Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union' (Full Speech)

okay, i gotta say this - i love this man. i almost feel like if he got elected i have hope that maybe the states won't implode after all. maybe...

Also, i really really love this blog post on it. It's on Daily Kos, and I found it via a commenter on Nunc Sico

**UPDATE**

i think i'm going to actually write about another part of this, prompted by a discussion with a friend.

first, before anything else, you should know that apparently he wrote the speech himself - basically unheard of in politics. that's part of why it's so amazing.

second, i can't help thinking to myself "god i hope no one kills him", because, yeah, that seems to be the thing to do with people who are impassioned and influential.

i don't attribute any god-like qualities to him, but i do think he's an amazing man. i think it takes an amazing man to stand up and say those things when one of the first thing people think after is 'god i hope no one kills him', 'cause, lets be realistic here - there's no way he hasn't thought of that. i also think that he's smart, articulate and engaging, but not blaming, which gives him a shot at being heard.

my friend said that the states are already imploding, and i agree, the implosion has started, but i do think that this gives a glimmer of hope. if nothing else the way people have reacted to him gives a glimmer of hope.

i am certainly not naive enough to think that he's going to be able to effect big policy changes or shifts while he's in gov't, even if he manages to get elected, twice. 8 years in the world of politics is nothing (well, sort of, i guess bush did some impressive damage in 8 years, but destroying is easier and faster than healing i think). plus, he'll be completely mired in the political system. he'll be hamstrung and won't be able to effect change.

but... i do think he has a chance at effecting a change in thinking. igniting ideas that will inspire people to push for the policy change as the years go by. i feel like he has a chance at starting some momentum in a vaguely positive direction.

there is not enough of anything in this world to make me want to switch places with him, and there is a reasonable chance that he's going to give his life for this, either by being killed, or by self-destructing, i think he's an amazing man. and, his passion made me weep (although, to be fair, there's some of that which may be depression, but i don't know, i think it was actually being moved...)