Obama Keeps It Real
Barack Obama in Oakland
Obama's campaign speech -- delivered on a gloriously sunny day with the elegant backdrop of Oakland's historic City Hall -- drew an enormous crowd that snaked for blocks throughout the downtown and filled the plazas and streets nearby. And the mood had the feel of a community picnic, with merchants selling Obama T-shirts, rap musicians hawking their wares, and a wide range of supporters, from curious Democrats and loyal grassroots activists to families with children.
I saw the Senator from Illinois speak at a church in Cleveland, OH, a couple nights before the midterm elections. He was stumping for Sherrod Brown. The crowd was full of black families, with many of the kids wearing 'Obama' shirts, and this was months before he had declared. I knew then he was going to run, and that he had a shot at winning. It was audience that the parents were proud of this young man, and that the children looked to him as a hero in the making: the first black president. He's handsome, he's charismatic, he's smart, and most of all, he is fierce. His BA from Columbia hasn't made him smug. His stint in the Senate hasn't dulled his senses. Anyone who thinks that he isn't "black enough" to carry votes in a place like Oakland is an idiot.
