I don’t think I’ve ever been more impressed, moved and inspired by a politician’s speech, than I am by this one.
His beliefs about the possibility of change, the importance of hope and the need for people to join together to act as adults really strike the right chord with me.
Absolutely agree! Tremendous speech, and tremendous result for everyone, not just Americans. Only trouble is, I remember having very similar feelings here in the UK on 2 May 1997 – and look where that got us.
I got teary reading the transcript this morning after I got to work. You can read it here
It was really beautiful. And it gave me hope for the American people that they actually got the balls and elected him!
I have never been so engaged in my country’s political life as I am now. Obama inspires me; he says things that resonate with me not only as an American, but as a human being. His strength is his ability to convince people that they matter – yes, we can – and that whatever they can do to improve their communities improves the country and, by extension, the world.
It’s all about connections, and this man knows how to make them.
Just been looking again at this thread, after watching the news pictures of folks’ reaction in America to Obama’s victory and his speech – realise I was way too negative in my response. What I find even more moving is the visible reaction of African Americans to Obama’s victory – Jesse Jackson and many others in tears, a 106 year old woman voting for the first time in her life, hordes of people dancing in the streets. Not to mention people in Kenya, where I grew up as a kid – can’t begin to imagine the parties happening there just now. What happened last night in America is absolutely fantastic and, cynical git though I can be at times, I’m more hopeful for the future than I’ve been for years.
I’m with you there! I even painted a little portrait of Barack while he was making his speech – that’s how inspired i was (and I hate painting portraits, haha)!
hope you are ready to “sacrifice” for Obama…you heard that part of the speech too right?
perhaps all that is required from a leader is the ability to inspire… in Obama’s case he seems to be inspiring many — hope and change —
somehow socialism and taxes and failure to secure borders or protect current citizens and changing our constitution doesn’t inspire me a great deal — it sure seems that we have just witnessed a grand affirmative action experiment — there are many more qualified african americans who I would rather see in the highest office of our land
can’t say i would rather have mccain-palin prepping to occupy the white house, but i just had to toss in a little reality check into this teary eyed love fest
sure hope Obama lives up to all this hype and fervor
Hang on a second: how is Obama’s call for ‘sacrifice’ any different from any of the other presidents’, from ANY party? The American people have been asked on numerous occasions to buck up and knuckle down, and that’s just what President-elect Obama is asking (in addition to asking us to, you know, get off the couch and PARTICIPATE).
Sometimes I wonder how our situation – economic, foreign policy, AND security – would be different if Bush had asked us to “sacrifice” after 9/11 instead of encouraging people to go shopping.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100301977.html