I have to admit that I read and watched the entire 3/18/08 Barack Obama speech and most of you know that I back Barack. I'm going to talk a little straight talk myself. I feel that Obama has a great chance of going all the way because really great social advances usually happen because of a major shift in a social paradigm.
These shifts run from the abolition of slavery, womens right to vote, the civil rights movement etc. I'm sensing a major paradigm shift in the making. Fear mongering and swift boats attacks ain't going to stop this shift. Over time more and more people are going to look at things and are going to conclude that the fear mongers are barking up the wrong tree. And are really like Chicken Little who claimed that the sky was falling.
Anyway what impressed me about Barack's speech was his body language. I'm a graduate of The Reid School in Chicago
The Reid school is a famous training school for police, security, and human resource professionals and is designed to teach a trained interviewer (which I am) to spot deception through reading a person's body language and speech patterns. Reid was founded in 1947 and is based out of my hometown of Chicago. Most of you know that I hold the Certified Fraud Examiner credential. Investigations and interviewing was a quarter of this exam. And CFE's also train in deception detection.
I have to say after looking at the entire Obama speech on video. It spoke truth and was very candid. Overall I have to say Barack Obama hit a grand slam in his speech because what I observed generally can't be faked.
As always with my articles keep your comments non-racist and respectful. I don't allow my work to be a hate staging ground, but most of my regular readers know that anyway.
I updated the article with Maslows heirarchy of human needs and you will note that one need must be met before the other. The basic human need is physical- food, water shelter, etc. The second need is security, protecting the source of food, water, shelter etc. Change flys in the face of the basic need of security. Change represents the unknown and the unknown scares a lot of people. Change is the only constant in life and think about the changes in American society over the last 50 yrs and how some fought tooth and nail against it.
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Barack's Speech on His Home Page
Obama looked nervous and uneasy for a large chunk of the speech. He hit on some good points, but in the end it turned out to be another stump speech for Obama. The words "hope" and "change" were riddled throughout............but this time he added "race" to the mix.
Obama's candidacy is hurt, and he knew it. He was forced to make this speech, and you could sense that when he talked.
I watch body language also, and I didn't detect any deception. But I didn't expect to see any. What I did expect to see was a more emotional plea, but Obama didn't go that route. He tried to be his usual eloquent self, and he was..............but I think that may have been the wrong tactic this time. He needed to appeal to Centrists, Independents, and to Conservatives (gasp!), and he needed desperately to win them over. Unfortunately, I don't think he did that.
And judging by the responses on CNN and MSNBC this afternoon, I think his speech may have fallen a little flat.
Fox News is picking it apart saying he's comparing throwing his grandma under the bus to throwing Wright under the bus. And saying he insinuated the entire black community feels the exact same way Wright does. They are pitiful, that they don't realize Obama is talking about healing a nation.
I think they need a fraud examiner contributer to assess the speech because they surely don't get it.
I don't get the Fox Channel, but I did see the speech myself. It was just fair, not spectacular. Obama brought the issue to the forefront, but he only got it up on the table for discussion. Honestly, I expected quite a bit more, but Obama didn't deliver.
He didn't convert Independents, Centrists, or Conservatives that were looking for a new paradigm from Obama. Instead it was just fair.
FOX is pulling for Hillary because they believe the GOP will beat her in the general. Obama has them worried big time.
I have a lot of thinking to do after hearing this.
When they asked Clinton about the speech: "I haven't seen it"
Tells you all you need to know about the speech.
I think I'll swing by Obama's website and check things out.
A lot better than "SHAME ON YOU FOX NEWS"
Can we stop regurgitating the candidate who is irrelevant?
Hillary Clinton claims to have 35 yrs of expereince, as far as I'm concerned that makes her part of the problem and not part of a solution. In reality Hillary Clinton is nothing but a machine Dem politican and John McCain is nothing but a machine GOP politican. They are just oppostie sides of the same business as usual political coin. We need some new blood and new ideas and both Clinton and McCain represent neither.
It reminded me of his DNC speech in '04. He's always seemed very optimistic that despite our past errors, America has the capability to accomplish good in the future. In fact, if he'd had a theme, it would have ironically been similar to Bill Clinton's statement, "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America."
It also reminded me of Kennedy's speech in WV in 1960, speaking candidly about his Catholicism, although obviously with a different aim. While not all great presidents have been great speakers, the great speakers have always made great presidents. I hope Obama is able to continue this tradition. I wish people wouldn't use a conversation about his speech to slam Hillary Clinton, though -- he's going to need her supporters to become his, and division is specifically what he spoke against today.
I've been through Clinton, Obama, Edwards, and back to Obama for my candidate of choice, which I've never done before. I've liked the whole Dem field this time, except for Kucinich, whom I loathe. I've found most of the Clinton folks I know are willing to back Obama in the general because they want someone right-minded, even if he's not their first choice. I just get uncomfortable seeing Dems go at each other.
Usually don't care what the pundits say, but they said it:
From Political Wire:
Sen. Barack Obama's speech on race this morning showed off exactly why he's become the Democratic front runner for the presidential nomination. He's absolutely willing to challenge the conventional way of how politicians approach controversy. In my opinion, it was the best speech so far in this campaign.
From Politico:
It's quite a speech: autobiographical, embracing complexity, and answering questions about Wright… Throughout, he insists on things that you don't get much of in politics: context and nuance.
From the Dallas Morning News:
Obama's speech will go down in history as one of the best modern speeches about America's ongoing racial divide and the failure to address the roots of it.
From Time:
An extraordinary speech — not because of any rhetorical flourishes, but because it was honest, frank, measured in tone, inclusive and hopeful… [Obama] clearly demonstrated today his capacity to lead public opinion and not simply be a slave to it. Indeed, I would say he appeared wise beyond his years and genuinely presidential.
What I said was that Obama's speech was just FAIR, nothing spectacular. I watched it live, in its entirety, BEFORE the pundits could influence me. I took notes while I listened.
Obama got the subject on the table for discussion, but not much else.
So, no matter how the pundits spun it afterwards, it was just adequate. I was looking for a lot more, and Obama fell considerably short. In comparison to any of MLK's great speeches.............well, there is no comparison. MLK had his topic DOWN. Obama just brought up more questions.
So the speech had no chance to convert anyone.
I think Independents, Centrists and Conservatives gave him a chance.............but he just hit us with another stump speech.
Just FYI- The Chicago papers are calling Obama speech one of the best of all time.
Obama raises bar on talks about race
Mary Schmich
March 19, 2008
It's not often that a politician gives a speech that's both beautiful and brave.
Barack Obama did it Tuesday.
I say this as someone not pledged to candidate Obama. At the moment, I'm wearing someone else's ring. I say this merely as someone who appreciates anyone with the ability to talk bluntly but calmly about race, not only what it meant in 1823 and 1963 but how it shapes our lives right now.
When Obama stood up in Philadelphia to talk about race, he did not say, "Get over the racism America," the insufficient summary offered by one approving listener on an online comment board.
Obama talked for more than half an hour. He said some complicated things. Some people will hear those complications as contradictions.
But one of Obama's talents is his ability to acknowledge social and psychological complexity.
"Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now," he said Tuesday.
He could have ignored it, publicly, despite the ways it has flared in the presidential campaign. When you've been praised as the "post-racial" candidate, the one who "transcends" race, talking about race risks making you look retro.
But too often "transcendence" is just a lofty word for "avoidance." Too often "post-racial" seems to mean little except the wish that if we stop talking about race, it'll go away.
Talking about race is messy. It leaves a trail of words that can be hurled back at you.
Obama talked anyway.
"The fact is," he said, "that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through."
He said we've reached a "racial stalemate."
The recent issue that consumed the most time in Obama's speech involves Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his minister at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ.
He forcefully criticized statements Wright made condemning the United States. And he forcefully said he still considers Wright—who officiated at his wedding, baptized his children and tutored him in his faith—like family.
The distinction will elude some people. Making it took courage.
Some news stories have portrayed Obama's speech as a call to unity. I heard something more subtle: A call to listen to the racial anger, of whites and blacks, to recognize how life has bred that anger and to talk about it frankly.
"For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away," Obama said, recalling the days, not so long ago, when law and custom treated blacks as lesser people. "Nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years."
He called Wright's views of the United States distorted; his comments wrong and divisive; his anger counterproductive.
"But the anger is real," he said. "It is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races."
Many white people, too, he said, feel anger rooted in tangible frustrations involving things such as jobs, education, other opportunities. He went on about that at some length.
Cynics will flick away Obama's speech as political calculation. But as calculation, it was a gamble.
In a world of YouTube moments, where context is a common casualty, the act of speaking for a long time on a volatile topic is a risk. People who haven't listened to the whole speech will latch on to a word, a phrase and turn it to their political advantage.
I haven't heard many political speeches worth every word, but this was one. Don't believe me. Don't rely on anyone else's account. Read it or listen yourself. Here is a link: chicagotribune.com/obamaspeech
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune
Obama spoke to his constituency, and they responded. In fact, quite a few on Gather responded favorably...............most of them were already in his camp.
But he didn't shift the race paradigm the way that MLK would have. He had a huge audience, ready to give him the benefit of the doubt - but we had to hear something more than just empty platitudes of "hope" and "change", without solid definitions of both. So from that standpoint, Obama didn't deliver.
His speech was eloquent, as always, but he didn't reach across the aisle, as was promised. We on the other side of the aisle were looking for his hand, but it never appeared.
That's why it was just a FAIR speech, but nothing monumental.
http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_
presidential_election/general_election_match_up_history
If the Fed's interest rate cut loosens credit, and the economy recovers, will the Republicans be able to take all the credit?
What if oil prices start to fall............can Mr. Bush take credit for that too?
Just curious how your economic logic works.............
Incidentally, gold fell $62 per ounce yesterday, oil is now below $100 per barrel and heading south, the Prime Rate is lower than its been in 20 years, and the market-basket of goods will be significantly down this month. Inflation is going down too. The Fed's quick action may have killed any recession before it got started.
I didn't realize you were from Chicago too. I just love that LaGrange train stop - what a cute little town.
If the Fed turns the financial problems around, most of the rest of our problems will subside. Crain's won't report on the ramifications of that until next week. Meanwhile, the market is rebounding ferociously. Talks of a recession are drifting away, but I'm sure it will take a few weeks for Consumer Confidence to return. As we speak, the DJIA is up again today, 164 points at 12,264.......as of a few minutes ago.
Personally, I'm happy that there is a real estate correction going on - I'm a buyer. And properties here have been over-inflated for at least 2 years, maybe more. So I've bought 2 investment properties since Jan. 1st.
I wasn't able to do that even last Summer..............the prices were too stupidly inflated. Now its a buyer's market!
Crains Chicago Business 3/17/08, which is a leading business publication that I have on my desk as I write this states:
The Recession Hits Home. The first paragraph reads. Chicago's economy is posied to record its' second straight quarterly decline at the end of this month, which will mark the start of the first recession here since 2002. 19,000 layoffs are are expected the first six months.
Credit curch hurt hospitals - higher interest rates adding millions in costs
Calamos Asset management shares fell 48% this year and prompted the firm to fire 28 employees
Construction loan delinquencies double in Chicago double and this is in keeping with a national trend.
What's going on here is going on in LA, Denver, NY, all over.
Sounds like a recession to me it may turn around but I figure things will get worse before getting better. Too many get rich quick pepole in the markets and it's contracting to get a few of those folks out.
I'm sure that Crain's will report any successes in the market also.
Real estate was over-inflated partially because credit was so easy, and that fueled the belief that the market would be profitable forever..........for everyone. I actually heard a realtor tell me that in 2006. That is the precise moment that I knew we were heading into a market correction.
Now I go into a property here in town with no competitors and a desperate seller. In other words, pure heaven. Life is good when you don't follow the crowd.
Meanwhile, the rest of America buys at the top and sells at the bottom. Once again, pure heaven............for me. lol.