I wish I were there

Posted on November 9, 2012 by admin

 

 

Friday, November 9, 2012

I wish I were there

Obama Sheds Tears Thanking Campaign Workers

“I’m proud of you,” he told them

By BJ Lutz
|  Thursday, Nov 8, 2012  |  Updated 9:06 PM CST
President Barack Obama was among those who got teary eyed Wednesday during a surprise visit to his Chicago-based 2012 campaign headquarters.
“What you guys have done means that the work that I’m doing is important, and I’m really proud of that. I’m really proud of you,” he said before choking up, turning his head and wiping away a tear.
The president spoke for about five minutes into a microphone while hundreds of volunteers, many of whom climbed desks to get a better vantage point, listened intently.
When the president’s emotions became visible, the room erupted into applause in a unified show of support.
The Commander in Chief told the campaign workers he had no doubt they would go on to do “just amazing things.”

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President Barack Obama reduced to tears

8 November 2012 Last updated at 22:15 ET Help
President Barack Obama was reduced to tears when thanking his campaign staffers at his Chicago headquarters.
The talk was captured on video and posted to YouTube.
In his speech which lasted over five minutes, the president said he was really proud of everyone “because what you guys have done means that the work that I’m doing is important, and I’m really proud of that, and I’m really proud of all of you’”.

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Tearful Obama thanks campaign team as Democrats ponder next moves

President tears up addressing team at campaign headquarters, while advisers discuss how to maintain ‘ground game’
  • Staff and agencies
  • guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 November 2012 21.19 EST
Barack Obama thanks members of his team at campaign headquarters.
Video: barackobama.comBarack Obamawelled up with tears while delivering an emotional speech to his team at campaign headquarters in Chicago the day after he was re-elected as US president. He spoke about how he got into politics and thanked those present for their work.”You are so much better than I was, in so many ways,” he said. “You’re smarter, more organised, more effective. I’m absolutely confident that all of you are going to do amazing things.”
“Even before last night’s results, I felt that the work that I’d begun by running for office had come full circle because the work that you’ve done means that the work that I’m doing is improved. And I’m really proud of that. I’m really proud of all of you.”
“Whatever good we do over the next four years will pale in comparison to what you guys end up accomplishing for years and years to come. And that’s my source of hope.”
Obama’s first campaign famously left offices open in swing states after 2008 to boost his re-election effort in 2012, but it is unclear what will now happen to the infrastructure that helped secure him two terms in office.
Democratic political advisers, in a conference call with reporters on Thursday, said they would be discussing with his supporters how to move on, but suggested that potential party candidates in future elections could not assume the Obama ground apparatus would automatically be at their disposal.
“You just can’t transfer this,” said David Plouffe, a senior White House adviser who managed Obama’s campaign four years ago.
“People are not going to spend hours away from their families and their jobs, contributing financially when it’s hard for them to do it unless they believe in the candidate.”
Jim Messina, Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, said his team would initiate a process with the volunteers who made up the multistate infrastructure that turned out voters for Obama.
“We’re going to go through a process with our supporters and have a conversation with them about what they want to do next, and we’ve always listened to the ground game, listened to our supporters,” he said.
“We are going to spend some time learning the lessons from the other night before we start thinking about 2014 or 2016.”
The much-heralded ground game is considered one of the keys to Obama’s victory, in which he won nearly all of the major battleground states.
Democrats who are considering running for president in 2016 would be delighted to tap into the lists of names, technology, and knowhow that the Obama team amassed, but Plouffe warned that it was not as simple as taking over such assets.
“For candidates who want to try and build a grassroots campaign, it’s not going to happen because there is a list or because you have the best technology. That’s not how this works,” Plouffe said.
“They have to build up that kind of emotional appeal so that people are willing to go out there and spend the time and their resources and provide their talents because they believe in someone and in what you’re offering,” he said.
“The only reason that all this happened on the ground – whether it was 08 or this time … was because they believed in Barack Obama.”

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|CNN Politics

Obama gets emotional talking to campaign staff
November 8th, 2012
08:15 PM ET
6 hours ago

Obama gets emotional talking to campaign staff

Posted by

(CNN) – Video of President Barack Obama’s visit Wednesday to his campaign headquarters in Chicago shows the newly re-elected commander in chief becoming emotional while heralding the hard work of his young staffers.
“I am absolutely confident that all of you are going to do amazing things in your lives,” Obama says in the video, which was posted on his campaign’s official Youtube page Thursday.
In his brief speech to the young crowd, Obama drew parallels to the work his team had just finished and the community organizing post he took up when he first moved to the Windy City at 25, saying his campaign team was “so much better than I was” at accomplishing their goals.
Toward the end of his five-minute-long remarks, Obama got choked up telling the staffers how proud he was of their hard work.
“Even before last night’s results, I felt that the work I had done in running for office had come full circle. Because what you guys have done means that the work I am doing is important. And I’m really proud of that. I’m really proud of you,” Obama said, wiping away tears.
The show of emotion – extremely rare for Obama – was met with loud applause.
“What you guys have accomplished will go in the annals of history,” Obama said.
At his final campaign rally Monday in Iowa, a few tears rolled down Obama’s cheek as he delivered his last stump speech.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, speaking on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight,” said he found Obama’s emotional display in the campaign video “incredibly moving.”
“Putting aside whose side you’re on, who you voted for, to see a president of the United States being that raw, that emotional with his campaign volunteers and to see Barack Obama openly weeping at one stage, very unusual, very moving,” said Patrick, a Democrat.
Dan Rather, the former CBS anchor, said the moment was “unique in the history of the American presidency.”
“I’m not sure there has ever been any American president, perhaps no world leader that I know of in my lifetime, who has come out with that raw emotion in a very attractive way,” Rather said on CNN. “Again, whether you like his politics or not, for a lot of people this is going to be a case of ‘the ice man cracketh’ because he had this image of President Barack Obama as cool, ice water in his veins kind of person, and he can be that way.”
Filed under: 2012 • President Obama


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A tale of two Obama acceptance speeches

Video: Watch video highlights of President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech delivered to supporters in Chicago, Ill., early Wednesday morning.

By , Published: November 7

The crowd was smaller, warmer, yet still electric with the thrill of victory, even if it seemed more like a shared sense of relief more than an aura of limitless possibility. The victory was bigger, perhaps, than expected, but not nearly as big as the time before. And the newly elected president, the man delivering the speech, was older, wiser and once again soaring in his rhetoric—but also noticeably chastened in his expectation for change.For those who stayed awake for President Obama’s acceptance speech, which was delivered just before 2 a.m. on the East Coast, many heard echoes of 2008, calling it “the best speech Obama has given since the 2008 campaign” or wondering why the president hadn’t delivered this speech at the convention. He offered a familiar, full-throated and passionate vision for the country, one that was praised as “Lincolnian in its cadences” and that had been trampled during the campaign by poll-tested practicalities and on-message talking points.
Leading for Change

A tale of two Obama victory speeches

A tale of two Obama victory speeches

Jena McGregor NOV 7
To compare the two speeches is to see a leader who has learned much about how divided the country stands and how difficult change can be.

What makes an excellent president

What makes an excellent president

Tom Fox NOV 6
The author of The President as Leader talks about the four leadership qualities that define excellence in the White House.
Indeed, the speeches had remarkably similar refrains. Both mentioned red states and blue states. Both included references to this country’s opportunities, no matter whether “you’re back or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight.” (That was from 2012; it was only the order that was different four years before.) Both even had references to the dogs he would (2008) or would not (2012) buy for his daughters.But to compare the two speeches is to see a leader who has learned much about how divided the country stands and how difficult change can be. Obama may have included plenty of references to hope in Tuesday night’s remarks, but he was also careful to say he wasn’t talking “blind optimism” or “wishful idealism.” He only used the word “change” once, and this time it invoked what won’t change: the controversy and political opinion that “won’t change after tonight, and it shouldn’t.”
It was a far cry from “change has come to America” and the “true genius of America: that America can change,” both memorable moments from the 2008 speech. There was plenty of truth to those statements, but also an element of presumption.
This time, the rhetoric was tempered with realism. Rather than invoking “a new spirit of patriotism” and reminding us that Lincoln said “we are not enemies but friends” who “must not break our bonds of affection”— lines from the 2008 speech—Obama repeatedly acknowledged the painful realities of divisive politics. In 2012, he called political arguments “a mark of our liberty” and admitted “we will disagree, sometimes fiercely, about how to get there.” His tone was positive, hopeful, but also restrained and sober about the challenges he’ll face.
Conservative opinion writers are again calling Obama’s 2012 win one of “hope over experience.” But after four years of trying to lead a country so bitterly divided, it’s clear from the two acceptance speeches that this is a leader who has learned something from his four years in office. Changing our political dysfunction is less about ending our differences or stopping our political acrimony, the president seems to know now, and more about leading the country toward some semblance of common ground. He now faces the extraordinary challenge of helping us find it.
Jena McGregor is a columnist for the Washington Post’s On Leadership section.
More from On Leadership:
What makes an excellent president
Like On Leadership? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter:
@post_lead | @jenamcgregor | @lily_cunningham
FarRtWing
11/8/2012 6:40 AM EST
I do not believe you can look at the election results and fail to realize that the nation is divided more than it was four years ago along racial lines.That is not by accident and it does not come without a price.
The Republican establishment has tried since November 2008 to paint Obama as an “affirmative action” president, “unworthy” of his election. It no doubt helped lead to venom and vitriolic hatred that was spewed on this very website over the last two years.
And it was politically unnecessary. It was a foolish gambit that backfired.
There were plenty of minorities who wondered if Obama hadn’t paid his dues and was unprepared for prime time or had any plans for moving the country FORWARD. That was understood from DAY ONE.
But rather than make that argument absent the racial overtones, the Republican leadership decided that it would do all it could to publicly disrespect President-elect and later President Obama because of the color of his skin.
And it was this style of leadership against which the minorities of this country joined with liberal white men and white women frightened by the anti- abortion, pro-rape rhetoric that even found Mitt Romney unwilling or unable to condemn or control.
This second speech was boiler plate. In the next few weeks, President Obama has to find away to address the elephant in the room. He has to find a way to tell the Republican leadership, “I’m black; get over it and let’s move FORWARD.”
Slim_in_PRM
11/8/2012 3:57 AM EST
I wish President Obama the best, but it’s not yet clear that he learned anything. Has he learned that dependency on government reduces self esteem? That woman should aspire to freedom, not dependency(Life of Julia)? That increasing the tax base is preferable to raising rates and borrowing? He will have to backpedal on a lot of things to show he is even capable of learning. I truly hope he does. Perhaps he will yet congratulate Mitt Romney for teaching him these things–that would be hope and change!
FarRtWing
11/8/2012 6:42 AM EST
THINK: Banks and businesses (including farms) that have received subsidies, government contracts and bailouts LONG BEFORE and will continue to do so LONG AFTER Obama.

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The White House Emblem

 

President Barack Obama

Barack H. Obama is the 44th President of the United States.
His story is the American story — values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others.
With a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, President Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. He was raised with help from his grandfather, who served in Patton’s army, and his grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management at a bank.
After working his way through college with the help of scholarships and student loans, President Obama moved to Chicago, where he worked with a group of churches to help rebuild communities devastated by the closure of local steel plants.
He went on to attend law school, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Upon graduation, he returned to Chicago to help lead a voter registration drive, teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and remain active in his community.
President Obama’s years of public service are based around his unwavering belief in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose. In the Illinois State Senate, he passed the first major ethics reform in 25 years, cut taxes for working families, and expanded health care for children and their parents. As a United States Senator, he reached across the aisle to pass groundbreaking lobbying reform, lock up the world’s most dangerous weapons, and bring transparency to government by putting federal spending online.
He was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008, and sworn in on January 20, 2009. He and his wife, Michelle, are the proud parents of two daughters, Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11.

Learn more about President Obama’s spouse, First Lady Michelle Obama.

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Barack Obama

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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“Barack” and “Obama” redirect here. For other uses, see Barak (disambiguation) and Obama (disambiguation).
For President Obama’s father, the Kenyan economist, see Barack Obama, Sr.
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Barack Obama
A portrait shot of Barack Obama, looking straight ahead. He has short black hair, and is wearing a dark navy blazer with a blue striped tie over a light blue collared shirt. In the background are two flags hanging from separate flagpoles: the American flag, and the flag of the Executive Office of the President.
44th President of the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 20, 2009
Vice President Joe Biden
Preceded by George W. Bush
United States Senator
from Illinois
In office
January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008
Preceded by Peter Fitzgerald
Succeeded by Roland Burris
Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 13th District
In office
January 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004
Preceded by Alice Palmer
Succeeded by Kwame Raoul
Personal details
Born Barack Hussein Obama II
August 4, 1961 (age 51)[1]
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.[2]
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Michelle Robinson (October 3, 1992–present)
Children Malia (born 1998)
Sasha (born 2001)
Residence White House (Official)
Chicago, Illinois (Private)
Alma mater Occidental College
Columbia College (B.A.)
Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Profession Community organizer
Lawyer
Constitutional law professor
Author
Religion Christianity[3]
Awards Nobel Peace Prize
Signature Barack Obama
Website barackobama.com
This article is part of a series on
Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II (Listeni/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, running unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 2000.
Several events earned Obama national attention during his campaign to represent the State of Illinois in the United States Senate in 2004, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won the Senate election in November 2004. After a close race in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries, he won his party’s nomination against Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In November 2012, he was elected to a second term as president, defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
In his first term as president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 in response to the 2007–2009 recession in the United States. Other major domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010, and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In foreign policy, Obama ended U.S. military involvement in the Iraq War, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered U.S. military involvement in Libya, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. In May 2012, he became the first sitting U.S. president to publicly support legalizing same-sex marriage.

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