2008 Woodie Awards
Barack Obama: Presidential candidate
Gautam Singh
Issue date: 11/8/06 Section: News
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Obama has been a U.S. Senator in Illinois since 2005. His main focus is on fighting for working families in the United States. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991 and was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.
"We have to close the gap of America of what it is, and America as it could be," Obama said.
Obama's speech was preceded by short speeches by U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton and Gov. Jim Doyle. Painting a grim, Orwellian picture of a Republican controlled government, they conveyed a message of adopting a pyramid scheme-like approach of finding 5 to 10 people to vote who in turn would find more people, and so on.
Obama demonstrated a keen sense of history by reminding the crowd that America was once just 13 struggling colonies who pitted themselves against the greatest naval power in the world in Britain. It was their hope and determination that led to eventual victory.
He also alluded to the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. Obama said the United States needs to match their military strength with the finesse of diplomacy to succeed in the Middle East.
"We spend $800 million a day to support some of the most hostile nations in the world," Obama said. "And we support both sides of terrorism."
Obama said it did not make sense that the United States could spend more than other countries on health insurance, but still have millions uninsured.
2008 Presidency and Leader Analysis
In the mold of John F. Kennedy, Obama is able to intelligently articulate an inspirational and progressive view for America's future. He is now the flavor of the week among many Democrat and liberals who hope he runs for the 2008 Presidential Election. However, he did not address possibilities for running in 2008 during his speech or during his time in Milwaukee last week.
The Democratic Party should be apprehensive about choosing Obama as their 2008 presidential candidate because he has many factors already working against him, most of which are out of his control. Any minority candidate is inherently working against race, not racism but a mostly Caucasian constituency who cannot relate to an African-American Harvard Law School graduate.
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