I've sat through thousands of Senate floor speeches. Sen. Obama's just now was positively inspiring.

[bigtree]

I sure that it suddenly dawned on the majority of his peers listening in the hall and elsewhere that they were, in fact, proudly, listening to the next president of the United States.


some early media generated froth of Sen. Obama's remarks:


"Understandably, people are frustrated and they're angry that Wall Street's mistakes have put their tax-dollars at risk,'' Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said on the Senate floor late this afternoon, as the Senate prepared to vote tonight on a $700-billion federal bailout for banks aimed at averting economic crisis. "And they should be, I'm angry and frustrated to0...

"It affects the financial well-being of every single American,'' the Democratic nominee for president said. "There will be time to punish those who set the fire... Right now, we want to put out that fire.''

"When the House of Representatives failed to act on Monday, we saw the largest single day decline of the stock market in two decades,'' he said. "While that decline was devastating, the credit crunch that caused will be even worse if we do not act... This is not just a Wall Street crisis. It's an American crisis. And it's the American economy that needs this rescue...

"Even with all these taxpayer protections, this plan is not perfect.''

"But it's clear that, from my perspective, this is what we need to do right now, to prevent the possibility of a crisis turning into a catastrophe...

"Even if we could get this place, we could still have enormous problems and probably will have enormous problems in the economy in the coming months,'' Obama said. "We are not going to dig ourselves out of that hole immediately. This is not the end. This is the beginning.''

"I do not think this is going to be easy,'' Obama said. "Now more than ever, we are all in this together. That's part of what this crisis has taught us. At the end of the day, there is no separation between Wall Street and Main Street.... We can steer ourselves out of this crisis. We also have.''

Obama closed with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, speaking of that which is more important than currency - "the confidence of the people themselves... Let us united in banishing fear. Together we cannot fail. We cannot fail. Not tomorrow... Not next year.''


http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/10/barack_obama_put_out_that_fire.html

[donco6]

1. How long since you've been proud of a President?

A long, long, long time.

[onenote]

as my brother said to me yesterday: Finally, someone who sounds like a president.

[revolve]

32. 8 Years nt/

[brentspeak]

2. This bill stinks. How could it have made you proud?

[bigtree]

3. I'll let Sen. Obama's statements speak to that.

[brentspeak]

7. How do his statements make the bill stink any less?

[stray cat]

11. How did he explain the need for the bill and why he thought it needed to be done?

and what points do you disagree with?

[bigtree]

16. not many changes from what he's saying on the stump

He has a comprehensive view of what needs to be done and he isn't pretending that this legislation will solve all of those problems. He's continuing to push for protections and help for homeowners in the legislation and without. And he called again for economic stimulus to bolster the effort.

I really need a transcript to argue it in more detail.

[bigtree]

20. some early froth

"Understandably, people are frustrated and they're angry that Wall Street's mistakes have put their tax-dollars at risk,'' Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said on the Senate floor late this afternoon, as the Senate prepared to vote tonight on a $700-billion federal bailout for banks aimed at averting economic crisis. "And they should be, I'm angry and frustrated to0...

"It affects the financial well-being of every single American,'' the Democratic nominee for president said. "There will be time to punish those who set the fire... Right now, we want to put out that fire.''

"When the House of Representatives failed to act on Monday, we saw the largest single day decline of the stock market in two decades,'' he said. "While that decline was devastating, the credit crunch that caused will be even worse if we do not act... This is not just a Wall Street crisis. It's an American crisis. And it's the American economy that needs this rescue...

"Even with all these taxpayer protections, this plan is not perfect.''

"But it's clear that, from my perspective, this is what we need to do right now, to prevent the possibility of a crisis turning into a catastrophe...

"Even if we could get this place, we could still have enormous problems and probably will have enormous problems in the economy in the coming months,'' Obama said. "We are not going to dig ourselves out of that hole immediately. This is not the end. This is the beginning.''

"I do not think this is going to be easy,'' Obama said. "Now more than ever, we are all in this together. That's part of what this crisis has taught us. At the end of the day, there is no separation between Wall Street and Main Street.... We can steer ourselves out of this crisis. We also have.''

Obama closed with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, speaking of that which is more important than currency - "the confidence of the people themselves... Let us united in banishing fear. Together we cannot fail. We cannot fail. Not tomorrow... Not next year.''


http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/10/barack_obama_put_out_that_fire.html

[bigtree]

12. well, they just don't

But, he makes a persuasive argument for his position in support of the legislation.

I won't argue his position further without a transcript.

[Sukie]

13. Being proud of his statement and statesmanship

are not related to the bill "stinking".

[DemoRabbit]

15. Grrr.... the first time in days I'm away from a live video feed somewhere!

I was just eating at a restaurant!

Any video up anywhere yet?

[notaboutus]

26. BECAUSE

We all know Obama has put his heart into this campaign. From day one he has said America as we now know it is in trouble, and while I don't like the bill I respect the messenger.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. What got me

is that he's a natural teacher. He can't help but instruct as he speaks, clarifying, giving examples, putting it all within a context that is easily understandable. He's a natural.

He's the first President I've seen since JFK who speaks - extemporaneously - in paragraphs. He's not yet as good and polished as JFK, but he'll get there.

And it is such a fucking comfort to listen to someone trustworthy.

[bigtree]

9. I guess if he didn't inspire trust in him, I wouldn't be able to accept his word

He was very persuasive (and instructive, as you say) about his position.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. I missed it

I guess it is on CSPAN?

[Oregone]

6. Hurray for wooden arrows!

[Dr Fate]

8. He spoke well- but I still oppose the bail out as it is.

Oh well-Cant win 'em all, in fact, you cant win most of 'em unless you are rich.

Hopefully I'll get rich one day.

[bigtree]

10. I thought I heard him say he's still pushing (advocating) for changes he wants in the final bill

[Dr Fate]

18. I heard that too. I thought he meant sometime in the vague future.

Not to be negative, but that is what I thoguht he meant.

I assumed he meant after he is president (and I believe he will be Prez)

I am ready to be corrected on that, b/c I could have heard it wrong.

I've been hearing variations of this for 8 years, about how we need to give Bush what he wants so we can fix it later. I hope Obama can make it stick.

[bigtree]

23. even if said, his real influence is surely limited and restricted by other forces

. . . in the Senate and the House as well. But, I don't doubt that he's pushing hard for the changes to make his support less controversial and worth it.

[Dr Fate]

30. We also find much agreement there. n/t

n/t

[wtmusic]

24. Is that the same vague future where making the telecoms accountable

lives? :shrug:

[bigtree]

25. It's a much clearer future with a President Obama in the picture

[Dr Fate]

29. All cynicism aside- I do join you in believing that.

Not that I have much choice (oopps- cynicism again-harder to abandon than I thouht after watching DEMS cave to the GOP for 8 years)

But seriously- I'm going to go with that view on faith right now too.

[Dr Fate]

28. Yes- I heard we may investigate Bush for impeachable offenses in 2011 as well.

;)

[Beregond2]

14. It was a brilliant speech, as usual.

Chris Matthews kept asking "Who is the leader of this country right now?" afterwards, trying to get those senators to state the obvious: Obama. They wouldn't of course, but it's true. He has stepped into the vacuum and taken charge.

[bigtree]

17. ah, that's the sense I had watching

There was no senator who stood above him in that body today.

[MadrasT]

19. There's a link up at cspan.org

[bigtree]

22. good show

thanks!

[guitar man]

21. It was a fantastic speech

I think this bailout deal is a big shit sandwich, it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" proposition for him at this point, so I wo't fault him for taking one side or the other. But his speaking abilities are so far above the monosyllabic babbling of the drunk monkey we've had to endure for the last 8 years....it's refreshing to say the least.

[bigtree]

27. he was truly in the moment

[Habibi]

31. I won't comment on Obama's speech as I didn't see it.

But I did see a few of the other senators speak today, and the "I'm angry too" theme seemed to be the order of the day.

I honestly don't know what the best option is, but apparently it's out of our hands at this point. This bailout is going forward.