Obama

Pretty surreal, isn't it?

I spent most of the day forgetting that Obama was the president-elect and then being like, "Holy shit!"

It's pretty surreal and really, really exciting. Even the staunchest liberal-haters have to be in some amount of awe over the magnitude of this moment.

In any case, there are already 85,000 op-eds on the topic, so I'll spare you the rhetoric. But if you haven't re-watched Obama's acceptance speech, you probably should. Watching this, I had to keep reminding myself it wasn't a scene from a Hollywood movie. Frankly, if Hollywood made a movie about the first black president getting elected, and this were the final 20 minutes of the movie, it would be one of those movies where it ends and the credits start rolling and everyone stays in their seats for another minute (you can tell how powerful a movie ending is by how long it takes before people get up once the credits roll).

Here's the speech:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

For fun, compare that acceptance speech to Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 DNC. I remember watching the '04 speech-- it was the first time I had heard of Obama. The speech blew me away. And I remember thinking, "That young black guy might be a senator? Wow, cool!" But watching it again now, he seems kind of mini. He's like a mini version of his current self. He's all green and boyish. And in last night's speech, he's absurdly confident and commanding and powerful-seeming-- like a completely believable commander-in-chief.

The 2004 speech:

Part 1
Part 2

Anyway, this is big. It's ridiculously big. And in 100 years it's going to seem even bigger than it does right now. Apparently President Sarkozy of France wrote to Obama today, "Your election raises in France, in Europe, and beyond throughout the world, immense hope."

I'm getting a little teary-eyed right now.

10 comments:

K said...

I totally agree. I posted something on my blog about the hope that it gives me, for my daughter and what she can achieve as a result...

Anonymous said...

I don't live in the US and got a teary-eyed yesterday, when I first watched the speech, and it really looks exactly like a movie scene. It's so amazing how much power the US has over the world and so I think this is a historical moment for all of us. I really hope that with Obama comes huge changes for everyone, the world is kind of needing it right now. And just for the record, did you vote?

Anonymous said...

I am an african-american and the feeling I have had for the last 24 hours is indescribable.

Anonymous said...

I remember watching the DNC speech too. So weird to watch now!

Anonymous said...

I don't have any personal connection to the US (maybe apart from some friends living there and an ex-boyfriend and some family that I don't know) but to me it's such a big thing that Obama is president, it's just what the world needed. And it sorta makes me believe that people are maybe not as fucked up altogether as I sometimes get to think. Anyways, I wish people here in Argentina were more enthusiastic about it cause I want to talk about it and exchange opinions ('Great, eh?' 'Yea, great! Fantastic!' 'Absolutely fantastic!' etc.) but there's nobody here to do that with cause the majority somehow doesn't seem to care for whatever weird reason, maybe because they're jealous because their own president is such an eejit.

Anonymous said...

Also amazing the fact Dem.s caused
the subprime cisis,Slick Willy the
one who brought in legislation to
force mortgage providers to offer
them, Dem.s then blocking moves to
stop it, a certain B.Obama getting
more change from em' than anyone.

Then repub.s select the only 1 who
f--cked up worse than Dem.s, enter
Mr Derivatives.

Obama won this election during the
primary season.

Hillary Clinton ...

Anonymous said...

To that last comment, it is beyond foolish to try to pin the current economic crisis on any one entity. Rather, it's a shining example of what can be accomplished when enough people get together and agree to collectively shit the bed. Pinning it on one entity pretty much guarantees that it will not only endure but it will happen again.

Anonymous said...

i voted for mccain.

Anonymous said...

Hillary was actually saying that it
-the global economic crisis- was in
fact the fault of both the Dems and
Repubs ,and, that it should've been
her her it should've been her.Also
that she can't spell.

The rest of the world though feels
like it's back nine has just been
picked up, except that last guy.

Kath and Kim ...

Nat said...

tru-dat