I understand now.....
Aug. 29th, 2008 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osodecanelaI just finished watching Mr. Obama's acceptance speech, delivered last night. I'm grateful the NY Times website had it, uninterrupted and in it's entirety with the text alongside the video.
(You can find in here, by the way, and if you have not yet heard it, please go there NOW! http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/20080828_OBAMA_SPEECH.html#)
I have seen others post here about how elequent he was, and how inspiring; that this speech left them in tears. This is not hyperbole. I found myself in tears twice listening to him.
Mr. Obama now bears the mantle of change that was carried by those who both called and struggled for social reform and personal responsibility in this country. I heard elements of Dr. King, of JFK and RFK, even of FDR, and Jimmy Carter.
I heard his message, his call. He spoke of the things that once made this country great, the reason why my four grandparents left Vilna and Odessa, Leeds and Lithuania to come here, and my the patients I care for have fled Oaxaca and El Salvador, Laos and Cambodia, Eritrea and Bulgaria today. He spoke to me when he said "I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination." I was that gay man at my lover's bedside 9 years ago after his heart attack, and subsequent bi-pass surgery only because I held his durable power of attorney for healthcare, and not because I had lived with him for 18 years.
Barak Obama gets it. He sees what's wrong in this country and he wants to fix it.
This is a lot more than I can say about Mr. McCain, and I'm not even sure what to think about his chosen running mate.
I can honestly say if this country cannot unify to elect this man, we're not worth saving.
(You can find in here, by the way, and if you have not yet heard it, please go there NOW! http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/20080828_OBAMA_SPEECH.html#)
I have seen others post here about how elequent he was, and how inspiring; that this speech left them in tears. This is not hyperbole. I found myself in tears twice listening to him.
Mr. Obama now bears the mantle of change that was carried by those who both called and struggled for social reform and personal responsibility in this country. I heard elements of Dr. King, of JFK and RFK, even of FDR, and Jimmy Carter.
I heard his message, his call. He spoke of the things that once made this country great, the reason why my four grandparents left Vilna and Odessa, Leeds and Lithuania to come here, and my the patients I care for have fled Oaxaca and El Salvador, Laos and Cambodia, Eritrea and Bulgaria today. He spoke to me when he said "I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination." I was that gay man at my lover's bedside 9 years ago after his heart attack, and subsequent bi-pass surgery only because I held his durable power of attorney for healthcare, and not because I had lived with him for 18 years.
Barak Obama gets it. He sees what's wrong in this country and he wants to fix it.
This is a lot more than I can say about Mr. McCain, and I'm not even sure what to think about his chosen running mate.
I can honestly say if this country cannot unify to elect this man, we're not worth saving.
