Six years ago, at a rally in Chicago’s Daley Plaza, I heard Barack Obama speak out against the then-imminent invasion of Iraq. He was only a state senator at the time, and not the only elected official present nor the most prominent. He was not the keynote speaker, just one of many... but afterward, my girlfriend and I agreed that his speech was the most memorable of the afternoon.
Four years ago, in a banquet hall at the Chicago Hyatt, I attended the victory party for Obama’s U.S. Senate race. He spoke around the theme that has become his enduring mantra—"Yes We Can." Everyone was enthusiastic, and there were many comments about what an incredible multi-ethnic, multi-racial coalition he had put together, the most impressive demographic cross-section since Harold Washington’s mayoral victory two decades earlier. There were perhaps a thousand people in the room.
Last night, on a beautiful Indian-summer evening, I stood in Grant Park among a crowd that was orders of magnitude larger.
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