RECLAIMING THE PROMISE TO THE PEOPLE: A BRIGHTER DAY—THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

When Barack was selected to give the speech that vaulted him into political orbit, the Democratic Party was looking for a fresh voice. John Kerry, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee at the time, had met Barack twice and was impressed with his ability to connect with an audience and his smooth, methodical manner. Barack was still a state senator, but his win in the primary for U.S. Senate was considered promising, because, at the time, he didn’t have a Republican opponent. Past keynote speakers included Mario Cuomo, Jesse Jackson, and Bill Clinton— esteemed company for a relatively unknown state politician from Illinois. In 2000, the keynote speech was delivered by Harold Ford of Tennessee. Ford, like Barack, was a young, dynamic African American, but, for many, his speech had fallen flat. When considering such an important speech he would give to an enormous national audience, Barack knew he wanted to deliver a speech that came from his heart, and he didn’t want anyone else to write it. He wanted to have control over what he would say. Once he began writing, in longhand, while campaigning and while in his state senate office, the words came easily. About writing the speech, Barack said, “This was not laborious, writing this speech. It came out fairly easy. I had been thinking about these things for two years at that point. I had the op- portunity to reflect on what had moved me the most during the course of the campaign and to distill those things. It was more a distillation process

than it was a composition process.” 28 Before giving the speech, Barack practiced it a few times. He’d never used a teleprompter before and had never spoken in front of such a large crowd. Once he stood at the podium,

he knew what he wanted to say.

“I was shivering, it was so good,” said MSNBC’s Chris

Matthews. Barack “. . . electrified the crowd here,” according to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

A woman descending an escalator as Barack and his entou- rage were ascending enthused, “I just cannot wait until you are president.”

T E A C H I N G C O N S T I T U T I O N A L L AW

To those gathered at the convention in Boston on July 27, 2004, Barack said, “Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely.” 29 The enormous crowd, many decked out in colorful hats and T-shirts and adorned with campaign but- tons, were more than galvanized. They were dizzy, they were mesmerized, and they were thrilled. Many asked, “Who is that tall, lanky black man?” Barack told the crowd, “I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents’ dreams live on in my precious daughters.

I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that, in no other country on earth, is my story even possible.” 30 At the end of his speech, the Democratic crowd was frenzied. They wanted to know more about the man, the senator from Illinois whom John Kerry had chosen to give one of the most important speeches of the convention. And many watching at home were cheering in their living rooms. Some said they stood and applauded after listening to a relatively unknown man enter the political stage. As columnist Anna Quindlen wrote in her article entitled “A Leap into the Possible,” in the August 9, 2004, edition of Newsweek maga- zine, “As much of the country knows by now, the Senate candidate from

Illinois is a born orator, passionate yet reasonable in a venue that seems to bring out the inner screamer in even the most seasoned politician. He galvanized a gathering long on orchestration and short on surprises. And one more thing: he revived the power and the glory of American liberal- ism just by showing up.” Anna Quindlen also wrote that she was alone in her den, looking like a “solitary lunatic, certain that she wasn’t alone in her reaction, standing up and cheering at the TV.” 31

When Barack delivered the keynote address, he was in the midst of his U.S. Senate campaign. Although he wasn’t expected to win the primary election amid a field of seven candidates, in fact, he did win, and he won big, with 52 percent of the vote. However, it was the keynote address to the millions of television viewers that unexpectedly made him a national celebrity. Suddenly, there were invitations from across the country asking him to appear at campaign events. As the November 6, 2004, edition of The Economist described him, Barack was “the candidate America’s liberal elite has long dreamed of—poised, thoughtful, eloquent, internationally minded, intellectual—and black. . . . Mr. Obama is unlike any politician

to emerge in years.” 32 To win the seat against the Republican candidate, Alan Keyes, Barack had to appeal to blacks and white liberals and to rural and urban voters. He also had to rise above the expectations that suddenly surrounded him. He did all of that and more. Barack’s margin of victory in the Senate race was 70 percent to 27 percent. In January 2005,

62 BARACK OBAMA

Barack became the only African American U.S. senator and only the fifth in history to hold a seat in the U.S. Senate.

RECLAIMING THE PROMISE TO THE PEOPLE: A BRIGHTER DAY—THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION