Obama Prepares to Accept Party’s Nomination
“I have a speech tonight that I wanted to practice out on you guys,” Barack Obama said to an Illinois women’s delegation luncheon in Denver today. “See if it works in front of a friendly audience,” he joked.
Hours before he will speak to an estimated 75,000 people at Denver’s Mile High Stadium tonight to accept his party’s nomination, Obama dropped by the luncheon to say thank you. “I just wanted to come by because I haven’t had a chance to spend as much time with you as I’d like - to let you know that I have not forgotten where I came from,” he told the gathering, which was surprised by the entourage that interrupted their meal.
Of course Obama did not practice his speech on the roomful of supporters. In fact, he’s likely still tinkering with the speech.
Obama’s top advisor, David Axelrod, told reporters yesterday that the speech “is substantially written, but as with all Obama speeches he’ll be refining it, and buffing it up and working on it, I’m sure, right until the very end.”
As for what to expect tonight, Obama himself told reporters it won’t be like his soaring speech at the 2004 Democratic convention because his role “is different now.” As a member of John Kerry’s supporting cast, he said he “could structure a speech that was all about inspiration and broad themes.” But this time around it will be more “workmanlike.”
So does that mean boring? “Boring? Yeah, that’s why it’s taking so long because it was really not boring, and we were trying to get it to be boring - we were having a hard time with that and we’re hoping to get it boring in time,” Axelrod said with a smile. “I don’t think he was saying, ‘I’m purposely trying to tamp that down.’ I think he has some things he wants to say that are very simple and direct about where we need to go as a country…I think he thinks we can be direct, and clear with people, yet still not boring,” he explained.
The speech will not be biographical in nature, Axelrod said, but will focus on the issues at stake and the choices this election. “This speech and this election are not about Barack Obama. It’s about the American people. It’s about this country. It’s about the direction that we have to go to get us out of the ditch we are in and so he’s going to spent the bulk of his time talking about the country and where we are today and where we need to go,” he said, adding Obama will make “a respectful argument” when it comes to John McCain.
The candidate has been working on the speech since before his Hawaiian vacation and is the principal speechwriter. According to Axelrod, he wrote the speech in longhand before putting it on his computer to crank out a draft to his top speechwriter.
The campaign would not guess how long the speech will run.
Tags: convention, mccain, obama, speech
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Speaking before the Illinois women’s delegation and he says he has a speech” he wanted to practice out on you GUYS.” How does one ‘practice out’? Second it isn’t PC to go before a women’s delegation and call them guys.
royco7 wrote: <1m ago
I wonder how many would show if Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow held a FREE Concert at Invesco Field and Obama didn’t speak? Heck, have Oprah give away some cars and they could get 100,000.
This is a media shill.
I don’t think JFK needed help or hype; remember what that was 50 years ago….very little.
Obama better bring a football; so far, looks like it’s the delegates and 15,000 media, but not a whole lot in the cheap seats. If the concert is after his speech, theyr’ll be a lot of empty seats until ten minutes before Obama’s done. CNN, MSNBC watch those camera angles.
So his speech ” will focus on the issues at stake”. Since one of the favorite topics is the economy, I shall assume there will be plenty said about it. However, while he stands there with this grandiose background, I wonder what people will actually think about how very bad the economy is when a candidate and party can go to this kind of expense? It doesn’t appear to me to be as bad as what they would like us to believe.
And, after all these many months of electioneering, I must say that I will be elated when it is all over. This has lasted forever! I shall then begin my press on my elected officials to do something about campaign reform! One of my first recommendations is that any elected official (State, Local, Federal) must resign their position BEFORE pursuing another elected office during their elected term. The second is that primaries for federal offices all be held the same day, just like in the general election.
They got that right it was the DNC that elected him not the people. What a rip.
I would have never tought that I would live long enough to see 75,000 stupid people in one place.It looks just like a page out of mayberry and barney Fife doing the script.Aunt bee doing the hog calling.
To ururpast: It is good to read that someone else has the same opinions. I have been saying for some time that they should resign from the Senate. Isn’t it great that the economy has improved and we are no longer in a recession. Another issue the Dems can’t use!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, yeah. The only “issue at stake” Obama cares about is himself.
you guys used the wrong “accept”. instead of that, you used “except”. I was looking at it like wtf? “…. Barack Obama to except democratic presidential….” i rewinded it a couple times on my dvr too.
LOL. L2 GRAMMAR.
Here I am watching the OBama show and Bill and Hillary are NO where to be seen… hummm unity!
A sad situation to be in if you’re a staunch Democrat. Somewhat like being between a rock and a hard place. It’s difficult to imagine a “worse than Carter/Mondale” ticket but the party managed to do it somehow. Most patriots would know how to counter this fluke but others are either too wealthy to care or too ignorant to know the difference.
President/VP Qualifications
Barack Obama: - Advisors and associates: Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton, Tony Rezko, Louis Farrakhan; World class flip-flopper, enemy appeaser, backstabber, liar, etc.
Joe Biden: Plagiarist, backstabber, liar.
–Joins Famous Plagiarist List with the following:
—Osama Bin Laden
—Al Gore
—Vladimir Putin
Web Site: http://www.famousplagiarists.com/
I really pity the simpletons that focus more attention and energy on HATING a man and his kind so much that they cannot appreciate the fact that for the first time, we have a candidate from modest beginnings that has been where I am. An average Joe with college loans and REAL bills to pay and children to feed. Someone who is not relying on governmental programs to survive and WORKS for every dollar I bring home! some of you guys are so PETTY!!!
Comment by KC
August 28th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
They got that right it was the DNC that elected him not the people. What a rip
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What are you? Retarded? He WAS elected in the primaries. He was elected by delegates which are a set of elected officials that represent the Democratic Party and those that are a part of that party. Going by you “logic”, that would mean that the “Patriot Act” doesn’t count, because the majority of U.S. citizens did NOT support it. The people you should be mad at are the ones that “educated” you. Tha is the Real RIP. Besides what do you care? Judging by your comment here, and other comments you have left in the past, you are a Republican. So of course you didn’t “Vote” for him. That is the problem with Republicans. Democrats at least conceid to the facts, and accept the outcome of ELECTIONS. Because in the end, elections are decided through the Electoral College.
“”McCain / Palin””
I bet B.O. didn’t see that coming!!
As the O’bIDEN ‘mis’Adventure slowly sinks into the cold cold sea…W/dEAN, rEID & pELOSI..
Show the socialists the door.
The USA will NOT become the ‘Empire of Obama’ and I will NOT live in pELOSI-VILLE.
GO sell T-shirts B.O.!