obama/weiss 08: how an old white lady saved BO w/video

Tonight's Town Hall in Wilmington, NC with Senator Barack Obama features
one of the best unscripted moments in the entire campaign. A moment which
could help Obama put this thing away.

It is being widely reported:

During the question and answer session, an 82-year-old woman encouraged Obama not to attack his opponents. "Don’t hit on Hillary, bring us all back, let her do that stuff," said Jean Weiss, a Wilmington resident. "Leave her alone, you don’t need to do that, you are higher than that. Bring us up higher than that."

"Will you be my running mate?" Obama asked as the crowd cheered. "That’s my running mate there, she got me fired up!"

http://www.cbsnews.com/...

Obama kisses the woman.  Watch it for yourself. Send it to everyone you know.  Imagine by tomorrow night 20 million people have shared this video?

Let's get this some market share folks! Hat tip to shwing.

•  tips/recs

  barack obama...44th president of the united states

  by maxnyc on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:41:31 PM PDT

  •  Two observations...

    1.  Is it me or was that a really large crowd!  Enough with the big rallies!  =)

    2.  barack obama...44th president of the united states

    Great diary!

    by Lava20 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:59:08 PM PDT

    •  thanks........... n/t

      by maxnyc on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 11:04:06 PM PDT

      •  Check it!

        I found a clip from the beginning! What a firecracker. Look at her wagging her finger at Hillary!

        Can someone embed this? http://rawstory.com/...

        by jenontheshore on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 11:48:42 PM PDT

        •  Also

          The sound quality is slightly garbled in this version. But he does answers the question about water supply.

          by jenontheshore on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 11:50:03 PM PDT

          •  Awesome..thanks for the extended version!

            Man, what a WONDERFUL, WELCOME breath of fresh air today.

            Aand I though I was going to sleep disappointed.

            by OutOfManyOne on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 12:03:28 AM PDT

            •  Wow! that was really wonderful! GOBAMA! FIRED UP!

              by concerned on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 01:29:13 AM PDT

              •  Super way to lift my mood! The woman is a

                firecracker and Barack Obama is soooooo cute!! I love him! He had better be president! I'm fired up too!

                by LJW on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 02:09:31 AM PDT

                •  totally cute!

                  Oh, and Barack is, ummmmm... hot, lol.

                  by mahakali overdrive on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 09:19:05 AM PDT

                  •  Just need a few more diggs...

                    ...to get #1 news spot:

                    http://digg.com/...

                    by OutOfManyOne on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 01:54:47 PM PDT

                  •  yes he is

                    Oh, if only this clip would get even a tenth of the coverage that Rev. Wright's fiery sermon received!

                    by collardgreens on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 06:46:00 PM PDT

              •  Beautiful! Now I'm fired up! (n/t)

                by psnyder on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 11:51:30 AM PDT

            •  Go Digg it up!!!

              and add comments!
              There are only 16 Diggs

              Thanks Jenontheshore for the link

              http://digg.com/...

              by Deoliver47 on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 04:49:40 AM PDT

          •  I can't stop watching this...

            I can only hope to be like her 55 years from now!

            by Lava20 on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 01:41:38 AM PDT

            •  I know. Weve all been so low lately, it's funny

              how an EIGHTY-TWO year old has more energy and passion for Obama than we've had lately.

              I've watched the clip 3 times this morning. It bring back long ago memories of when we used to be more positive, passionate, and full of hope. 'Cos honestly that's not what it's been like lately.

              by LJW on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 06:16:35 AM PDT

        •  Wow Obama off the cuff is even better than

          When he gives a speech. His answer to the young ladies question regarding patriotism was heart felt and moving.

          by DeanDemocrat on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 02:53:21 AM PDT

          •  He's always better off the cuff

            He's at his best when he's impromptu. I think he might feel constrained the rest of the time. Once he's POTUS, I think we'll get to see Barack at his best again.

            by mahakali overdrive on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 09:20:10 AM PDT

          •  Obama is the "real deal".Hillary's isn't.

            Hillary's mantra about experience says she has been around the block politically.She knows how to lie politically and can even muster up a tear if the scene calls for it.

            She can play ball with the good 'ole boys but she can't show enough real regard for
            people she says she is running for.

            She took money from the Tam Family who was running the Marianas Island sweatshop/sex trade business. She has never authored a bill to change their conditions.

            By their works , you will know them.

            by lindalrs on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 10:24:15 AM PDT

            •  Hillary would be nowhere without Bill

              He fundraises, campaigns, strategizes, and helps his wife in more ways, then she helps herself (or ever could). Obama is running against both of them.

              by Excelscior1 on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 03:21:40 PM PDT

        •  great extended version...

          2nd question & reply are why Barack is truly the best candidate.  He is a good man! That is why he is being targeted.  

          We all need to get on the phones, go on my.barackobama.com and click on to NC or Indiana and make phone calls from home or travel to one of those states.

           I'm FIRED UP & READY TO GO and making phone calls from Tampa!

          LET'S GET TO WORK!

          by ijarne on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 10:06:10 AM PDT

        •  Hope she also wags her finger at Bill

          To show him how it's really done. :)

          by lirtydies on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 11:20:15 AM PDT

    •  Damn, that brought tears to my eyes

      I am SO tired of this primary season.  

      I am convinced that the mass media, coupled with the Democratic Establishment represented by Clinton, and the Republican Party en masse, will not accept a black man as President. The media will not allow it to be over. They want their soap opera. They want their dirty laundry. They want to sell papers instead of telling the truth. They want to please their corporate paymsters.

      They are trying to do whatever it takes to stop him. Part of me thinks this country is racist to the core, and that allegedly "progressive" cohorts like many of the old industrial union constituencies, and the "Greatest Generation" and Silent Generation" Democrat cohorts in general possess this dirty secret. We already know the Republican party is racist to the core.

      I just hope Indiana Democrats have a spasm of rationality and give him this much-deserved win next week. It's time for this to be over.

      by The Lighthouse Keeper on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 12:16:23 AM PDT

      •  a plague of lighthouse keepers

        love seeing VdGG references on Daily Kos, makes my day.  I have thought of changing my screen name to WhateverWouldRobertHaveSaid? many times.

        And yes, KC needs to be in the RnR Hall of Fame like, tomorrow.  If Jimi were still here, he'd tell you the same... hell that guy was all set to join EL&P when he died.  That woulda HELPed, huh?

        I am gonna go put on the Van der Graaf Belgian TV 1/2 hour from 1971, just because of you!!!

        by emperor nobody on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 12:41:48 AM PDT

        •  Kudos for your comment...

          ... KC rules. And always has.

          by highacidity on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 10:06:38 AM PDT

        •  Go to Wolfgang's Vault on the Web

          and you'll find some EARLY KC concert recordings that bear out why Hendrix liked them so much.

          by The Lighthouse Keeper on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 01:27:56 PM PDT

      •  My guess is that their not accepting Obama

        has nothing to with race. They would have done similar things to Edwards had it been him. It's clear there were even some passive aggressive actions in 2000 and 2004, that hurt Gore and Kerry. (In 2000, scheduling a confessional type interview on how he was putting his marriage back together a few days before Gore's convention and putting out his book in the end of June 2004 - so we could know Monica happened because "he could" really stole time from Gore and Kerry and turned the subject exactly where neither wanted it. Can you imagine Gore or Kerry putting out a book in June 2008 before a HRC describing missed environmental opportunities of the 1980s and 1990s or on the Contra and BCCI investigations?)

        What is clear is that the Clintons are for the Clintons and their loyalty goes one way only.

        by karenc on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 06:10:03 AM PDT

        •  Howard Dean

          Is a better example of this.

          Anyone remember the Dem 527 that ran the ad of Dean's face morphing into Osama bin Laden's while, at the same time, Karl Rove was being "overheard" rooting for Dean to win the nomination?

          Obama's campaing is Dean 2.0 and the push back is Shaft-Another-Dem 2.0.

          by pletzs on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 07:48:53 AM PDT

          •  I think there is actually more in common with

            the Kerry campaign than the Dean campaign - which makes sense as many Kerry strategists went to Obama when Kerry opted not to run. The closest thing to the Dean campaign this year was the Trippi run Edwards campaign.

            I think there is far too much made of the 529 ad, which had very limited distribution even in Iowa. Dean had huge internet support and a large amount of MSM support in mid to late 2003. I watched the debates then - and Dean attacked as much as he was attacked. Just as HRC was attacked in the debates by the others when she was the front runner, Dean was when he was the obvious frontrunner.

            At a point where he had more superdelegates, including Gore and Harkin, he simply couldn't stand the pressure. The last few debates before Iowa were not good - especially the one where he complained that he didn't want to be a pin cushion. Some of his attacks on Gephardt were just not true. One distubing thing was that he lost worse to Bush than "generic Democrat" did when it was polled in December 2003.

            I was watching this in late fall, as someone who wanted either Dean or Kerry - concerned that we would get one of the others as they split the same base. Had someone polled me then, I would have said "Dean", though I slightly preferred Kerry. This was because I saw Dean as the one who could win.

            In January, I watched the tracking polls in Iowa and saw that the MSM was ignoring that Kerry was clearly moving very quickly to the lead. Then I saw one day's news - repeated each hour. Kerry was reunited in a non-scripted reunion with the man he saved in Vietnam, which was the most real dramatic campaign moment I've ever seen and Dean was shown telling a 70+ year old heckler to "sit down". The contrast was incredible - and if you were falling the tracking polls, it was clear Kerry had edged ahead BEFORE this. That had to move at least some undecided because Kerry's was the ultimate in character references. I know it turned me from near ambivalent between Dean and Kerry, to Kerry.

            The fact is that though there is a desire to romanticize the Dean campaign - it was Kerry who did far better meeting with small crowds all over Iowa - speaking face to face with people. From the couple of books written on the primary, he was far more comfortable doing this than Dean was.

            I have seen people attribute Kerry's win to having Cindy Vilsack's support, though having both Vilsacks didn't give 2008 to Clinton. I have also seen them say it was the Firefighters support, but it did little for Dodd. The reality is that the credit for this under the radar, little help from teh media that was still speaking of him potentially dropping out a few weeks before the caucus.

            Now, Clinton may have hurt Dean slightly in NH when he boosted Clark as the only Democratic superstar other than his wife. Clark did then start to eat away quickly at Dean's lead, but Clark himself started to implode shortly before the Iowa primary  -  leaving many weakly committed at best. They had always had a high opinion of Kerry, so the Iowa win easily shifted votes to Kerry. (The numbers don't show Dean losing that much support - they do show Kerry shooting up, Clark losing a lot and undecided  quickly disapearing.  

            by karenc on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 08:17:32 AM PDT

            •  Kerry Began The Race

              As one of the consensus front runners, the inside-the-beltway candidate that the media assumed would win (along with Lieberman and Gephardt).

              Kerry didn't sneak up on anyone. He faded in the summer of 2003, then rebounded for a number of reasons, some being mistakes by Dean and some being DLC Dems circling the wagon against the one viable candidate who was right about the war (with Gephardt serving as kamikaze captain). After that it was momentum in a crowded field.

              Hillary Clinton is currently trying to recreate the trajectory of the Kerry campaign -- up, then down to an outsider, then up again -- but unlike Kerry, she cratered after the primaries began, not before. Cratering early is a lot better.

              Dean did very well in small settings in Iowa. It was his TV ads that sucked.

              And don't even try to defend Gephardt. The man sold the Dems and the country down the river in Iraq to bolster his presidential aspirations (and in support of one of the most bone-headed political strategies ever, the "we'll run on the economy in 2002 and leave foreign policy to George Bush" trainwreck).

              by pletzs on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 10:10:54 AM PDT

              •  Kerry faded even earlier than that

                likely because he was treated for cancer in February.
                Kerry also was labeled as anti-war until about mid 2003.

                Dean was actually not more anti-war in fall 2002 - he simply did not have to vote. He spoke in favor of Biden/Lugar the bill Kerry preferred as well. Kerry's September 2002 NYT op-ed was at least as anti-war.

                In more recent years, Kerry has repeatedly said his vote was wrong - but when he voted,he said he would speak out if Bush did not use the authority as given and he did. He spoke against the war when the war was still favored by 70% of the country.

                As to Kerry not sneaking up, read the archived news papers. The December articles rarely speak of Kerry - and none listed him a favorite. The same with the January ones. HRC at the end of December was 20 to 30 points up and she never really cratered - Kerry had some polls in late 2003 where he was at 5%.

                As to Dean doing very well in small settings in Iowa - the results - 18% to Kerry's 38% belie that. From all accounts, the candidates spend so much time in Iowa that most people have a good chance to meet and speak to any candidate.

                For people who met the candidate - it is hard to blame it on ads. Though that leads to the question of why his ads were so bad. He was the one with by far the most money and Trippit to spend it.

                by karenc on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 10:40:36 AM PDT

                •  Sorry, But Bullshit

                  I live in Vermont. Dean was against the war from the get-go (as was the Vermont congressional delegation--I believe the only delegation which voted unanimously nay--so it was hardly a radical position to take in Vermont). Vermont's been more consistently against the Iraq War than any other state.

                  And you're kidding with the defense of Kerry, right? He ran an entire general election campaign without ever settling on a clear position with regards to the war. It's one of the things that killed him.

                  Like I said, Kerry cratered before December (about the time he changed campaign staff) and was clearly in the mix in December. Dean was never anywhere near as far ahead in the polls as Clinton was this year. His lead gets inflated in the retelling of the tale. Dean had a lead, but it was a scrum not too far behind him.

                  And Dean built that early lead in Iowa based on his retail campaigning in small settings. That's what the campaign is about in the summer prior to the caucus. When the campaign was at it's most small-scale is when Dean did the best, which sort of blows your theory out of the water.

                  It's when the campaign became more TV orientated at the end and everyone else in the race needed to bring him down that he slipped back. If it had been decided based on "small settings," then Dean would have won it.

                  by pletzs on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 11:42:55 AM PDT

                  •  Kerry's position on the war was clear

                    The problem was that the media conflated 3 things.

                    1. The vote

                    2. Whether it was good to actually go to war

                    3. What to do given that we were at war

                    Kerry did vote for the IWR, but he did speak out when it was clear that Bush was not going to exhaust the diplomacy, let the inspectors complete their work and was going to go to war before it was a last resort. (there were several times but the easiest to find is a January 23 2003 speech at Georgetown University that ended with the words "Mr President, Do not rush to war") (Those items should sound familiar as Kerry listed them at least thousands of times in 2003 and 2004.)

                    He also said "wrong war, wrong place, wrong time." Now, I know people still angry because they saw Kerry speaking against a war we were fighting and not supporting the President. They were independents - less political than you - and they could cite both those statements.

                    On what to do the definitive speech he gave was at NYU in Sept 2004 - he appeared later that day on Letterman where he summarized it by counting out high level points on his fingers. He spoke of things like a regional summit, getting help from the international community, and he spoke of some withdrawals as early as late 2005. Knight Ridder that had the most accurate reporting of both the war and the election backed Kerry - http://media.www.pittnews.com/... In the primaries, he was at least as specific on his plans as any other Democrat - including Dean.

                    The problem was the left wing equivalenced the vote to the decision 5 months later to go to war helping the Republicans. Then the left wing equated any discussion of what to do other than "get out now" as being pro-war. In fact, Dean would likely have had problems with the far left wing on that had he been the candidate, because his plan was not "out now" either.  

                    As to Dean, he said he would vote for Biden/Lugar. I do not know what he would have done on the IWR because there was no recorded statement that I found from October 2002. (unlike for Obama)

                    Kerry was at 5% in December in the NATIONAL poll. Dean had the lead in the national polls for most of fall - and in late fall it was Clark or Gephardt who were higher than Kerry. Find me even one December link that showed Kerry as a possible winner. There is a CSPAN video that shows Kerry campaigning in August 2003 which was near when he was already fading- where at one point he is interviewed by reporters, who mostly seem to want to know how come he hasn't given up. I never said that Dean was as far ahead as Clinton.

                    I've talked to people who were in Iowa and Kerry was the better campaigner - in their opinion - including one guy who volunteered for Dean. Dean's national numbers were usually above his Iowa ones and he was strongest in the blogospere.

                    by karenc on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 12:26:05 PM PDT

            •  Huh?

              Kerry was reunited in a non-scripted reunion with the man he saved in Vietnam, which was the most real dramatic campaign moment I've ever seen.

              Wasn't that guy flown in by the campaign? I mean, Mr. Rassman contacted the Kerry campaign ahead of time.

              As for whether this event is scripted or not, who knows? I'm a little skeptical myself, and we know that the campaign has had trouble getting old white women on board. That the Secret Service let her get so close to Obama so quickly leads me to believe that they knew ahead of time.

              by R Rhino from CT4 on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 10:27:45 AM PDT

              •  Just from watching it - it was clear that it was

                The campaign was contacted very near the time of the caucus and they immediately flew him out. The event was for a minority youth organization - so it was set up in a way that had military service as theme. There was nothing in how the event was publicized speaking of this.

                This was not an event specially set up with lots of vets, centered around Vietnam.

                by karenc on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 10:46:50 AM PDT

                •  Should have been

                  so it was **NOT** set up in a way that had military service as theme. There was nothing in how the event was publicized speaking of this.

                  by karenc on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 11:03:29 AM PDT

    •  Michelle Obama is REALLY proud of this country...

      She is REALLY proud for the first time because of women like Jean Weiss.

      And she's REALLY proud because of these Prairie View students marching 7.3 miles to vote in Texas
      http://www.burntorangereport.com/...
      http://www.khou.com/...

      And she's REALLY proud because of men like Barry Welsh in Muncie Indiana defending a reporter from a Republican election official http://youtube.com/...

      THIS is the kind of video I'd love to see from the Obama campaign (or JedReport... ;) )

      by ayjaymay on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 12:30:33 AM PDT

      •  Michelle should go on the offensive

        During the general, they should run a campaign ad with her narrating that talks about this.

        by txjenny on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 09:18:28 AM PDT

    •  What, maybe 5,000 or 6,000 people. You call that

      large?

      I'll show you large.

      

      by rontun on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 01:55:11 AM PDT

      •  Wow!

        They really turn out for him, don't they!

        by Lava20 on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 03:27:27 AM PDT

      •  And boy do they look

        fired up!

        by nilocjin on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 03:39:58 AM PDT

        •  Especially the wierdly semi-Reaganesque gentleman

          on the far left.

          What is that building? A church? Care home?

          Oh - perhaps a lovely, modern private home!

          by Creosote on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 03:49:32 AM PDT

          •  Right now he is saying

            "Mr.McCain, you're not supposed to leave the home."

            by ShadowSD on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 05:53:22 AM PDT

          •  That semi-Reaganesque gentleman

            is my wonderful repub governor of Alabama, Gov. Riley.  McSame was speaking in Al. at that huge rally.

            See how enthusiastic Al. is for McSame!  We love him down here.   snark

            by meatwad420 on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 07:38:07 AM PDT

            •  So that's the slimeball who did Siegelman

              out of his election as Governor and colluded in his railroading into prison...ooh...

              I oughta....

              by Dvalkure on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 05:17:56 PM PDT

            •  Oh cripes.

              That's dreadful.

              Looks like he's padded all over with a cushion of average greasy criminality.

              by Creosote on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 09:35:42 PM PDT

        •  tired out and ready to nap n/t

          by TrueBlueMajority on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 05:56:23 AM PDT

        •  And, all white

          by redtex on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 08:30:30 AM PDT

      •  And they all look just alike. n/t

        by JaciCee on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 05:33:11 AM PDT

        •  Yeah. WTF is up with that?

          I thought campaigns hand-picked the people sitting behind the candidate to maximize diversity in front of the cameras . . . yet with McCain you still only see old white people, with the occasional young white person.

          Hmmmmmmm . . .

          by Praxxus on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 06:48:33 AM PDT

        •  It's the wonderbread campaign. n/t

          by berkelbees on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 09:20:40 AM PDT

          •  Inbreeding n/t

            by Dvalkure on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 05:18:45 PM PDT

      •  He's LIVIN' large! n/t

        by berkelbees on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 09:19:45 AM PDT

    •  Another observation

      Mrs Weiss is a fantastic way to rally the older white female vote. Just what Obama needs. Funnily enough Weiss is 'white' in German.

      by SolarAngel on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 04:39:40 AM PDT

    •  As long as he spends enough time on the Q&A

      ... then I think the large crowds are a good thing. It continues to promote the image of him as the popular front runner, while still giving him an opportunity to get personal with the voters.

      by Rhizomorph on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 06:21:05 AM PDT

    •  Huge for Wilmington

      I was about an hour from wilmington for many years and that's a crazy Dem turnout for wilmington. Wow! That might be a town hall meeting in Boston but that's a rock concert in wilmington.

      by McJagger on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 09:27:43 AM PDT

    •  Hey Don't knock him for the big rallies.

      He's been doing a lot small town halls lately.

      Also, he was winning, when he had the big rallies. Though, we feel it was a response to the big rally's, and the need to get more detailed. He seemed to do pretty well in the places where he had big rallies (including Texas).

      by Excelscior1 on Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 03:18:49 PM PDT

  •  Thank you for pointing me there

    That was awesome!

    by Lauren S on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 11:05:52 PM PDT

  •  I simply love that woman

    "Boy you'd better be president!!!"

    What a freaking sweetheart! And boy, do I agree with her.

    by jenontheshore on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 11:10:56 PM PDT

    •  She said it!

      I actually straightened up in my chair at her tone of voice.  LOL.  Now he better put in some work!

      by Freedoms Road on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 11:31:57 PM PDT

      •  she reminded me of New England Ladies