Vote '08

Here’s the full speech. (full transcript here)

Here’s what some are saying:

“To be sure, Obama’s critics will do their best to miss it.

But those who chose to give the most significant international policy address yet delivered by the man who would be president an honest hearing will be hard-pressed to suggest that he did not stand as tall as the great communicator in Berlin.” - The Nation

“The great illusion of the 1990s was that we were entering an era of global convergence in which politics and power didn’t matter. What Obama offered in Berlin flowed right out of this mind-set. This was the end of history on acid.” - David Brooks of the New York Times

“…it was, in the end, more Reagan than JFK. Obama is said to feed off the energy of a crowd, and if this is true, the subdued mood of his Berlin audience took its toll. It was not perfunctory, or tired. Merely satisfactory.” - Shane Danielsen of the Guardian (UK)

“In a way that is so typical of Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee’s much hyped speech in Berlin today sounded grand and important, but contained nothing but platitudes and leftist, and multicultural, rah-rah. What it really came down to, after a long history lesson on the Berlin Airlift, was Obama the messiah giving the world a giant pep talk.” - RedState.com

“George W. Bush is yesterday, the Texas version of the arrogant world power. Obama is all about today — the “everybody really just wants to be brothers and save the world” utopia. As for us, we who sometimes admire and sometimes curse this somewhat anemic, pragmatic democracy, we will have to quickly get used to Barack Obama, the new leader of a lofty democracy that loves those big nice words — words that warm our hearts and alarm our minds.” - Der Spiegel

The Washington Post’s editorial page asked several folks for their first impressions; read them here.

That’s a glimpse of others’ opinions.. now, what did you think?

Obama spoke at the NAACP convention yesterday, McCain today.

McCain first. He said something interesting to start off with:

“Let me begin with a few words about my opponent. Don’t tell him I said this, but he is an impressive fellow in many ways. He has inspired a great many Americans, some of whom had wrongly believed that a political campaign could hold no purpose or meaning for them. His success should make Americans, all Americans, proud. Of course, I would prefer his success not continue quite as long as he hopes. But it makes me proud to know the country I’ve loved and served all my life is still a work in progress, and always improving. Senator Obama talks about making history, and he’s made quite a bit of it already. And the way was prepared by this venerable organization and others like it. A few years before the NAACP was founded, President Theodore Roosevelt’s invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage and an insult in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the nomination of an African-American to be the presidential nominee of his party. Whatever the outcome in November, Senator Obama has achieved a great thing – for himself and for his country – and I thank him for it.”

Yes, it’s shrewd, but it’s also classy. Nice move. (Full McCain speech transcript here)

Here’s Obama yesterday (McCain clip will be in this post as soon as it’s available):

UPDATE: Here’s the full speech, in 4 parts:

Aside: With polls showing a near-monolithic African-American voting block swinging Obama, McCain could easily have just blown a speech like this - one which talks about the problems facing the African-American community - off. Even though it would be political suicide to do otherwise, he does get credit for trying here.

Speaking in Independence Missouri today, Barack Obama addressed the issue of patriotism. Watch the speech in full up above. Or if you prefer, read the full text after the jump.

& PLEASE comment! We’d love to hear your take!

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What’s NALEO? The National Association of Latino-Elected Officials. Both Obama & McCain spoke at the conference on Friday. Here are their opening & closing statements, with some questions from the audience thrown in:

What do you think? Which candidate takes the best stance on issues important to hispanics & Latinos? Post a comment!

John McCain made these remarks Monday from Arlington, Virginia.

Here are remarks Obama gave on fatherhood on Sunday at a church in Chicago, Illinois.

Bestill our hearts .. John McCain has a wonderful idea:

Should Obama accept? Absolutely! It’d kick this already-historic year onto a new level. It would benefit neither candidate so much as the voters who will decide between them, & make them more engaged. We’re crossing our fingers.

By the way, the above pick is the event that McCain is invoking.. the Lincoln-Douglass debates, which were actually for the office of Senator, but still.

Read more about those historic debates here.

What do you think? Should this happen?

(above: Ronald Reagan campaigning in 1980)

Both Obama & Clinton campagned in Puerto Rico:

Obama answered a few questions about Michigan & Florida, plus Hillary’s RFK comment, on his plane:

John McCain gave a Memorial Day interview in New Mexico, in which he talked about his “running mate” weekend (that didn’t involve running mate talk, according to him):

McCain also debuted an ad (& pretty good one, at that, unless you’re a Dittohead) on Memorial Day, targeting those who paid the ultimate price for our country who happen to be Hispanic:

Above: Harry Truman from the fabled 1948 campaign.

Below: Barack Obama in Gresham, Oregon yesterday:

Later he spoke to a crowd of 75,000:

McCain stopped in Louisville over the weekend & visited a gun shop:

Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Kentucky, as proved by her backdrop of Makers Mark whisky barrels (any subliminal message here?). We’re sorry for the pro-Hillary superscript - it was the only clip on YouTube we could find w/ her & the barrels.

(above: Woodrow Wilson on the stump)

After the jump, see clips of all 3 candidates on the campaign trail recently.

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From the Seattle Times: “The omnipresence of “God bless America” as a political slogan is an entirely recent phenomenon. We know because we’ve run the numbers.

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5 weeks of non-stop campaigning in the Keystone State is coming to a close.

After the jump, see some clips of Obama & Clinton on the campaign trail from this past weekend.

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(above: a patriotically-plumed Elton John)

After the jump, hear from McCain at a town hall meeting in Connecticut, Obama at a rally in Pennsylvania, & Hillary Clinton at an Elton John concert!

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After the jump, see clips of the candidates on the campaign trail in Montana, Maryland, & Florida from the past three days.

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 There are a lot of media outlets remembering the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on this day 40 years ago.

wants to call your attention to a speech given by Robert F. Kennedy that night in Indianapolis that is certainly one of the best speeches ever given by any presidential candidate in any campaign.

Kennedy learned of the news of MLK’s assassination before the largely black crowd did.

Put yourself in his position. Many of his advisers suggested he simply cancel the speech & get out of dodge. He didn’t.

Not only did he give a 5-minute speech that attempted to bridge the black/white divide & quell violence, he improvised every last word.. even quoting from the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus from memory.

This took guts. This took courage. This was the right thing to do.

& this speech is widely attributed to keeping the city of Indianapolis from erupting in riots — something which happened all across the country on the night of April 4th, 1968. 

Watch for yourself (sorry about the Italian subtitles - it’s the only clip of the full speech I could find):

It’s hard to imagine any of the current candidates pulling off  something like this. 

As said earlier this week, we’re going to try to monitor each of the candidates three websites daily to see if there’s anything worth re-posting here.

We are still waiting for McCain’s site to include a clip of the speech he gave earlier today about education (see the post below this one), but we plan to post that as soon as it’s available.

Here’s a new clip from Obama’s campaign blog of him speaking at a rally last night in Pennsyvlania.

& here’s the latest from Clinton’s blog, an excerpt from a speech given by Representative John Murtha, a vocal critic of the Iraq war, on why Hillary is the right choice:

& don’t forget what we said earlier — a new Rasmussen poll out today has Clinton leading Obama in Pennsylvania by only 5 points (47-42), whereas that lead was 10 points a week ago, 13 points 2 weeks ago, & 15 points 3 weeks ago.

The Pennsylvania primary is 3 weeks from today.