The Obama Drama

I was there too. (0.00 / 0)

It was quite an experience.  First, the crowd was very excited and hyped.  It was like a crowd and level of excitement you would see about a week before the Primary typically.  It was a very diverse crowd; age, income, and race. I think there were a lot of people from out of state. I saw many Massachusetts license plates in the parking garage.  I read somewhere that people from 37 states bought tickets.

His speech was not as electrifying as his convention speech, but good.  He is inspiring and visionary.  One of the things I liked about him, he gave the impression of being humble.  In other words, he realized that the phenomenon with him was more about the voters wanting something different than what they have now, rather than so much about him personally.  Too many of these candidates are so full of themselves.

Being "different" than a typical politician, is his strongest suit and it plays well against someone like Senator Clinton or Senator Bayh. It remains to be seen whether the voters will ultimately choose vision and inspiration over experience and substance.  Do I see him going toe to toe with someone like McCain?  I am not sure how that dynamic plays out.

It would be interesting to see him in a small room, taking questions from people and hearing his answers.  His speech was very general, lacking in specifics which was understandable at this point considering the setting and the crowd. He hit all the standard topics, including energy independence, the war in Iraq, healthcare, etc. I think the true test will be the small setting.  The question is whether we will ever see him in such a setting because he has such a rock star status.

---

by: gradysdad @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 07:12:46 AM CST

The crowd was the most amazing part. (4.00 / 1)

It was a crowd to die for. I think Obama was responsible for much of that. The sweeping victory we had didn't hurt either.

The speech was not much evolved from what we saw in 2004, though that is not necessarily a bad thing. Underneath the rhetoric there is a tension between the two sides of Obama's rhetoric - On the one hand he is preaching a populist, let's take America back message, and on the other he preaching against us v. them politics. The examples he gave of Americans banding together in hope were mostly those of violent conflict and us v. them: Rev. War, Civil War, Civil Rights Movement.

It will be intersting to see how he resolves that.

I have to admit though, I'm not one much for speeches. I want to see the small rooms, I want to see his wonk cred.

I actually (as crazy as this sounds) enjoyed listening to Mike Gravel argue with his audience in the Cheshire Dems office more. Not because of Gravel's positions, but because that's the kind of politics I like. I'm really looking forward to seeing Obama in the small rooms, and will be glad when the celebrity wears off a bit and he has to flip pancakes while discussing how to fix Social Security.

---

by: Mike Caulfield @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 07:45:53 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Reagan 1980 (0.00 / 0)

That may have been the only other "rock star" campaign of the modern era. He started right off packing big venues. I'm not sure he ever scheduled any living room gatherings. (I haven't followed GOP primary campaigns closely.)

I assume Obama will at least need to sit down with the editors of the local papers.

---

by: elwood @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 08:19:15 AM CST

[ Parent ]

If Senator Obama does decide to run for President, (0.00 / 0)

we are obviously going to be seeing a lot more of him in New Hampshire. As a result, the crowds at his events are going to be more in line with what we are all used to in visits from the Presidential candidates.

Plus as more candidates commit to running and start heading to New Hampshire more often, it's going to harder for any one candidate to draw big crowds.

Just like any other candidate that comes to New Hampshire, Sen. Obama going to attend the traditional house parties with the small crowds and face the tough questions that Granite Staters are known for.

One thing I know for sure at this point, 2007 is going to be a great year to be involved in presidential politics in New Hampshire. The primary is probably going to be one of the most exciting in decades.

---

by: Evan Carlson @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 15:09:16 PM CST

[ Parent ]

If you want a sense of Obama's wonkishness... (4.00 / 1)

You should check out the hour-long 2006 Charlie Rose interview up on Google Video.  Although he doesn't have a full platform for every issue, the sheer depth of his thinking on each individual issue is remarkable, particularly by comparison with his opponents.  A lot of the red-meat discussion, by the way, is in the second half hour.  There's also a good John Edwards interview for comparison, and I admit he's not entirely without his merits.

After watching the video, I'm more convinced than ever that Obama's secret is that he's an actually a sober, egghead constitutional law professor, not a traditional politician.  Unlike previous candidates of his intellectual caliber, however, he comes off as a confident, alpha leader and is smart enough to have developed an effective speaking style.

---

by: Nissl @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 13:56:26 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I suspect Senator Obama (0.00 / 0)

had a "So THAT'S what it's like to run for President!" moment when he decided to swap a $250 return flight on a commercial airliner for a $11,000 charter, so he had a couple of hours extra time here.

---

by: elwood @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 07:37:00 AM CST

I've left my reactions at (0.00 / 0)

http://blogforameric...

also on my blog at DFNH

---

by: hannah @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 08:09:46 AM CST

My semi coherent (0.00 / 0)

thoughts are over at newhampshire08.com Obama Headlines ManchVegas

Hope > Fear



Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

---

by: Mike Hoefer @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 08:16:46 AM CST