A Great Day in America
Photo: Chicago TribuneThere's really not much to say about November 4 that has not already been written or said. I was an early supporter of Barack Obama, believing that he was a new kind of candidate who could bring real change to our country and our world. Like my fellow supporters, we suffered through the bruising primary, not really thinking that he could defeat Hillary and others until it actually happened.
Things got ugly for a while, both in the primary and the general campaign. Still, we didn't waver. We watched as McCain got the short-lived Palin bounce and briefly took the lead in the polls. We remained calm, cool and supportive. Sending in our small donations. Making the case to our family and friends. Hoping against hope that America would make a real change in leadership.
Now that it's happened, it's almost hard to believe. Did he really win? Could this have happened in my lifetime? Yes, it did. We're savoring the moment and enjoying the victory and beginning to wonder how it's going to be on January 20 when a new era in America begins.
Back in the fall of 2007, I took a graduate class in rhetoric and, for my research paper, did a close textual analysis of Sen. Obama's 2004 keynote address in Boston at the Democratic National Convention. The speech was 2,166 words that launched him to national prominence overnight.
When I wrote the paper, Sen. Obama had announced his candidacy for President in February of that year and was deep into the campaign. Still, at that point, he was a longshot at best. This was my closing paragraph to that paper and when I wrote it, I really didn't think he'd ever actually win.
"He was quoted often as saying he had no interest in running, but eventually the expectations and the political environment made his running an almost foregone conclusion. Now, it seems clear that by hitting a rhetorical homerun that evening in 2004 in Boston, he carved out a path that, as of this writing, may eventually lead straight to the White House."
Things got ugly for a while, both in the primary and the general campaign. Still, we didn't waver. We watched as McCain got the short-lived Palin bounce and briefly took the lead in the polls. We remained calm, cool and supportive. Sending in our small donations. Making the case to our family and friends. Hoping against hope that America would make a real change in leadership.
Now that it's happened, it's almost hard to believe. Did he really win? Could this have happened in my lifetime? Yes, it did. We're savoring the moment and enjoying the victory and beginning to wonder how it's going to be on January 20 when a new era in America begins.
Back in the fall of 2007, I took a graduate class in rhetoric and, for my research paper, did a close textual analysis of Sen. Obama's 2004 keynote address in Boston at the Democratic National Convention. The speech was 2,166 words that launched him to national prominence overnight.
When I wrote the paper, Sen. Obama had announced his candidacy for President in February of that year and was deep into the campaign. Still, at that point, he was a longshot at best. This was my closing paragraph to that paper and when I wrote it, I really didn't think he'd ever actually win.
"He was quoted often as saying he had no interest in running, but eventually the expectations and the political environment made his running an almost foregone conclusion. Now, it seems clear that by hitting a rhetorical homerun that evening in 2004 in Boston, he carved out a path that, as of this writing, may eventually lead straight to the White House."
posted by W.S. Wuori at 9:26 AM
1 Comments:
Sometime around the elections of 2002 I participated in a telephone survey. It was a name recognition survey and lots of Illinois names were tossed at me to see what I knew about them. Many were from Cook County (Chicago), others from downstate, but the caller kept coming back, in different contexts, to one name - a Barack Obama. I'd never heard of him and kept saying so. I pictured some social worker with an Afro and wearing a dashiki and working in a storefront agency. Guess they decided to work on that name recognition problem. It is, I believe, no longer a problem.
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