Obama is a leader and a statesman.

I saw the Obama and Clinton, and part of the Biden speeches on Cspan last night (missed Edwards, dammit). I've been mostly disappointed by Obama of late, but his speech absolutely blew me away. From a progressive point of view, it was one of the best speeches I've ever heard by anyone. It was coherent, intelligent, and most of all, unabashedly progressive -- no triangulating this time.

If he keeps the tone, skill, and ideas he demonstrated last night going, I may end up being a fervent supporter after all. My only complaint: he returned to the "no red states no blue states, just the United States" line, which is good political rhetoric but, to my mind, knowingly unrealistic.

Watch this be the moment his momentum really kicks itself into gear. I'm speaking from optimism, but I really think Yepsen was right, and hopefully in a larger way than he put it in his column. I'd really like this to be the day that Obama fills his rightful place in the lead. I'm tired of his being "one of the frontrunners" rather than the frontrunner.

My only complaint: he returned to the "no red states no blue states, just the United States" line, which is good political rhetoric but, to my mind, knowingly unrealistic.

I think he's saying this to imply that a Clinton nomination/Presidency would put us back into the battles of the Nineties, and that he has the potential to sway enough of the people who lean red over to our side to create a working majority. The fact that the line echoes his 2004 convention speech allows him to rightly say that this isn't some new talking point he's picked up to attack Clinton with, but something fundamental to what he's all about.

It's unrealistic to think the divisions within our country will heal anytime soon, but if even a fraction of Republicans ("Reagan Democrats?") join our side we could start making some serious headway on important issues, and possibly solidify a real coalition. "Realignment" is the ultimate prize, and I suspect that's one thing Clinton can't deliver.

Can someone provide the Yepsen text referenced above? The link is not working. Thanks. JJ

That was a helluva speech. 3000 of the 9000 in attendance didn't hurt either

Lee, I guess my problem with that theme is that it sounds like the very kind of thing some dislike about Clinton and the Third Way. He might mean that he can win some red-staters over to real progressive ideas, but it sounds too much like Clinton-style overeagerness to compromise. Some irony there, no? I think in reality it's just a nice-sounding phrase that doesn't mean anything -- which is OK, that's how politics is done and it probably gets some less cynical hearts fluttering.

Like I said, though, that's just a minor carp. It was a great speech and if he can keep that spirit going he really might be our next president.

Jerry...here you go:

The leading Democratic presidential candidates showed up for the Iowa Democratic Party’s big Jefferson Jackson Dinner Saturday night.

Five of them gave really good speeches.

Barack Obama’s was excellent.

It was one of the best of his campaign. The passion he showed should help him close the gap on Hillary Clinton by tipping some undecided caucus-goers his way. His oratory was moving and he successfully contrasted himself with the others - especially Clinton - without being snide or nasty about it.

Historically, the iowa party’s “JJ” dinner is a landmark event in Democratic presidential caucus campaigns. All the key party activists, donors and players from the state are present. This year, about 9,000 of them showed up, most were from Iowa though there was some grumbling that Obama packed the place with people from Illinois. The charge was denied by the Obama people, who were clearly pleased they beat the other candidates in the noise war inside Veterans Memorial Auditorium.

A candidate who does well at a JJ is quickly in the political buzz around Iowa. A candidate who does poorly can be quickly written off by some important players in the party. Candidates also know the event provides them with an opportunity to sound new themes, launch new attacks or mount a defense of their weaknesses. Local and national observers show up to chronicle the changes.

Obama was particularly impressive Saturday night. Should he win the Iowa caucuses, Saturday’s dinner will be remembered as one of the turning points in his campaign in here, a point where he laid down the marker and began closing on Clinton, the national frontrunner. For example:

*He said the Iraq war “should have never been authorized and should have never been waged,” a shot at the votes Clinton and most of the others cast in favor of it.

*He said the nation has a “moment of great opportunity” and “we have a chance to bring the country together to tackle problems that George Bush made far worse and that festered long before George Bush took office.” Translation: Clinton is divisive and there were problems the Clinton era didn’t solve.

*He said “the same old Washington textbook campaigns just won’t do it in this election.” Translation: Democrats can’t win running a Bill Clinton campaign again.

*He said “Not answering questions because we’re afraid our answers just won’t be popular just won’t do it.” Translation: Clinton doesn’t take questions at some of her events. Now she’s bogged down in a flap over staffers planting questions for her when she does and this was neat way to remind Democrats of it without tweaking Clinton directly.”

*He said “telling Americans what they think they want to hear instead of telling the American people what they need to hear just won’t do it.” Translation: Obama is often inclined to say things party interest groups don’t want to hear - like the need for school reform, merit pay, more efficient cars or money to rebuild the military. She panders or is mushy.

*He said “triangulating and poll-driven positions because we’re worried what Mitt or Rudy might say about us just won’t do it.” He said he offers “change that is not just a slogan” and “change we can believe in.” Polls were a hallmark of the Clinton era.

*He said he wanted to “stop talking about the outrage of 47 million Americans without health care and start actually doing something about it.” That was a smooth way to remind the audience how Clinton’s effort at national health care failed.

*There were also references to not taking money from lobbyists. And he said “I am running for president because I am sick and tired of Democrats thinking the only way to look tough on national security it talking and acting and voting like George Bush Republicans.” Ouch.

His coup de grace came with this: “When I am the nominee of this party, the Republican nominee will not be able to say I voted for the war in Iraq, or that I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran, or that I support Bush-Cheney policies of not talking to leaders that we don’t like.”

“I don’t want to spend the next year or the next four years refighting the same fights that we had in the 1990s,” a reference to the polarization of the Clinton years. “I don’t want to pit red America against blue America.”

The speech was also noteworthy because of the hour it was given. He was the last one to speak and didn’t start until after 11 p.m. That’s because the Iowa party loaded up the program with a bunch of Iowa politicians, who, well, just aren’t in the same league with their presidential candidates but whose egos just couldn’t keep them off the big stage.

It was a little like listening to a long Beethoven symphony while having some kid play a Tonette between movements.

And Obama can sometimes be flat or tired when speaks late at night. He can meander or sound wonkish and hesitant. Not Saturday night. (He came fired up and ready to go, to borrow a phrase.) At one point, he invoked Martin Luther King and his cadence even included the uplifting touches and quavering voice of a traditional black preacher’s sermon.

While the Democratic candidates all had a good night, Obama clearly had the best. Now we’ll have to see if he’s got anything left for Tim Russert this morning. Obama faces one of the toughest questioners in the business on NBCs Meet the Press at 8 a.m. Iowa time after only a few hours of sleep.
http://blogs.dmregister.com/?cat=33

With all due respect to David Yepsen, I thought John Edwards' JJ speech was kind of a treat actually. He was fired up. This was a John Edwards I really haven't seen since early on in the 2003 campaign -- the one Bill Clinton said could talk the owls down out of the trees.

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4rqysXGj0o

I've only been able to find a one-minute clip of Clinton's so far.

DaveW: Some irony there, no?

Yeah, it's definitely ironic. How did the triangulating, "split the difference," DLC Democrat manage to inspire such wrath in so many? I guess it's that A) during the 90's the Repubs threw everything they had at the Clintons to see what sticked, and B) she recalls a stereotype of the "angry feminist" ("castrating bitch" is a phrase that gets tossed around).

It's totally unfair to Clinton. At the same time it's not exactly great for liberals if the Democrats put forward a candidate who the right reviles but who is politically closer to them than the rest of the Democrats. They get an adversary who both rallies their troops AND is relatively closer to them politically. Ugh.

Obama's speech was excellent, but you cede any rights to call yourself progressive by relying solely on David Yepsen. All of the candidates were on their game, but it was Edwards really blew the roof off the place.

Evidently Yepsen showed up too late to catch the Edwards speech.

Of course if experience mattered more than charisma when it came to "electability", there would have been no President Clinton, and President Gore would be in his second term.

Meantime, in the real world...

“The answer is so clear in the poll data … number one is strong leadership, the other is electability,” said Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science at Iowa State University.

An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll this also week found Clinton had a 76 percent to 41 percent lead among Democrats asked who had the knowledge and experience to be president.The NBC-Wall Street Journal poll this week found Clinton had a 76 percent to 41 percent lead among Democrats who were asked who had the knowledge and experience to be president.

Here's an interesting link to show how O-Bomb-A inflated the appearance of support by busing in out-of-state supporters:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4v5b8

Was it Maureen Down who referred to the O-Bomb-A campaign as one of smoke and mirrors and magazine covers? Right on the mark!

... but it is why Democrats will not nominate O-Bomb-A. Count on it.

Sorry, I gave the link to Arkansas's Jefferson Jackson dinner.

Here is the Iowa version, complete (as in all 4 hours) from c-span archives: javascript:playClip('rtsp://video.c-span.org/archive/c08/c08_111007_jjdinner.rm')

pacc,

I was just pointing out that what you linked was not particularly relevant, since the campaigns were already being upfront about bringing people from other states to the event. Personally, I have no idea how one would even go about determining whether the people inside the auditorium were from Iowa.

pacc, hilarious post as always. I encourage you to visit your link, and check at the bottom of the page for the RSVPs.

Jefferson Jackson Dinner - Mid-Atlantic to Iowa!! (Organizing)

Other Signups

6 people have signed up to attend this event.

I don't know why you're so consistently pissed off and bitter in your posts. You're doing your cause far more damage than good, thanks to your predictably biased postings. Each of us have our favored candidate, and plenty of differences of opinion, but it seems the Clinton supporters are most willing to regularly bait other readers with inflammatory arguments, childish insults, and counter-productive bickering.

Yes, pacc, I have absolutely no doubt you do have a bridge somewhere, if not in Brooklyn. You apparently live under one.

pacc,
the link you posted was related to canvassing in Iowa, not for attending the JJ dinner event.
Stop with the lies already. The tickets to the JJ dinner were sold to Iowans, not people from outside the state. Only Iowa residents were able to buy the tickets, whether online or in person (a driver's license or state ID was required).
Again...stop lying.

Sorry to complicate your caricature, but I'm genuinely undecided. Now why didn't you answer my question? All you offered was further invective. I'm not sure how else to interpret that, other than as a reflection of a lack of principle, substance, or whatever motivating your cause/campagin/project. If your only answer to my sincere question (i.e., "Why should I vote for the candidate you support?") involves irrelevant personal attacks then I guess the question answers itself.

I was sitting in the Obama section, and I was surrounded by dozens of my fellow supporters who I know personally from Iowa City. Each of those white lighted columns in the youtube video has the name of a county on it, and our people came from all 99 counties in Iowa. If 6 dedicated supporters came from Maryland too, that's terrific commitment on their part.

Anyone who was there knows that we won because Barack gave a knock-out speech, he can tout his principles because he never compromised them on issues like Iraq, and because our people were spontaneously getting up and cheering after everything he said. No other candidate inspires that kind of loyalty and love in his followers. It was just electric. I cheered until I couldn't speak anymore and I'd have kept going if I had a drum or something. I hope our energy can attract supporters of the other candidates to take a closer look at our guy. We are inspired to end the partisan battles of the last few decades, and inspired people are the ones who show up and caucus.

So these rumors that our 3,000 supporters were bused in from Chicago are totally unfounded. We're Iowans. They can keep smearing us though, because then the world will be even more surprised when we prove them wrong on Jan. 3.

Some Of You Make Me Sick To My Stomach,With This Obama S--T About How He Moves The Crowd And This Guy,Brian What Are You Some Kind Of Queer Or Something You Sounded Like You Had Just Gotten A......I'am Going To Let You Figure Than One Out.It's Alright To Suppport Your Candidates But To Make It Seem As If Obama Walks On Water Makes Me Sick To My Stomach,What Is He Going To Do When,A Perceived Threat Comes From China Over Taiwan,What Is He Going To Do When Russia Decides To Reignite The Cold War,What Is He Going To Do About The Capture Of Bin laden So What Is He Going To Do Then,Stand Up And Give Them A Speech Which Isn't All That Great From The Start.Whenever I Hear People Who Respond To Obama's Speeches The Only Substance I Get Out Of It Is I Get No Substance Out Of It And Neither Does He,It's Always How Beautyful His Speech Were,How He Moved The Crowds,How He Delivered You From Satan,How He Used All Of You For His Own Personal Gain And The Worst Part About This Whole Rhetoric Of His, Most Of You Don't Have The Common Sense To Realize When You've Been Used And Abused By This Harvard Plant Who Don't Know Or Care About your Needs Or Wants AnyWay.

There's no arguing it, the man is a far more likable person than HRC. Like it or not, that's a trait sorely lacking in our current president, and very much needed in the next. No one thinks were going to win over hoards of republicans and hold hands singing cumbayah anytime soon, but I'm tired of half the country hating the other half, and I want a candidate who will help to ameliorate the problem, not intensify it.

Thanks, Brian of Iowa. I think the naysayers on this site aren't yet ready to realize that Obama actually had 3,000 Iowa supporters at the dinner Saturday night. As a non-Iowa Obama supporter, I too got an e-mail about the event, but not to invite me to the dinner. That invite was to do canvassing and to join the pre-dinner rally and march.

Thanks for being part of the Iowan contingent for Obama. Your support section at the dinner was unbelievably impressive, Brian.