For those of you who went to bed at a decent hour here are the speeches from Election Night. I can not help but think of all the people around the world who have suffered violence in order to force change in their governments, both past and present. Last night we were witnesses to democracy in action.
McCain’s concession speech—pay attention to 9:45-10:45 which is the closing lines of his address. We will be learning what McCain means by those lines in the months ahead.
Here is Obama’s victory speech—pay attention to 11:50 as Obama addresses the world.
Embedded video from CNN Video
This is an excerpt from Obama’s speech where he addresses American history:
Finally…did you notice all the college students taking to the streets of America’s cities? This is some raw video from Boston:
Here are two college roommates discussing the election results:
Embedded video from CNN Video
17 responses so far ↓
1
buell
// Nov 5, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Please notice that I addes links to Bush’s Executive Order on transition as well as a page from C-Span with links to transitional information.
2
An Old Friend
// Nov 6, 2008 at 12:18 am
I just hope Putin doesn’t take advantage of Obama and destabilize the Caucausus any more than it is.
And Buell I found a great video for when you teach these students about Gallipoli and as you may or may not know I have family who died in that Battle. Although Australian blood does not flow through my veins, it does in my cousins’.
So here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPFjToKuZQM
3
buell
// Nov 6, 2008 at 6:27 am
Thank you for the link. Did you see Medvedev giving what seems like the equivalent of our “state of the union” address yesterday? Pretty aggressive words. Although it’s hard to be too afraid of a country whose male life expectancy is 59—-they have bigger problems than battling the USA.
4
Gianna Salmas
// Nov 6, 2008 at 7:47 am
Those crazy college students. Obama’s speech has a lot of big talk in it, I’d like to see him do it. Hopefully he isn’t as socialist as people say.
5
Bridget Jaklitsch
// Nov 6, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I think that McCain was very appreciative of everyone that helped him. Obama’s speech was very powerful and hopeful for all people all over the world. The college kids were also very excited an d full of life. I think that would be fun to be apart of something so exciting like that.
6
Julie
// Nov 6, 2008 at 8:07 pm
We talked about Obama’s speech the other day in English with Ms. Demas. When he addressed the world we thought Obama was pretty much saying watch out cause here we come. Another thing to maybe think about is how will the world see us now that we have elected Obama. In every other presedential election we have elected white males to become our presidents.
7
An Old Friend
// Nov 9, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I did see Medvedev’s speech and it is scary. And in a Country where the Nazis are making a comeback I believe that Russia will collapse into civil war before invading the Ukraine.
Here are some links to some scary stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1uR95pQhsM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrQ0RX2UTuo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWZ8hBWNHKs&feature=related
I can’t believe that Putin “a man who loves democracy” would put up with this stuff. Ofcourse he does it because they support him and he knows that they will follow him. These radical nuts have several members in the Duma for crying out loud. Russia is a “power keg” just waiting to explode.
8
An Old Friend
// Nov 9, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Here is a more educational video on the Neo-Nazi organization in Russia which is destabilizing the society and not surprisingly doesn’t exsist according to Putin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwAnEj2Y8gg&NR=1
9
Shawna
// Dec 1, 2008 at 4:37 pm
No matter where you go or who you come across, elections are a big deal-especially presidential elections. In the years that follow 2008 the United States will no doubt encounter drastic changes. One of which has already occurred…the presidency of an African American-Barak Obama. I think that this is a good change because it shows not only fellow Americans that we (as a whole) have the power to elect a president from any race, but it shows others all over the world that we truly are united and everyone is equal. Before in earlier years we (Americans) represented ourselves as the red-white-and blue, claiming we were a democracy. How could that have been true when all of our presidents were white males? It just didn’t make sense to me. Now that we have a bit of color (I guess you could say) added to the white house, things won’t be as traditional, and we can escape from this economic crisis.
10
Matt Dickson
// Dec 1, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Shawna is right. Elections are huge anywhere. When the first Iraqi president after Hussein’s execution was elected, everyone heard about it, even us on the other side of the earth. Look at our own country. Any news station is always talking about the election, even though the election has come to a conclusion. I remember when the race began back when I was in 7th grade. Obama and Clinton were the two major names but they were also running against several other democratic candidates (whose names escape me at the moment.) Two years later, Obama has been elected and the country has some “change” in store. But I wonder if this change will make Obama a shoe-in for reelection in 2012. Sadly, I won’t be able to vote that year (Election day is usually around November 3rd or 4th, mine is on the 30th:( ), but a good number of people in our graduating class will be able to. Who will they vote for??
11
Shawna
// Dec 2, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Responding to Matt’s question- I think that who we will vote for in 2012 has a lot to do with the way Obama will run the country. Because there is still a lot of controversy regarding an African American president (in the U.S) puts a lot of PRESSURE
(I guess you could say) on Obama himself, because if he leads this country well enough to get us out of this recession and prevent going further into a depression, many people will see that anyone can be in office, and it’s not the color of their skin or their religion which determines if they will make a good President. The way Obama runs this country will determine who we will elect in the year 2012. Who knows, it may even be a woman!
12
Daniel Kelly
// Dec 2, 2008 at 5:49 pm
In responce to Matt and Shawna—
I personally will not be able to vote in the 2012 election, but it think that the vast majority…(Mike Jordon) will try to reelected Obama. He reached not only to the African-American population but to the younger generation. My vote enabled family members all voted for Obama and strongly believe we will try to change the US. Still 2012 is a long time away and i think it better to wait for the other canidates to be announced. I thought that the current secretary of state (Conalisa Rice) would make a good president because her connection with foreing leaders. Like Mrs. Buell said in class today, many presidents have been secretaries of state. I’ll wait to see and hope that Obama will pull us out of the repression and not drop us into a state like Zimbabwe.
13
Daniel Kelly
// Dec 2, 2008 at 6:08 pm
In class you were wondering about a word cloud of Obama’s victory speech, i found the transcript and made a word cloud (due to boredom and rememberence) so here it is…
14
Michelle Cronin
// Dec 16, 2008 at 8:57 pm
The college kids taking it to the streets! That was kind of intense. Shawna is right – elections are huge, but I believe that the college students took to the streets not because of how big it was, but simply, because they could. They’re wild and free and can do as they please.
And I think Obama’s speech was very powerful and well-thought out. And I, personally, would love to see him carry out everything he mentioned within that speech.
I loved how he talked about how it is time for America to reclaim the dream. We can do it. We can accomplish our dreams and no longer be held back by race, color, sex or religion. We can accomplish our dreams. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
“Yes, we can!”
15
chris heffernan
// Jan 7, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Senator McCain is a capital hill vetran and also a veteran of the vietnam war. He only made two mistakes in his run for the white house but they were two awfully big ones the first one was his selection of Governor Sarah Palin for Vice President. He could have chosen several other candidates such as Governor Tim pawlenty of Minnesota who would have helped McCain carry Minnesota although it has gone for democrats since 1960, even for the Mondale/Ferraro ticket in 1984and was very close in 2004 when John Kerry carried the state by less than three points . Or Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney who is incredibly popular among conservatives and even some “Reagan Democrats” or even former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who is very popular in southern states and could have helped McCain carry North Carolina and/or Virginia and maybe even a none southern state Indiana. In short McCain should have chosen anyone except Palin and the election would have been much closer.
16
TOM HILTZ
// Jan 8, 2009 at 11:35 am
hmmmm…very interesting
vote democrat!
17
chris heffernan
// Jan 10, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Ha thanks Tom, I forgot to put McCain’s second mistake on my first post. The mistake was when Mccain suspended his campaign right before the first presidential debate at the University of Missippi or Ole Miss as it is commonly refered to in Missippi and across many southern states. McCain announced that he would temporarily suspend his campaign for the Presidency of the United States so he could spend time back in Washington helping congress during the start of the economic meltdown. This showed voters that McCain didnt care much about his campaign for the presidency. In the past several presidential candidates have neglected there campaigns. Most notably Former Massachusetts former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis who won the Democratic Nomination for president in 1988. He had large lead in the polls, 17% to be exact. So what did Michael Dukakis do in the several moonths between winning the nomination and accepting it at the 1988 democraatic national convention in Atlanta. He went back home to massachusetts and focused on his job as governor. He didnt begin to campaign until after the convention in August. By Dukakis lost his lead and he and his running mate Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas lost the election to Incumbent Vice President George HW Bush and Indiana Senator Dan quayle 426 to 112 in the electoral college and 54% to 46% in the popular vote. This was the same in McCains case but choosing Governor Sarah Palin didnt help him either but this showed voters that McCain didnt care about his candidacy for President.
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