Japi's Blog

What Made Obama's Speech Great - George Lakoff

I understand that the mainstream media spends very little time on any given story and moves to the next one.   Soundbytes, tidbits, short attention spans, bite-sized pieces are all products of the short amount of time we allow to consume news or any other information in which we are interested.

So it's great to come across an article provides excellent analysis of a particular topic.  In this case it's Senator Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech he gave March 18, 2008 in Philadelphia's Constitution Hall.

Professor George Lakoff has written a wonderful paper on the speech and how it's not JUST about race.  The media had to abbreviate the speech to one topic, race.... but if you have 30 minutes to listen to the whole speech - you will realize it's about a lot more than just race. 

Professor Lakoff's paper provides insight into the speech's setting (Constitution Hall, surrounded by Flags), entonation, subtext and just the overall greatness of it.

The paper is 7 pages long, but worth the 10 to 15 minutes it takes to read it.  I would recommend you watch the speech first... so it may take 45 minutes of your day - but it's such an important speech that I recommend you set aside the time.  You may also want to read the comments to the paper which, as of this post, it has 56.

George Lakoff is Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley; senior fellow at the Rockridge Institute; and author of the forthcoming The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st Century Politics with an 18th Century Brain (Viking/Penguin), available June 2, 2008.

Barack Obama's Landmark Speech

I've been away from the primary political scene for about a week as I attended the 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans. 

I was able to watch little tidbits here and there about the Presidential race... but I was unable to watch Barack Obama's landmark speech last week which discussed race issues head-on, candidly and in a very mature manner.

The speech helped New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to put his support behind Obama.  Richardson has a huge Hispanic following which should help Obama.  I believe that Richardson will be Obama's running mate... this will be a powerful ticket!

Barack's speech lasts over 30 minutes, but it's worth watching every minute!   As of this posting the video has been viewed over 3 million times, received nearly 6,000 comments and been made a favorite nearly 12,000 times.

Barack Obama for President

Anyone who has known me for any period of time probably knows that my views have usually been either conservative or moderate.  I have rarely backed a liberal candidate.  Well, this coming Presidential election is changing that for me.  Barack Obama has impressed me with his candor, calm demeanor, straight-talk and (this may sound silly) how well connected his campaign is on the Web. 

To me, he seems to be the NEW TYPE OF CANDIDATE... not one that is dependent on special interest money (he has more individual donors than any other candidate).  He is giving all of us individuals a voice and I am very happy to support him.

That said, I would not support a Hilary/Barack ticket (any way it's configured).  Fidel Castro recently stated that a Clinton/Obama ticket is invicible.  Senator Clinton (to me) is a very scary candidate.  She seems to be the polar opposite of the current President... swinging the pendulum that far to one side will not be positive for our country.  I'd like to see Barack join up with Al Gore... THAT would be an unbeatable ticket!

If you want to read more about where Obama stands on the important issues, please visit: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Below you can watch a video of Senator Obama in New Orleans and some of the efforts he is driving forward to help that part of the country.