Video & Photos: Michelle Obama Speech Democratic National Convention 2008 8-25-08

Posted on Aug 25, 2008 - 11:55pm by Shallow Nation in Politics

Michelle Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention 2008, August 25, 2008

Michelle Obama, wife of presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama, delivered an inspiring speech at the Democratic National Convention 2008 (DNC) on August 25, 2008 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.

Monday night, Michelle took the stage for herself, not just to reaffirm how wonderful her husband is, and what a fine president he would make, but also to redefine herself. But before mounting the podium, she gathered herself backstage in a holding room near the lockers of Denver’s professional hockey team. Big moments demand big performances, and she seemed determined not to let the occasion rattle her, but to soar above it.

Michelle Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention 2008, August 25, 2008

Her brother, Craig Robinson, the Oregon State basketball coach and one of the Ivy League’s all-time leading scorers, was loose: “I’m terrific. Very excited.” But then he was summoned back to the holding room, to make sure he didn’t mess up the moment with some fashion faux pas. “My sister wanted to make sure my tie was straight,” he said. His bright orange tie.

Right before it was time to head onstage, Michelle took a deep breath, straightened the lines on her off-the-shoulder dress and then, to whoops from family and aides, walked down the hall like it was game time. She stood beneath the podium for a few minutes and listened to her brother introduce her.

Michelle Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention 2008, August 25, 2008

When it was finally her turn to address the convention delegates and a national televised audience, she described herself as a sister, a mom, a wife and a daughter, someone who loves her country and has tried to give back to it.

One day, she told the crowd, her children’s children and future generations will tell the story of “how this time we listened to our hopes, instead of our fears. How this time, we decided to stop doubting and to start dreaming.”

Batting first in the prime-time Democratic lineup may have put some extra pressure on her — she was super serious, barely able to find a smile during an early morning practice session in the convention hall here.

Michelle Obama with daughters Sasha and Malia after her speech at the Democratic National Convention 2008, August 25, 2008

Michelle Obama with daughters Sasha and Malia greeting Barack Obama who appears via satellite after her speech at the Democratic National Convention 2008, August 25, 2008

Michelle Obama with daughters Sasha and Malia

But by the time it was over, the blue Michelle signs were hoisted in every delegation, and she swayed her hips a little to Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely,” as daughters Sasha and Malia also got into the groove.

That dynamic duo tried to steal the show when their mother was done, telling their daddy, who appeared in the hall via video conference, that Mommy had done great. And that they loved him. And, “what city are you in, Daddy?” asked Sasha.

Source: A Defining Moment

Video & Photos: John Legend Democratic National Convention 2008 Performance “If You’re Out There”

Posted on Aug 25, 2008 - 9:55pm by Shallow Nation in Concerts, Politics, Music

John Legend performs at the Democratic National Convention 2008, August 25, 2008

Grammy Award winning R&B singer-songwriter John Legend performed “If You’re Out There” with the Agape Choir at the Democratic National Convention 2008 (DNC) at the Pepsi Center on August 25, 2008 in Denver, Colorado.

According to a statement, the song is an “anthemic call-to-action and evocation of human potential.” It includes such lines as “We’re the generation / We can’t afford to wait / The future started yesterday and we’re already late.”

“If You’re Out There” features the Agape Choir. It will be available via the Web site my.barackobama.com/johnlegend after the performance but can be purchased beforehand via iTunes.

The song will also be found on Legend’s next album, “Evolver,” due October 28 via Columbia.

Source: Legend debuting song at Democratic convention

Photo credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images North America

Barack Obama Time Magazine Cover September 1, 2008

Posted on Aug 25, 2008 - 9:07am by Shallow Nation in Magazines, Politics

Barack Obama Time magazine cover - Democratic convention issue, September 2008

Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama is on the cover of Time Magazine, September 1, 2008, Vol. 172 No. 9, and profiled in a feature article by David Von Drehle, “The Five Faces of Barack Obama,” that poses the question:

“When you look at Barack Obama, what do you see? 1. Black Man; 2. Healer; 3. Novice; 4. Radical; 5. The Future; All of the above.”

Open his book The Audacity of Hope to almost any page and listen. On immigration, for example, Obama first mirrors “the faces of this new America” he has met in the ethnic stew pot of Chicago: “in the Indian markets along Devon Avenue, in the sparkling new mosque in the southwestern suburbs, in an Armenian wedding and a Filipino ball.” Then he pivots to give voice to the “anxieties” of “many blacks” and “as many whites about the wave of illegal immigration,” adding: “Not all of these fears are irrational.” He admits that he knows the “frustration” of needing an interpreter to speak to one’s auto mechanic and in the next breath cherishes the innocent dreams of an immigrant child.

In other words, he hears America singing — and griping, fretting, seething, conniving, hoping, despairing. He can deliver a pitch-perfect expression of the racial anger of many American blacks — as he did in his much discussed speech on race relations earlier this year — and, just as smoothly, unpack the racial irritations gnawing at many whites. To what extent does he share any of those emotions? The doctor never exactly says.

Source: The Five Faces of Barack Obama (The full article is online)

See also Time Magazine interview with Senator Barack Obama: