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Shallow Nation

October 27th, 2008 at 11:23 pm

Video & Photos: Barack Obama Closing Argument Speech 10-27-08, Obama Presidency New York Magazine Cover November 3, 2008

Barack Obama New York Magazine cover November 3, 2008

Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama is on the cover of New York Magazine November 3, 2008 issue; “January 20, 2009…What an Obama Presidency Would Look Like.” Watch video of Barack Obama’s speech, “Closing Argument” and read the feature article by John Heilemann, “The Next New Deal: The huge opportunities—and huge risks—of a possible Obama administration.”

While YouTube becomes a vault of dire prognostication (See Obama Bombshell Redistribution of Wealth Audio Uncovered, for instance, and witness a complex discussion on Constitutional law become remixed as a Socialist nightmare. This “controversial” audio interview is intelligently discussed at length on Volokh Conspiracy ), Heilemann takes a look and sees FDR, not Karl Marx. For those who are tired of slogans and sound bites, this is a fascinating and weighty article.

Obama had been toying with vague FDR allusions for the past three days, but now he’s decided to lay his cards on the table and seize the mantle explicitly. With the specter of a full-blown depression looming, the Age of Roosevelt—the campaign he ran in 1932, the challenges he faced upon assuming office, the “bold, persistent experimentation” he called for and the New Deal edifice he erected in response—is much on the minds of the nominee and his inner circle. “A lot of people around Barack are reading books about FDR’s first hundred days,” says a member of Obama’s kitchen cabinet. “It’s a sign of the shift that’s going on emotionally: from being on this improbable mission to believing, Hey, we’re going to win.”[…]

But as the outcome of the race has begun to seem more certain with each passing day—with Obama’s lead in the polls healthy and showing few signs of diminishing, with John McCain’s campaign listing aimlessly and lapsing into rank self-parody, with Sarah Palin devolving into a human punch line—Democrats are slowly, haltingly allowing themselves to believe that victory is truly within their grasp, and hence to contemplate what comes next. Transition. Inauguration. Those first hundred days. Maybe even, perchance, with augmented majorities for the party in both the House and Senate all but in the bag, the dawning of a spanking-new era of Democratic dominion.

Source: New York Magazine-The huge opportunities—and huge risks—of a possible Obama administration

New York Magazine cover image source: Mark Pasetsky’s CoverAwards

Barack Obama Closing Argument speech, Canton, Ohio, October 27, 2008

Likewise, Barack Obama’s “Closing Argument” speech in Canton Ohio on October 27, 2008, outlines a substantive plan. He sought to address remaining doubts voters may have in this final week before the election.

While outlining his economic plan, Obama was sharply critical of the negative campaign tactics of the Republican McCain-Palin ticket, taking his opponents to task for “socialism” name calling and stating that “Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy.”

Barack Obama Closing Argument speech, Canton, Ohio, October 27, 2008

Responding to Republican allegations that have run the gamut from Obama being a socialist to Obama being the most liberal Presidential candidate ever to run, the candidate said,

I don’t believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems. You don’t believe that either. But I do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves — protect us from harm; provide a decent education for all children; invest in new roads and new bridges, in new science and technology. Our government should reward drive and innovation and encourage growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create American jobs, and look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.

Barack Obama Closing Argument speech, Canton, Ohio, October 27, 2008

It should ensure a shot at success, not just for those with money and power and influence, but for every single American who’s willing to work. That’s how we create not just more millionaires or more billionaires, but how we create more middle-class families. That’s how we make sure businesses have customers that can afford their products or services. That’s how we’ve always grown the American economy — from the bottom-up. John McCain calls this socialism.

Source full transcript: Obama closing argument speech. Transcript as delivered.

Photos: Barack Obama in Canton, Ohio, October 27, 2008 (Photo credit: Reuters)