Obama in D.C. "That is Not Who We Are"

[illinoisprogressive]

On my way home from a professional seminar in Washington, I stopped to hear Barack Obama address a late-afternoon rally, the first time I've heard him speak in person. I took my camera with me and got these shots. I had hoped to take notes, but the City Center parking lot, where the rally was held, was so crowded that I couldn't get my notebook open without bumping into something or someone.

Any mystic revelations I might have about the rally will have to wait until later; I'm simply too tired to do it tonight. I'm sure the Post will have a story about it in the morning. But I can offer a couple of quick impressions before I collapse.

The first thing that jumped out is the diversity of Obama's supporters. Lots of young people, many still in college. But older generations were also represented -- including a guy standing in front of me whose hairstyle reminded me of Will Geer from The Waltons. (His head is visible in the top photo). There were blacks, whites, Asians, Latinos, and lots of other races represented. Obama opened his speech by commenting on the diversity of the crowd, and he takes it as a sign that the desire to find common ground is bigger than the efforts to divide America neatly into red and blue.

But what can these people possibly have in common? The one starting point, as Obama said to great applause, is that "we're all sick of George Bush." Rattling off all the train wrecks of the Bush era -- the botched war in Iraq, torture, indefinite detentions without due process, the lack of any real action on reducing our dependence on oil or adjusting to climate change -- Obama said simply, "That's not who we are." As a summation of the feelings of the people who have invested their hopes in Obama, that sentence is up there with Bobby Kennedy's "We can do better." It makes the point simply and powerfully.

The other thing about Obama that continues to impress is that, for a politician, he keeps the pandering to a bare minimum. For example, when reviewing the recent history of our shameful addiction to oil, he pointed out that this is a problem that has been building for years, and that both Democratic and Republican administrations are to blame for not addressing it. It's just intellectually dishonest to claim that one party has a monopoly on wisdom and virtue, and most sane people know that. But they're not necessarily the same types who decide who will get the party nominations.

But, based on what I heard and saw today, Obama has tapped into something that's not going away -- regardless of what happens in 2008.

More on this later.

http://hatchet-man1028.livejournal.com/9431.html

[Kiouni]

1. Good post, can't wait to read tomorrows. n/t

[sandnsea]

2. The diversity struck me too

that's the first thing I noticed in Portland. The second was that it was not the traditional Dem crowd either. And he speaks to everybody exactly the same, no matter where he is. The best thing is that he will not have to move one inch from where he is to run in the GE. He just flat tells the truth as he sees it.

[Apollo11]

3. There's no doubt he is an effective preacher

The question is - does that make him the best person for the Presidency?

What solutions is he proposing for the challenges facing America and the world?

The fact that people show up and hear him speak doesn't mean they are all in his camp.

A lot of people are shopping around and haven't yet decided who they will vote for.