SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY: Obama’s victory speech

Damn.

Again! He did it again. He shut down The Clinton’s with this speech. And yes, the tear. The story of$3.01 money order. Drip. The Rep. lady who used to work for Strom Thurmond and volunteered for Obama…drip, drip.

That was a speech. Again.

Okay. If Sen. Obama becomes the 44th president, I am so going to be eager to hear the State of the Union. I always watch them and yeah, I watched the uncircumcised penis who calls himself W on Monday, but I won’t like it. But, can you imagine State of the Union addresses if Obama were president. Er…it’ll put an end drinking games, but there’s always that tear.

UPDATE: Transcript is up…some choice bits:

This is a great part…so great, Sen. Clinton tried to steal in her campaign’s second concession speech of the evening:

After four — after four great contests, in every corner of this country, we have the most votes, the most delegates, and the most diverse coalition of Americans that we’ve seen in a long, long time.

You can see it in the faces here tonight. There are young and old, rich and poor. They are black and white, Latino and Asian and Native American.

They are Democrats from Des Moines and independents from Concord and, yes, some Republicans from rural Nevada. And we’ve got young people all across this country who have never had a reason to participate until now.

The part where Obama takes The Clinton’s out to the woodshed:

But there are real differences between the candidates. We are looking for more than just a change of party in the White House. We’re looking to fundamentally change the status quo in Washington.
It’s a status quo that extends beyond any particular party and right now that status quo is fighting back with everything it’s got, with the same old tactics that divide and distract us from solving the problems people face, whether those problems are health care that folks can’t afford or a mortgage they cannot pay.

So this will not be easy. Make no mistake about what we’re up against. We’re up against the belief that it’s all right for lobbyists to dominate our government, that they are just part of the system in Washington.

But we know that the undue influence of lobbyists is part of the problem and this election is our chance to say that we are not going to let them stand in our way anymore.

We’re up against the conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as president comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to the White House. But we know that real leadership is about candor and judgment and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose, a higher purpose.

We’re up against decades of bitter partisanship that cause politicians to demonize their opponents instead of coming together to make college affordable or energy cleaner. It’s the kind of partisanship where you’re not even allowed to say that a Republican had an idea, even if it’s one you never agreed with.

That’s the kind of politics that is bad for our party, it is bad for our country, and this is our chance to end it once and for all.

We’re up against the idea that it’s acceptable to say anything and do anything to win an election. But we know that this is exactly what’s wrong with our politics. This is why people don’t believe what their leaders say anymore. This is why they tune out. And this election is our chance to give the American people a reason to believe again.

But let me say this, South Carolina. What we’ve seen in these last weeks is that we’re also up against forces that are not the fault of any one campaign, but feed the habits that prevent us from being who we want to be as a nation.

It’s the politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon, a politics that tells us that we have to think, act and even vote within the confines of the categories that supposedly define us, the assumption that young people are apathetic, the assumption that Republicans won’t cross over, the assumption that the wealthy care nothing for the poor and that the poor don’t vote, the assumption that African-Americans can’t support the white candidate, whites can’t support the African-American candidate, blacks and Latinos cannot come together.

We are here tonight to say that that is not the America we believe in.

The other part where he smacks down The Clinton’s and gives you warm fuzzies:

So understand this, South Carolina. The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It’s not about rich vs. poor, young vs. old. And it is not about black vs. white.

This election is about the past vs. the future. It’s about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today or whether we reach for a politics of common sense and innovation, a politics of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.

There are those who will continue to tell us that we can’t do this, that we can’t have what we’re looking for, that we can’t have what we want, that we’re peddling false hopes. But here is what I know. I know that when people say we can’t overcome all the big money and influence in Washington, I think of that elderly woman who sent me a contribution the other day, an envelope that had a money order for $3.01 along with a verse of scripture tucked inside the envelope. So don’t tell us change isn’t possible. That woman knows change is possible.

When I hear the cynical talk that blacks and whites and Latinos can’t join together and work together, I’m reminded of the Latino brothers and sisters I organized with and stood with and fought with side by side for jobs and justice on the streets of Chicago. So don’t tell us change can’t happen.

When I hear that we’ll never overcome the racial divide in our politics, I think about that Republican woman who used to work for Strom Thurmond, who is now devoted to educating inner city-children and who went out into the streets of South Carolina and knocked on doors for this campaign. Don’t tell me we can’t change.

Yes, we can. Yes, we can change. Yes, we can.

Sweet.

4 thoughts on “SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY: Obama’s victory speech

  1. yes! we! can!

    the $3.01 moment got me in the gut too.

    I’m stunned — over 50% in a three person field just doesn’t happen.

    “the past vs the future” will play well if he ends up with the nom vs. McCain.

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  2. The numbers are staggering. The Clinton’s are out there concern trolling saying, “Oh, that’s so sad, it’s going to make him the “black” candidate”. Which is what they wish. But Obama got as much as the white male vote as The Clinton’s.

    Geez…the breakdown in demographics…If Obama can just pull in elderly, single white females, he’s got it in the bag. HA!

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  3. Just watched the speech . . . lately, my tears start when he says, “Thank you, thank you!” at the very beginning to get the crowd to hush. I love this leader.

    I was hoping he’d tell us what scripture the $3.01 lady sent to him, but realized it may be a bad move for him to quote the bible in a speech.

    Can you just see the convention? I bet they’ll bring $3.01 lady up on stage.

    YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!

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  4. You realize he’s said at least one coded thing here, right?

    It’s aimed squarely at people like me, jobs and justice. Jobs With Justice is a union organizing drive headed up by SEIU.

    http://www.unionvoice.org/jobswithjustice/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=1563196

    It speaks volumes to me when he says that and points back to his work in Chicago. That reminds me of the the Congress Hotel Strike and the just one of the reasons that UNITE-HERE endorsed him http://www.congresshotelstrike.info/.

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