Today is the 47th birthday of Senator Barack Obama.
Historically speaking, is he a young candidate? Who in history was also cast as a "young man?"
I came across this tidbit from 1960. I have taken excerpts from a speech given by Eleanor Roosevelt in which she addresses issues relevant even (or especially) today.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Speech before Kennedy for President Rally,
St. Louis, Missouri,
October 27, 1960
"And we should remember that in our Constitution, the men who wrote that Constitution and were so near to the people who founded, came here to found our country, they said that no one running for office should be questioned as to his race or his religion. And I saw a letter written by George Washington, just a few days ago in New York - a very treasured letter, long hand - in which he made the point, in writing to the small, Jewish, first Jewish synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island in Touro, that we had written a Constitution that would prevent bigotry in this country for all times.4
Somebody in Illinois last week asked me if I thought that there was still apt, if we were still apt to have any changes between now and election day. And I said, "Of course! I don't ever, being a pessimist, I don't ever count my votes until they are actually all in." And I'm perfectly willing to say that wherever I've been just lately, people have been very hopeful for the Democratic ticket. They've been enthusiastic. They have said they've never had such good meetings; that wherever Senator Kennedy has been, he's had crowds of people, and the people feel is that victory is in the air.
Now these are all things that we have to think about, we have to plan for, but we have to be led. And we have to be led by someone who has the ability to make us feel that we are needed. We never would have pulled ourselves out of our economic difficulties in the Depression if the people hadn't regained confidence in themselves and felt that they could do the things that were asked. And I think we are facing times, both at home and abroad, which require this confidence all over again. And I hope very much that when you go to the polls on November the 8th, you will think of the value of youthful leadership, of leadership that has energy and force and drive."
Happy Birthday Senator Obama from feminists past and present.
The full body of this speech can be found at http://www.gwu.edu/...