A trip down MeFimory lane to Obama's 2004 convention speech

August 25, 2008 10:31 AM

Here's a little trip down memory lane. Obama's 2004 speech at the Democratic convention caught MetaFilter's attention. On July 28th, 2004 there was swift's MeFi post Obama's been lauded (which, in a refreshing change, derailed into a discussion of Canadian politics) and later that same day ronv asked what's more realistic/ which will happen first in the united states: a minority president or a woman president?

It's fun to go back and see how opinions and analyses hold up in the harsh light of hindsight. Personally I think kickingtheground hit the ball out of the park in his answer to ronv.

If you're interested in Obama's famous address at the 2004 convention there's no better article about it than Chicago Magazine's The Speech.

posted by Kattullus to MetaFilter-related at 10:31 AM (78 comments total)

I think kickingtheground hit the ball out of the park in his answer to ronv.

kickingtheground: For women, however, the situation is somewhat more difficult. The stereotypes applied to women are not nearly as negative, but neither are they are easily neutralized.

Ah, the days when we wondered whether Hillary could overcome these negative stereotypes, instead of inventing a whole new cult of negativity all her own.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:37 AM on August 25, 2008

What, are you trying to become master of the gray posts too now?
posted by Deathalicious at 10:49 AM on August 25, 2008

Heh. I remember you head-checking this back in like May. I'd forgotten you had it in the pipeline, so I'd say that you managed to wait a reasonable amount of time indeed.
posted by cortex at 10:51 AM on August 25, 2008

Reading through the Obama's been lauded thread, I'm struck by two things:

I kinda miss amberglow.

Maybe it makes me a bad person, but this made me laugh.
posted by marxchivist at 10:58 AM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the look back, Kattullus.
posted by ardgedee at 11:01 AM on August 25, 2008

What I find especially interesting about the primary is how completely polled and analyzed the voting patterns were. At least three major news networks each with a different set of biases, CNN (rabidly pro-Clinton until long after it was clear she had lost), MSNBC (as rabidly pro-Obama as CNN was for Clinton) and FOX (basically just against whoever appeared to be winning at the time in hopes of a weaker candidate in the fall) as well as countless smaller outlets had exhaustive pre and exit polling operations. And, thanks to Clinton's decision to stick it out far past the point of a possible win this polling was done in many states that had not had an actual primary race in decades (if not ever).

So, more than any national election in history, there is real data available for this primary in terms of who voted for what and why. And what this data shows completely and unequivocally is that Hillary Clinton did not lose, and in fact overall benefited, because of her gender.

For all there were plenty of sexist things said during the election, but nitwits on blogs and talking heads on cable news networks, they were not a statistically significant voting bloc.

(not going to get into the other side of this but the opposite is true in terms of people voting against Obama because of race. They were a large voting bloc and turned out in significant numbers).
posted by Riemann at 11:19 AM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

I demand a metatalk post regarding previous discussions of the posibility of a cranky old man becoming president.
posted by Artw at 11:21 AM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

*typo: should read "by nitwits on blogs and talking heads on cable news networks"
posted by Riemann at 11:21 AM on August 25, 2008

by nitwits on blogs

Hey! I resemble that remark!
posted by blue_beetle at 11:25 AM on August 25, 2008

It's fun to go back and see how opinions and analyses hold up in the harsh light of hindsight.

I think what I think is fun and what you think is fun are different thinks.
posted by grateful at 11:32 AM on August 25, 2008

What I think is funny is how chatfiltery ronv's question from four years ago seems. Clearly, we weren't burning the chatfilter hobbittses nearly as often as we do today.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:36 AM on August 25, 2008

I assert that by 2025 politicians of all kinds will ride flying segways to thier respective offices.
posted by clearly at 11:40 AM on August 25, 2008

Wow, navelgazeFilter AND USpolitics-democratFilter at the same time.

I know this post won't be struck down, but at least I registered my protest when I had the chance.

Let the circle-jerk recommence!
posted by Eideteker at 11:52 AM on August 25, 2008

navelgazeFilter

You can see your URL bar, right?
posted by DU at 12:14 PM on August 25, 2008

Ah fuck off Eideteker. What is completely absurd is that there is any higher purpose or meaning to metafilter that politics somehow distracts from. Metafilter is just a dumping ground for pointless trivial shit and meandering poorly thought out arguments. So far this thread has as much substance to any of the other shit that gets dumped here day after day.
posted by Riemann at 12:24 PM on August 25, 2008 [5 favorites]

Metafilter: a dumping ground for pointless ...

Oh, wait. Redundant.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:26 PM on August 25, 2008

> Let the circle-jerk recommence!

The thread is interesting and informative up to the point where people begin complaining that it's neither interesting nor informative. Stop that.
posted by ardgedee at 12:27 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

The Economist did a profile of Obama in March 2004 that was pretty good- http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_NVDNPJS
posted by theclaw at 12:31 PM on August 25, 2008

Yeah, let's do a retrospective before the whole thing is over.
We can speculate about whether Obama will be president, we can post current affairs about Obama and we can reminisce about what we used to expect. At all times.

With those three timelines we never need to go a moment without a post about Obama.
posted by jouke at 12:32 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

We can speculate about whether our civil liberties will evaporate, we can post current affairs about our civil liberties and we can reminisce about what civil liberties we used to have. At all times.

With those three timelines we never need to go a moment without a post about civil liberties.


We can speculate about whether technology will give us cool new machines, we can post current affairs about doglike walking robots, insect sized robots, self-assembling robots and robots that walk up walls and we can reminisce about what how big computers used to be and how goofy the ads were for them. At all times.

With those three timelines we never need to go a moment without a post about computers.


We can speculate about whether images and video will be different in the future, we can post current affairs about flickr photosets and HDR and we can reminisce about what we used to expect photos would be like. At all times.

With those three timelines we never need to go a moment without a post about photography.


We can speculate about whether a new music trend will emerge..
posted by cashman at 12:55 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

I know this post won't be struck down, but at least I registered my protest when I had the chance.

You go, girlfriend!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:27 PM on August 25, 2008

It's female president, not woman president. In case any of you man members care.

(yeah I said man members. get a grip on it)

(yeah I said get a grip on a man member. put that in your pipe and smoke it.)
posted by iconomy at 2:05 PM on August 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

This discussion just got so sexy.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:13 PM on August 25, 2008

(yeah I said get a grip on a man member. put that in your pipe and smoke it.)

Well, since you insist..
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 2:33 PM on August 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

And let us not forget Dundee's favorite daughter vamping on goldenboy Democrat Barack Obama back in 02-25-05.
posted by y2karl at 2:34 PM on August 25, 2008

marxchivist, what happened to amberglow?
posted by infinitewindow at 2:44 PM on August 25, 2008

"we worship an awesome God in the blue states" is still the dumbest thing I have ever heard a grown person say.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:57 PM on August 25, 2008

Let the circle-jerk recommence!

What the fuck? Eideteker, I used to listen to what you had to say. You made sense, you talked straight and you seemed pretty smart - all while advocating a sort of tolerance, patience and wisdom.

These days? Not so much on all fronts, including the part about me listening. You ok?
posted by loquacious at 2:58 PM on August 25, 2008

Eideteker isn't as funny as he used to be.
posted by quonsar at 3:34 PM on August 25, 2008

drjimmy11: it's really only dumb because the word "awesome" has been contaminated by its association with slacker/stoner/surfer culture. "We worship an awe-inspiring God" would've avoided that association, but would've been rhythmically jarring.

In my experience, most of the clergy use "awesome" in its original sense often enough that the line undoubtedly connected with the people it was aimed at.
posted by Riki tiki at 3:45 PM on August 25, 2008

And here I thought those people singing "Our God is an Awesome God" on tv were all high.
posted by puke & cry at 3:54 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Eideteker isn't as funny as he used to be.

It's cool, neither are you.
posted by danb at 4:15 PM on August 25, 2008

What do you call it when someone doesn't get irony?
posted by found missing at 4:30 PM on August 25, 2008

What do you call it when someone doesn't get irony?

Irony Deficiency.
posted by R. Mutt at 4:37 PM on August 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

What do you call it when someone doesn't get irony?

danb.
posted by quonsar at 4:38 PM on August 25, 2008

The Dental Assisting National Board, Inc. (DANB) is recognized by the American Dental Association as the premier national certification and testing agency ...
posted by R. Mutt at 4:42 PM on August 25, 2008

Well, this is going nowhere good.
posted by josher71 at 4:45 PM on August 25, 2008

What do you call it when someone doesn't get irony?

I Ron Hubbard.
posted by yeti at 4:50 PM on August 25, 2008

Well, this is going nowhere good.

True. I think I'm off to order an official McCain key chain from his electronic computerized online store computer.
posted by R. Mutt at 4:54 PM on August 25, 2008

You know how the Discovery Channel has "Shark Week"? Apparently MetaTalk has "Retard Week". And it starts... NOW.

Actually, like, Friday, so hopefully it will end sooner.
posted by GuyZero at 4:57 PM on August 25, 2008

Holy crap, AskMe has been around for 4 years?
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 4:58 PM on August 25, 2008

What do you people have against circle jerks?
posted by Sailormom at 5:51 PM on August 25, 2008

Not a thing.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 6:17 PM on August 25, 2008

All the SEO totally kills it.
posted by Artw at 6:19 PM on August 25, 2008

(which, in a refreshing change, derailed into a discussion of Canadian politics)

If Harper takes a couple more months to officially say "Fuck it, I'm going to try for a majority government!", our elections will align like cosmic gasbags and every USElectionFilter post could be derailed with Canadian politics.

On election night, we could camp out in the latest one and communally liveblog the ~30 minutes of TV coverage before the CBC makes its projection.
posted by CKmtl at 6:25 PM on August 25, 2008

I Ron Hubbard.

Inna Booka Dia Neta Baby
Don't you know that they rule you-ooh
Inna Booka Dia Neta Baby
I'm theta clear it's true-ue-ue

*drum solo*
posted by jonmc at 6:54 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Phase II of Operation: jonmc jr. is in full effect. Soon, every MeTa thread will be about me!
posted by Eideteker at 7:35 PM on August 25, 2008

Assassination attempt broken up.
posted by empath at 7:51 PM on August 25, 2008

Whoa.
posted by lunit at 8:00 PM on August 25, 2008

Uncool, white supremacists
posted by found missing at 8:07 PM on August 25, 2008

Uncool, white supremacists are uncool

Fixed that for you.
posted by Caduceus at 8:13 PM on August 25, 2008

I feel like, you know, I don't even know you anymore, white supremacists.

Seriously, that's pretty fucked, but I look forward to seeing the non-Kos treatment.
posted by cortex at 8:16 PM on August 25, 2008

Is this where a person can mention that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a douchebag and a half?

Good. 'cause he is.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:54 PM on August 25, 2008

cortex: here you go!
posted by jtron at 9:07 PM on August 25, 2008

Thanks to the powers that be that they got caught in time.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:24 PM on August 25, 2008

Is this where a person can mention that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a douchebag and a half?

+1
posted by klanawa at 9:26 PM on August 25, 2008

I hate Colorado nazis.
posted by bardic at 9:27 PM on August 25, 2008

I hate Colorado nazis.

Fixed that for you. Seriously, we're giving white supremisists way too much benefit of the doubt here tonight.
posted by Caduceus at 9:36 PM on August 25, 2008

Did I miss irony somewhere? Damn. *thumps irony detector*
posted by Riki tiki at 9:37 PM on August 25, 2008

I'm afraid I gotta kinda admire the sort of neo-nazi who would jump out of a six storey window to evade police. That's some serious fucked-up ballsiness there, that is.

May the bastards rot in prison.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:48 PM on August 25, 2008

The three key moments of the night for me were The Obama's with their kids.

Juan Williams, teary eyed, comments on Michelle's speech.

Also, there was a somewhat awkward moment on MSNBC afterwards where Rachel Maddow touched Pat Buchanan's arm, and said that the speech reminded her of when she was 19 years old, and Pat Buchanan gave his culture war speech, and she compared it to Gore and Clinton, and she said that she decided to vote for Bill Clinton because she felt that she could be part of their America, and that at least they wouldn't hate her (I assume for being gay). Pat seemed a bit speechless after that.

Sometimes it's easy to fall into this trap that it's all a game and they're all actors, but there are real people behind those podiums and behind those desks.
posted by empath at 10:56 PM on August 25, 2008 [4 favorites]

If Harper takes a couple more months to officially say "Fuck it, I'm going to try for a majority government!", our elections will align

I keep thinking about running in the next one, whenever Dion 'decides' to do it, but always come up against my contempt and loathing for the people and place I live. And now that I've confessed that, I really don't have a snowball's chance in hell.

What do you people have against circle jerks?

Dude, I get uncomfortable if I notice somebody is watching me blow my nose.

Also: People who append -Nazi to whatever they're passionate about as though it's so cute and clever should have to spend some time with Colorado NaziNazis.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:18 PM on August 25, 2008

Pat seemed a bit speechless after that.

Pat Buchanan is the most human of the right wing talking heads. The guy actually does not favor endless war for no reason!

I hope he gets to hang out with Rachel more often and do some more living, learning, and loving. Ideally, in a montage scored with uplifting yet reserved music.
posted by ignignokt at 12:34 AM on August 26, 2008

Just when I start to think Buchanan is actually a principled, intelligent, and compassionate conservative of the Buckley/Goldwater ideal, he goes and writes a book about how defeating the Nazi's was a bad idea.

So yeah, the dude is complicated. And I'm gonna keep thinking of him as a douchenozzle. An interesting douchenozzle, but a douchenozzle nonetheless.
posted by bardic at 12:40 AM on August 26, 2008

Didn't Molly Ivins say of Buchanan's convention barn burner speech back in 1992, "It was better in the original German"?

I think so. Damn straight. That dude is an unrepentant racist.
posted by fourcheesemac at 12:52 AM on August 26, 2008

The guy actually does not favor endless war for no reason!

Hmm. He doesn't favor endless war because he's an America-first isolationist. I don't think he has any problem with war per se, or killing.

He's "human," sure. He puts on a good act as an old-time Irish ward pol, just the old fashioned harmless kind of bigot.

But make no mistake. He's a bigot.
posted by fourcheesemac at 12:55 AM on August 26, 2008

And wow, the Obama girls were just something else, as was Michelle. I think it was Sasha who chirped "I love you daddy" and "what city are you in." (She also had a really charming moment of gavel pounding on the podium during the morning rehearsals.)

I think that little girl just punched the lights out of the McCain candidacy. And if the right wing in the US had the capacity to feel shame, it would be shamed for the way it has slimed the Obamas.

You can't fake the love that holds that family together. What good people.

I heard Michael Beschloss say that Michelle's speech was good for "four million votes." Let's hope that's even half true and we have this thing nailed down.
posted by fourcheesemac at 1:04 AM on August 26, 2008

A little OT, but does anyone know what was up with Jimmy Carter's left eye last night? It appeared as if he had burst several blood vessels, rendering his sclera a crimson red. A cursory google search hasn't turned up anything.

Zombie Carter will eat your brrraaaaaaaiiiiinnnnnsss.
posted by shiu mai baby at 4:27 AM on August 26, 2008

It appears you are not the only one who noticed.
posted by cortex at 6:16 AM on August 26, 2008

HEY MAYBE YAHOO! ANSWERS CAN HELP
posted by cortex at 6:19 AM on August 26, 2008

The story of how Obama got the keynote address in 2004 even though he was mostly unknown.
posted by Kattullus at 6:49 AM on August 26, 2008

Oh, and the TNR DNC drinking game:

Take a drink if anyone you're watching with describes Bill Richardson as "the smoking hot governor of New Sex-ico."

Take a drink every time Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper humiliates a Republican...also known as "getting Hickenloopered."


Take a drink every time Hillary says something bad about Obama in the secret code language that all white people know.


Take a drink every time a Democrat follows up the Pledge of Allegiance with a chuckle and a "Just kidding."

posted by Kattullus at 6:51 AM on August 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Pat seemed a bit speechless after that.

Video for that, anyone? Reverse schadenfreude is so delicious.
posted by Happy Dave at 8:19 AM on August 26, 2008

Hey, the TNR drinking game reminds me of the one I did during the Republican primaries, where I took a shot every time Giuliani brought up 9/11.

I suffered from alcohol poisoning within hours.
posted by quin at 8:35 AM on August 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

For the love of god do not ever attempt to play the McCain drinking game: Take a shot every time he mentions being a POW. Take an extra shot if it is a total non sequitur to the conversation at hand (ala on Leno).

You could attempt this with kool-aid and still die of alcohol poisoning.
posted by Riemann at 9:44 AM on August 26, 2008 [2 favorites]

Video for that, anyone?

I live to serve.

As a "me too", I'm always amazed, considering how reasonable and honorable Buchanan seems on modern networks, to remember things like his culture war speech. I wonder which Buchanan is the real Buchanan. And I wonder just as strongly if it matters.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 6:12 PM on August 26, 2008 [2 favorites]

That video is awesome, thanks John Kenneth Fisher.
posted by Happy Dave at 5:36 AM on August 27, 2008

I had to come back this morning.

Barack Obama just hit a grand slam home run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th with his speech last night. He is the greatest orator of our generation, hands down. There is no longer even the slightest doubt about his substance. Fuck yeah.

McCain's people must be pounding on their pillows in frustration.
posted by fourcheesemac at 5:27 AM on August 29, 2008