He's being hailed as the "first black president", even though he's far, far away from that honor.
We've discussed his race ad infinitum around these parts, but this is his national unveiling.
He's got the race in bag. Republicans are still scrambling to find a candidate, and interestingly enough, Ryan still hasn't dropped out of the race and doesn't seem to be in a hurry to officially bow out.
The question is not, 'will Obama be elected', it's, 'will he have any coattails?"
There are several marginally competitive House races in Illinois, all of which would benefit from some Obama attention. Given that Illinois is a safe Democratic state, the lack of attention from the political campaigns means Obama is top dog. What he does with his enviable, secure position will speak volumes about the type of Democrat he is.
Update: Fuckin' a. Not only did he nail it, but he looked effortlessly doing so. Clintonesque.
Yet even as we speek, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal Amercan and a conservative America -- there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and a white America -- there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States [...] but I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
Brilliant. Awesome.
We already knew he was a star. Now the rest of the country does so as well.