing Obama can beat McCain–a poll that is six weeks old. In fact, McCain has picked up a lot of independent voters at the same time Obama has lost them.
I think we have just heard this political season’s “screech”. Obama’s obvious ability to manipulate a crowd–although he has chosen not to play it that way, so far–and his populist rock star appeal are too close to demagoguery for the Democrats to allow to continue. Making such an obvious rejection of the Clinton campaign feelers about the vice presidency may have made it seem he was not responsive to party loyalties as well; there was certainly no rejoinder joke of Hillary as VP. In fact, Hillary does not need Obama to carry Illinois, and she is now busy courting Bayh.
Can Obama recover from the Wright tempest? He is running as a unifier of the entire nation, but has not even managed to promote unity in his own church of 8000 members.
Obama campaign publicizes Jeremiah Wright/Bill Clinton Photo by Iroquois: “The Obama campaign has provided the New York Times with a photo of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright…”
The Secret Hypnozombie Code of Tristan und Isolde by Disaster Dan: “What’s really going on at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City? The cover stories for the repeated…”
Easter Week Reconnoiter by Iroquois: “Getting an automatic camera to focus on a rain drop…”
Tea with J. Clifford by Iroquois: “J.Clifford may have just planted his new heirloom sage seeds, but it’s not too early to think about making sage tea. Yes, that’s what the bedouins…”
The “protracted battleâ€: Kitchen Sinks vs. Spear Chuckers by Iroquois: “‘We’re in a protracted battle’, said the black woman that Stephanopoulos referred to as “Donna†on his morning TV show…”
Does Iroquois run this website? I see her name on practically every post.
Not yet, Charles. Spring break, and it’s snowing.
Hey, that give me an idea for another post….