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

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

Kattullus — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:31:42 -0800

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.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:37:26 -0800

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.

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:49:03 -0800

What, are you trying to become master of the gray posts too now?

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:51:54 -0800

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.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:58:37 -0800

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.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:01:45 -0800

Thanks for the look back, Kattullus.

By: Riemann

Riemann — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:19:05 -0800

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).

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:21:20 -0800

I demand a metatalk post regarding previous discussions of the posibility of a cranky old man becoming president.

By: Riemann

Riemann — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:21:40 -0800

*typo: should read "by nitwits on blogs and talking heads on cable news networks"

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:25:20 -0800

by nitwits on blogs

Hey! I resemble that remark!

By: grateful

grateful — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:32:26 -0800

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.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:36:21 -0800

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.

By: clearly

clearly — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:40:29 -0800

I assert that by 2025 politicians of all kinds will ride flying segways to thier respective offices.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:52:37 -0800

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!

By: DU

DU — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:14:02 -0800

navelgazeFilter

You can see your URL bar, right?

By: Riemann

Riemann — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:24:18 -0800

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.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:26:14 -0800

Metafilter: a dumping ground for pointless ...

Oh, wait. Redundant.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:27:38 -0800

> 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.

By: theclaw

theclaw — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:31:26 -0800

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

By: jouke

jouke — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:32:10 -0800

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.

By: cashman

cashman — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:55:17 -0800

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..

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:27:21 -0800

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

You go, girlfriend!

By: iconomy

iconomy — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:05:15 -0800

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.)

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:13:30 -0800

This discussion just got so sexy.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:33:29 -0800

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

Well, since you insist..

By: y2karl

y2karl — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:34:39 -0800

And let us not forget Dundee's favorite daughter vamping on goldenboy Democrat Barack Obama back in 02-25-05.

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:44:18 -0800

marxchivist, what happened to amberglow?

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:57:16 -0800

"we worship an awesome God in the blue states" is still the dumbest thing I have ever heard a grown person say.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:58:01 -0800

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?

By: quonsar

quonsar — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:34:09 -0800

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

By: Riki tiki

Riki tiki — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:45:50 -0800

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.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:54:36 -0800

And here I thought those people singing "Our God is an Awesome God" on tv were all high.

By: danb

danb — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:15:28 -0800

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

It's cool, neither are you.

By: found missing

found missing — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:30:58 -0800

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

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:37:41 -0800

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

Irony Deficiency.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:38:57 -0800

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

danb.

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:42:46 -0800

The Dental Assisting National Board, Inc. (DANB) is recognized by the American Dental Association as the premier national certification and testing agency ...

By: josher71

josher71 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:45:52 -0800

Well, this is going nowhere good.

By: yeti

yeti — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:50:30 -0800

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

I Ron Hubbard.

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:54:59 -0800

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.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:57:53 -0800

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.

By: mbd1mbd1

mbd1mbd1 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:58:47 -0800

Holy crap, AskMe has been around for 4 years?

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:51:26 -0800

What do you people have against circle jerks?

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:17:51 -0800

Not a thing.

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:19:17 -0800

All the SEO totally kills it.

By: CKmtl

CKmtl — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:25:58 -0800

(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.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:54:53 -0800

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*

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:35:05 -0800

Phase II of Operation: jonmc jr. is in full effect. Soon, every MeTa thread will be about me!

By: empath

empath — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:51:25 -0800

Assassination attempt broken up.

By: lunit

lunit — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:00:33 -0800

Whoa.

By: found missing

found missing — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:07:07 -0800

Uncool, white supremacists

By: Caduceus

Caduceus — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:13:07 -0800

~~Uncool,~~ white supremacists are uncool

Fixed that for you.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:16:14 -0800

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.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:54:26 -0800

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

Good. 'cause he is.

By: jtron

jtron — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:07:41 -0800

cortex: here you go!

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:24:18 -0800

Thanks to the powers that be that they got caught in time.

By: klanawa

klanawa — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:26:35 -0800

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

+1

By: bardic

bardic — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:27:13 -0800

I hate Colorado nazis.

By: Caduceus

Caduceus — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:36:08 -0800

I hate ~~Colorado~~ nazis.

Fixed that for you. Seriously, we're giving white supremisists way too much benefit of the doubt here tonight.

By: Riki tiki

Riki tiki — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:37:58 -0800

Did I miss irony somewhere? Damn. *thumps irony detector*

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:48:07 -0800

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.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:56:04 -0800

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.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:18:22 -0800

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.

By: ignignokt

ignignokt — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:34:05 -0800

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.

By: bardic

bardic — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:40:02 -0800

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.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:52:28 -0800

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.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:55:44 -0800

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.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:04:03 -0800

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.

By: shiu mai baby

shiu mai baby — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:27:03 -0800

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.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:16:37 -0800

It appears you are not the only one who noticed.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:19:04 -0800

HEY MAYBE YAHOO! ANSWERS CAN HELP

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:49:36 -0800

The story of how Obama got the keynote address in 2004 even though he was mostly unknown.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:51:58 -0800

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."

By: Happy Dave

Happy Dave — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:19:32 -0800

Pat seemed a bit speechless after that.

Video for that, anyone? Reverse schadenfreude is so delicious.

By: quin

quin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:35:46 -0800

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.

By: Riemann

Riemann — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:44:42 -0800

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.

By: John Kenneth Fisher

John Kenneth Fisher — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:12:30 -0800

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.

By: Happy Dave

Happy Dave — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:36:12 -0800

That video is awesome, thanks John Kenneth Fisher.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:27:12 -0800

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.