Full Circle

Al...your analysis is ...well, you repeatedly leave me highly impressed and grateful for your existence.

When I saw the clip above I thought the same thing about the "assist" from his rivals.  In their insistence on dividing us they have made Obama's appeal that much stronger.

Full circle indeed...that's the 'O' of Obama!

and every single time I hear it, the last 5 min when he defines what hope means, when he asserts that there is no Blue or red....It never fails to give me goose pumps.

"Obama's rivals have served up the perfect introduction to the return of his 2004 convention speech, making it seem new and fresh all over again."

Well stated, Al. If we look at this campaign, the exploding crisis of the economy, and the mood of the electorate, the McCain campaign has provided the perfect opening to the Obama message of uniting the country to face and overcome the challenge by uniting around what holds us together, rather than succombing to what tears us apart. That has been the entire theme of the Obama candidacy from his emergency onto the national scene in 2004. And frankly what the McCain has been serving up.. this country has "had it with that shit!" It's not playing.

Need evidence:

Just out this morning:

Big Ten Battleground: Obama Leads in Key Midwestern States

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/23/quinnipiac_obama_leads_in_big_three.html

The latest Big Ten Battleground Poll shows Sen. Barack Obama with a ten point national lead over Sen. John McCain, 52% to 42%. In the individual midwestern states, Obama also has huge leads.

Illinois: Obama 61%, McCain 32%

Indiana: Obama 51%, McCain 41%

Iowa: Obama 52%, McCain 39%

Ohio: Obama 53%, McCain 41%

Michigan: Obama 58%, McCain 36%

Minnesota: Obama 57%, McCain 38%

Pennsylvania: Obama 52%, McCain 41%

Wisconsin: Obama 53%, McCain 40%

Said pollster Charles Franklin: "In September, we saw virtually the entire Big Ten as a battleground. Now Obama is clearly winning the Big Ten battleground. The dominance of the economy as a top issue for voters is the overwhelming story."

And this:

Quinnipiac: Obama Leads in Big Three

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/23/quinnipiac_obama_leads_in_big_three.html

With 12 days to go, a new Quinnipiac poll finds Sen. John McCain is narrowing the gap in Florida, but fading in Ohio and barely denting Sen. Barack Obama's double-digit lead in Pennsylvania.

Florida: Obama 49%, McCain 44%

Ohio: Obama 52%, McCain 38%

Pennsylvania: Obama 53%, McCain 40%

Said pollster Peter Brown: "As we enter the home stretch, Sen. Obama is winning voter groups that no Democrat has carried in more than four decades, and he holds very solid leads in the big swing states. If these numbers hold up, he could win the biggest Democratic landslide since Lyndon Johnson in 1964."

Thanks, Al. Obama has certainly not let his message "blow with the wind."  I can see Peter, Paul & Mary standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial singing "Blowin' in the Wind."  I'm grateful I've lived long enough to experience this election.

I pray Obama's grandmother will be able to experience his election too.

Al, it's too early in the morning here in Jamaica to have me reduced to tears.  You are right, Obama is true to himself and when a person has that, you can bet your house on it he's gonna be true to you.

As a Canadian, I've been following this election since the primaries with lots of interest. I just wanted to say that whenever I read his 2004 speech, or (even better) hear it, it brings tears to my eyes. I don't know how anyone can hear it and not be affected that way. Thanks for this very insightful post; I'm definitely looking forward to finding an election-night party here in Montreal on Nov. 4th!

Oh, and I even did my part in this election: I registered my American mother to vote (only the 2nd time she has done so in the 35 years she's lived in canada; last time was in 2004). Too bad she's from New Jersey, though, and not Colorado or someplace like that!! In any case, she voted D all the way, as she's from House District 7.

The world is watching..  now GOTV people!!! :)

A bit over the top to call anyone's political analysis "gorgeous," but, damn, Al, your writing in that last paragraph took me back to Thomas Wolfe. And you know what, you're right. I even treat my Republican neighbors here in Texas better because of Barack.

In 2004 Sen. Obama said numerous times how the Dem party needed a winning narrative. (I have searched a number of times but can't find any of these comments now.) This is a politician that knows how to keep his priorities straight and he knows the central importance of a narrative and more precisely an authentic narrative.

His campaign has also been outstanding at timing. They held onto "ammunition" for when it would best serve the purpose.

So it also crossed my mind that this is a signal of how the Obama campaign will conclude. The details will change in order to respond to whatever silly crap is coming out of McCain's campaign, but Obama will summarize main themes and paint again a vision for the future based on everything he has said so far. And the big themes will be what he has said all along...

People WANT to hope. And we're crazy enough to hope because this campaign has looked so different from the beginning and maybe it is just different enough to really change this country.

Obama, Axelrod, Plouffe and his campaign all know this have known this from the beginning of the campaign.

Excellent observation! I hadn't considered the way the McCain campaign's recent divisive statements unwittingly set the stage for Obama to be able to return full circle to his original and most powerful message. I can't wait for his half-hour final appeal to the nation (or his inauguration speech, for that matter).

I also cannot help wondering about the impact of growing up in Hawai'i. More than one person has made this connection (this one responding to Cokie's infamous gaffe about Hawai'i being exotic):

"Cokie Roberts represents an old mentality that grew up in white America," Rohter said. "Our struggle as a people and as a country is to rise above these old stereotypes. She uses this cliche of Hawai'i, but we are a very complex society where we've learned to live together and move together in a positive way. Hawai'i is the prototype of how people can get along. Hawai'i is the prototype for the nation."

Barack truly reminds me of how I felt about our country as a child, before the Vietnam war taught me anger, cynicism and despair.  I have two sons, 15 and 12, and my wife and I are volunteering for Obama so that they might come of age in a time of hope and pride and optimism in what our country can be.

Twelve days--yes we can!

You're absolutely right that Obama's message has been consistent since he first came on the national stage 4 years ago, but his consistency long predates that.  I met him in 2003, when he spoke of how we are all our brothers' and sisters' keeper, how we all are invested in each other, how we all are diminished when any of us suffer injustice.  I heard him say the same things, even using the same examples, throughout the past 20 months.  Some criticized him for being repetitive; I appreciated his consistency and his adherence to the same core principles and values.

When Michelle relates a talk he gave to a community group 19 years ago (as she did at the convention), we hear more than an echo of the message Barack still gives today:  "He talked about 'The world as it is' and 'The world as it should be.' And he said that all too often, we accept the distance between the two, and settle for the world as it is - even when it doesn't reflect our values and aspirations. But he reminded us that we know what our world should look like. We know what fairness and justice and opportunity look like. And he urged us to believe in ourselves - to find the strength within ourselves to strive for the world as it should be."

Watching Countdown the other night, I heard another blast from Barack's past that demonstrated his consistency.  Turns out Keith O's history teacher invited Barack to speak at Keith's old high school back in 1991.  According to the student newspaper's 1991 account, Barack emphasized how "change is possible" and that we need to take action to be that change (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUgiveUdXXw).

That's a strange coincidence, but even more impressive is the extreme consistency of his message.  He has been honoring his words--often the same exact words--with action for over 20 years.  And, as you say, that consistency clearly demonstrates "what kind of person he is and what kind of president he would be."

Someone had to say it.

Excellent analysis (and comments everyone). What's so striking to me is how not only is this the right political game but the right thing to say and do. Also, is it or me or did he give that "you have every right to be cynical" speech a few times as a community organizer? Same with the "everyone stood up for you" line.

The last 45 seconds are beautiful. He's asking us to be our best selves instead of our worst.

Beautiful writing, Al, and now you've gone and done it! It seems I can't go two days in this campaign without being reduced to tears, and now it's your turn to do it to me.

I was thinking exactly this last night when I read the quote from Richmond.  We have come full circle.

BTW, I've been sporadic in my volunteering since the primary - I moved to the safe state of Vermont recently - but last night I went to our local office and signed up for shifts every day until election day (except for my son's b'day and Halloween) and for all day election day.  As they have me say in the phone script - I don't want to wake up Nov. 5 with any regrets.

KD

After hearing - no, experiencing - Mr Obama's Convention keynote speech - I said: "That's the next President of the United States."

I've been 'pooh-hooed' many times, but the reality is becoming ever closer.

Am I surprised the closing argument will be the opening one? No, I just marvel at the practice of politics as art.

Go 'my American friends', get out that vote like nothing else and keep your energy focussed until the last polling booth closes (and beyond).

BondiBeachViews

Barack's Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Dinner Speech, just over a year ago. I get teary reading it again and thinking about the energy in that hall that night.

Absolutely, full circle...

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/11/10/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_33....

...This party - the party of Jefferson and Jackson; of Roosevelt and Kennedy - has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the American people when we led, not by polls, but by principle; not by calculation, but by conviction; when we summoned the entire nation to a common purpose - a higher purpose. And I run for the Presidency of the United States of America because that's the party America needs us to be right now.

...Because I will never forget that the only reason that I'm standing here today is because somebody, somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. Stood up when it was hard. Stood up when it wasn't popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world.

I've been told that I have a strange way of looking at things.

To me, Obama is like an onion. You can peel back each layer and it's the same as the last layer. Onions are honest that way, there is no onion subterfuge. An onion is consistent from it's core.

So as Al points out he will go full circle and drive home his core message on Oct 29th. We have watched the layers being peeled back all these months and what has been revealed is the same man that stood before us in 2004.

...is my birthday!  You know I'm excited!

Me, too for volunteering...besides the weekly outings with Mom to the Seniors, my daughter and I work an hour or two in Detroit, Ypsilanti, and Ann Arbor @ O offices almost every day...

Detroit is the bluest of the blue, and since Johnny Mack left Michigan the same day he heard that Al was on his way here (LOL)...the polls in Michigan are at 22%+ for the O-man.

But Detroit, in case you haven't heard--snark, is also one of the poorest of the poor and hardest hit of the hit-tees for foreclosures and job losses.

We have to get people to the polls; get people to vote absentee if they can; and get them to realize that there will be l-o-n-g lines and possible snags.

We do have a great new City Clerk here who is in charge of the elections...but we here in Detroit remember two words: "Jim Blanchard"...he was the 1st term Democratic  "boy governor" who everyone thought would sail to a 2nd term in 1990.  People got lazy and didn't vote...and we got 12 years of John Engler...the worst governor who did the most damage in Michigan in modern days...

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

Coundtdown's "Best Person of the Day" from a couple of days ago highlighted this fact. It's quite inspiring.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/27287182#27287182

(You'll have to watch a 15-second ad and the other two "Best Persons" to get to it.)

We've been waiting for 4 years and you've just ruined the ending.

Can't you use spoiler tags or something?

j/k

Thank you, Al.  I cried, with gratitude and amazement at the ever growing full circle of support for not only Obama, but for each other.

Gathering with 100K of my closest friends in STL MO last Saturday, I came full circle on my time giving my time for a future with Barack Obama as president.  On a cold Saturday in Springfield, IL, my husband and I gathered with 17K of our closest friends and witnessed history as Barack announced his run for president.  

I first volunteered for Obama in July, 2007.  The Urban League had their convention here in STL.  40 or so volunteers were able to see Barack as he arrived.  He came right over to the people, with the Secret Service, and began shaking hands, mine included. I looked into his eyes and said "Thank you."  The courage and resolve in his face is burnt into my memory. 

Since that time, the Obama Campaign has trained members of my family in the art of working with and as volunteers.  I am very excited for the future of our neighborhoods and city because so many people have shown themselves to be the very change agents we have all been inspired and continue to be, especially when this election is over.

Why do I know Missouri will be in Obama's column?  Of course there are the polls, which I read daily and then ignore.  When my Republican brother in law of 28 years, says that John McCain lost him when he called Obama a terrorist, I knew that MO would be Obama's.

People are sick of mean.  3 male family members have been outsourced and canned.  All of them are in their early 50's.

Change?  It's happening right before our very eyes.

LC

Obama - the human catalyst - is closing this campaign exactly as he introduced himself, four years ago, to the nation. He's gone through this grueling process without being changed by it.

Regarding his outlook, I agree--but in more literal terms, that's frighteningly false. Watch the video of the 2004 convention speech back-to-back with a recent Obama interview--say, the CBS interview from Richmond yesterday in which he talked about returning to Hawaii to visit his grandmother. Barack Obama has been severely "changed" by this process: he looks about fifteen years older.

I find it pretty scary, actually. I do not envy national politicians. The toll that their lives take on their bodies is clearly horrendous.

I was beyond pain over the last two weeks, as I saw America's underbelly of hate and racism emerge once more; and even moreso because it was subtly and not-so-subtly encouraged by McCain and company. I have been in this world long enough to remember the struggle of civil rights, to remember the Vietnam war which deeply divided this country; to remember so much... I now see the near-ruin of our country on so many fronts it sometimes makes sleep impossible; and on the brink of such ruin, we once again hear not calls to our better selves, but division, racism and and the demonizaiton of the other.  And yet... when I read Al's post a few days ago, encouraging (no, demanding!) that we stay cool, an old knowledge stirred; a knowledge deep within my memory, and that of my mother, and my grandmother and yours... birth is painful. Birth is laborious. Birth is bloody. Something new is being born, and it is accompanied by all the laboring, the pain, the blood and tearing of the birthing process. I remember. I remember the last hour of labor, so tired I wanted nothing more than to call it all off and go home. I remember trying to ignore a contraction so I could get a moment of rest... And I also remember being transported when I laid eyes on the new life that had entered my world with such fierceness.

Thank you for your post today, Al. It brought tears to my eyes, and gave me the courage to get through the final stage of labor and the pain of birthing.

is it just me, or have many of the Fieldhand commenters become better writers since last winter?

Not only does Al's writing inspire us politically, but I think he has taught so many of us how to express ourselves so much better...

the stories here are so beautifully written and so inspiring...

I guess that's what we get for "pallin' around with" geniuses like Barack and Al...

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

I don't know if this gentleman from Chicago is a Fieldhand or not, but he has written a beautiful story about Barack going to Malia's soccer game...not only is it beautiful (and short) telling about Barack, but the author is an excellent writer...Kleenex alert...

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=31197

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

If you weren't already smiling from Al's beautiful post, this video from Ron Howard will make it even brighter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB5CLV18NBw&eurl=http://www.bobcesca.com/

Every year 40+ members of our family meet at my sister's mansion (yes, she really has one) outside of Atlanta for Thanksgiving week.

Every year different members of the family are in charge of different aspects of the week. My 23-year-old niece who is a makeup artist is in charge of our "outfits" for the family picture where we all dress alike every year.

We just got her email on what we're supposed to wear this year...last year it was white shirts and blue jeans. This year, it's still blue jeans, but on top: Obama shirts!

We are so geeked...the youngest great grandchild is 2 years old; the oldest is my Dad (G'pa) who is 88--and we'll all be in Obama shirts for the family photo!

It's gonna be a great Thanksgiving...we can't wait for the annual political discussion over dinner!

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

 Thank You so much for sharing, I will be thinking of your family on Thanksgiving.

As in physics, the most elegantly simple solution is usually the right one.  And as Al brings out in his post, this symmetry from 2004 to these last two weeks is truly a beautiful thing.

This all just feels right, and I feel priviledged just to have been able to be here and experience it.

I hope Obama's grandmother gets to see it all come home, too.

Michael - when I read your post, I thought to myself, so I wasn't the only one who knew it then!  Although, my thought was that he would be president someday; I was actually surprised that it turned out to be sooner rather than later.

Al, once again, wonderful writing and good positive thoughts to help us all ride the next week and a half of roller coaster emotions.

Last, I agree with Pamela HO @ 1:53.  The comments section here gets better and better all the time.  That is what great leadership does.

This article is so poignantly written that it made me cry.  When I think of the long road of this campaign, the grace and the selfless labor of the candidate and every one of us throughout this long campaign, it moves me.  The whole process, with it's highs and lows, its moments of triumph and despair, building in frequency and intensity, are like the labor pains preceding the birth of a child.  That child is a new America for all of us.  And it's almost here...

Thank you, Al, for your beautiful words.

I love, just love this post. It is exactly right. Biology and ecology are my grounding world-views, and this post gets it perfectly.

I watched much of the Richmond speech, but also watched live today's Indiana speech, and clearly, Obama is coming home to the spring of hope. We're thirsty. The country is ready for it now again, we've been primed for it by clear experiences of what's at stake, and too many examples of the "same old politics" of which Obama speaks. We're so primed to realize that our politics can be so much better. We can move on without hating the other side, we can transform and change to create a much better future.

Obama has shown the beauty and meaning of hope. And with his consistent message that we are all Americans there is no doubt that the hate-filled divisive rhetoric from Palin and McCain's staff and various congressional Republicans have sharpened the divisions or, as we used to say, have heightened the contradictions.

Maine people absolutely hate negative campaigning and there is real anger about the robocalls and the ugly, nasty literature some folks are getting.  And with real issues so obvious right now, I think that's true in many other places.

All the folks who wanted Obama to get down and trash McCain and Palin in ways that wasn't him now must see how smart he was to not do so. Now he remains a strong and credible messenger for the idea that we are all Americans.

In time of discomfort and fear, we all want and need hope.  No, hope is not enough. We need good policies. But we cannot make change if there is not hope for a better future that we can help create.

We have in Obama and evolutionary politician.  He will be constrained as President - and will have to do things he probably doesn't want to do - but he will take global politics to a more humane plane - corresponding perfectly with humanity's own evolution into more compassionate and inclusive beings.

As for the rest of the buttheads, check out this great site I came across:

www.buttheadpolice.com

Vote for buttheads like McCain and Palin to get butts stamped on their heads - to go on top of the butts already there. LOL.  At least i know this vote will count.

Me too: this campaign is about restoring to the country the values that I took to heart in all those social studies classes back in the day.

To this day, it shocks me when I read of the crap the R's are pulling to keep their fellow Americans from voting.  This is sacred, I think.  People died, marched, fought for the right to vote.  Why is this not sacred to them?

So I'm thrilled to have this chance to share this election with my two sons, to watch the debates with them, take them canvassing, look at the electoral map together.

Oh, and this is a wonderful post, Al.

Woh!

What's amusing is that even his 2004 convention speech was almost exactly the same speech as he had been giving for years on the stump to small groups when he was running for office in Chicago, or so friends of his were quoted as saying in the PBS Frontline special last week, "The Choice." They said they laughed when they heard it, given how it (and he) played in the big hall. It would be interesting to post a clip from that video here to bolster your point.

in the eye of many storms and negative attacks tactics, has been and still is quite remarkable.

Your comparing him to a catalyst is perfect.

amk

Seventeen years ago, I was a sophomore in high school.  In February of 1991, a history teacher at my school (beloved and recently deceased this past March) invited the president of the Harvard Law Review to speak to the student body in honor of Black History Month.

This man? Barack Obama.  His message has not changed in seventeen years, and I am excited to know that he will be president in less than ninety days.

1) Specific examples of his online tax calculator

2) Specific examples of health policy savings

3) An easy to grasp explanation of how invading Iraq instead of dismantling al qaeda in afghanistan makes as much sense as prosecuting a street junkie instead of a billion dollar druglord.

4) Specific examples of how he would unite America by reversing the anti-constitutional W. executive orders

The soaring oratory about uniting America and tackling real problems can come at the end, but this is no time for poetry. He can leave that for his acceptance speech.

The Tanning Bed has made it into a really funny/scary viral video. Just in case a Field hand hasn't yet seen it:

http://www.viralvideochart.com/youtube/the_vet_who_did_not_vet?id=03fcGe...