Thursday 29 July 2004
The Windy City
Please don't get me confused with someone who gives a toss about politics, I waver from being vaguely interested to being completely bored and skeptical about the whole thing.
However living in the land of Uncle Sam in election year it is pretty damn hard not to take notice. It's all over the Media (TV adverts as well) and appears unnannounced in most conversations, particulary when most American people tend to have a viewpoint, a vocal one at that, on the subject.
So with decision day less than 100 days away (believe me that is close in American political terms) I thought I would show some interest (even though I cannot vote) and tune into a bit of the Democratic Convention in Boston. The word around the state of Illinois is that the Democrats have unearthed a gem in Barack Obama who should walk away with the race for the Senate here.
But on Tuesday night he showed his true potential with an uplifting key note address hynoptising a scarily estatic audience in Boston, home of Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry, with a message of Uniting the States and not dividing them. (more)
Obama's father was a goat herder in Africa who won a scholarship to study in America. His white mother was raised in Kansas by a couple who built a good life with educations they obtained through the GI Bill and a home they got with a federal loan.
Obama, 42, would become the Senate's only black member, and only the fifth black senator in history, if elected this fall. Harvard educated, Obama is a state senator who teaches law at the University of Chicago and seems to be in a one horse race in the State of Illinois as the Republicans are currently without a candidate after the disgraced Jack Ryan stepped aside. (more)
Now around these parts the P(resident) word is already being banded about and after his speech on Tuesday night his personal website's number of hits skyrocketed from 15 per second Tuesday afternoon to 355 per second that night! Now, I know jack, but when I was watching the baby faced state lawmaker the other night on TV, his presence and his words even made me think that I was watching the one day future President of the United States of America.
¶ 17:28
However living in the land of Uncle Sam in election year it is pretty damn hard not to take notice. It's all over the Media (TV adverts as well) and appears unnannounced in most conversations, particulary when most American people tend to have a viewpoint, a vocal one at that, on the subject.
So with decision day less than 100 days away (believe me that is close in American political terms) I thought I would show some interest (even though I cannot vote) and tune into a bit of the Democratic Convention in Boston. The word around the state of Illinois is that the Democrats have unearthed a gem in Barack Obama who should walk away with the race for the Senate here.
But on Tuesday night he showed his true potential with an uplifting key note address hynoptising a scarily estatic audience in Boston, home of Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry, with a message of Uniting the States and not dividing them. (more)
Obama's father was a goat herder in Africa who won a scholarship to study in America. His white mother was raised in Kansas by a couple who built a good life with educations they obtained through the GI Bill and a home they got with a federal loan.
Obama, 42, would become the Senate's only black member, and only the fifth black senator in history, if elected this fall. Harvard educated, Obama is a state senator who teaches law at the University of Chicago and seems to be in a one horse race in the State of Illinois as the Republicans are currently without a candidate after the disgraced Jack Ryan stepped aside. (more)
Now around these parts the P(resident) word is already being banded about and after his speech on Tuesday night his personal website's number of hits skyrocketed from 15 per second Tuesday afternoon to 355 per second that night! Now, I know jack, but when I was watching the baby faced state lawmaker the other night on TV, his presence and his words even made me think that I was watching the one day future President of the United States of America.
¶ 17:28
