Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
President<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Obama will<span style="color: Red;">*</span>take the stage Wednesday night at the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Democratic National Convention<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to make the case for electing Hillary Clinton to the White House.
Obama follows a series of powerful speeches from his wife, Michelle, former president Bill Clinton and others, but if anyone can follow those acts it's him. Obama's speeches are known for their vignettes of intimately personal narratives and sweeping visions of America. Here are<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a few times the president has left his audience applauding but<span style="color: Red;">*</span>virtually speechless.
[h=2]The 2004 DNC speech[/h]It was the second night of the convention. Obama, a U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois, was the second convention keynote speaker since 1928 who wasn't a governor or a member of Congress. He had never used at teleprompter before.
Obama told the story of his roots<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— his Kenyan father traveling to America to study and about his Kansas mother being from a military family<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— and how his own rise in politics was "unlikely" yet quintessentially American. In the story of his grandparents and his parents, he drew lessons about the nation's legacy and the Democratic Party's efforts to preserve that.
My parents shared not only an improbable love; they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Barack or "blessed," believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success. They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though they weren't rich, because in a generous America you don't have to be rich to achieve your potential. They're both passed away now, and yet I know that on this night they look<span style="color: Red;">*</span>down on my with great pride.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>They stand here, and I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents' dreams live on in my two precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story.It would be the first of several speeches Obama would give evoking the memory of his diverse family, weaved in between a greater, more prophetic vision of America.
[h=2]Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech[/h]President Obama winning a peace prize was a head-scratcher for many, especially considering the U.S. was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in the middle of two wars —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>one against Iraq and another against Afghanistan. In his speech, he acknowledges that his accomplishments may not measure up to the likes of Nelson Mandela or others who have won the peace prize. But he also sets himself apart as a 21st-century American president facing new threats to the vision of peace he supports. It's not just terror, he says, but civil strife and mass shootings. He tells the crowd he is just as much a proponent of peace as previous recipients, but he also is a pragmatic leader facing hard times.
"We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>There will be times when nations —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified ... To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason."
[h=2]The 2015 Selma speech[/h]Fifty years after the march on Selma, the United States was in the throes of another civil rights battle — the Black Lives Matter movement. The protests were not over voting restrictions and segregation, but against police brutality and the disproportionate number of blacks<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in the criminal justice system.
Obama spoke of the turbulence that led to the march on Selma and reminded viewers that the legacy of Selma is that there is still work to do: the Ferguson protests were the latest of turbulent moments that have shaped America. Those protesters, he said, were just as part of American history as the slaves who built the White House, the civil rights activist marching across the bridge half a century ago and the first responders who headed to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
"For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, and new ground to cover, and bridges to be crossed," he said. "And it is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow."
[h=2]The 2015 Charleston shooting eulogy[/h]Obama was asked to deliver the eulogy for the victims of the June 2015<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Charleston shooting, where<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a white supremacist gunned down nine members of an AME church. He spoke of the safe space the black church has been throughout the centuries-long struggle for civil rights. He spoke of the grace the church members embodied, especially the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Rev. Clementa Pinckney. And he spoke of the painful legacy of the Confederate flag and other<span style="color: Red;">*</span>symbols that bolster<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the killer's cause.
His message? God has bestowed this country with grace, "but it is up to us now to make the most of it, to receive it with gratitude, and to prove ourselves worthy of this gift."
[h=2]The 2016 Rutgers University commencement speech[/h]Obama may not have settled New Jersey's contentious<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pork-roll-versus-Taylor-ham debate when he delivered the commence speech this year at Rutgers University, but he did throw a few jabs at Donald Trump. Before an audience of 50,000, he gave some pragmatic advice: you gotta know what you’re talking about.
"In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue," he said. "It's not cool to not know what you're talking about. That's not keeping it real or telling it like it is. That's not challenging political correctness. That's just not knowing what you're talking about. And yet we've become confused about this."
Obama didn't have to name Trump, but the message was received.
[h=4]Posted![/h]A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed