Why Obama must win

If you have a few spare minutes please read the speech Barack Obama made today after being declared winner of the North Carolina primary.

I am a political romantic and just love the way this guy speaks. I pray that whatever happens he and Hillary will be able to run together. I’d say his graciousness towards her could hint at this.

Here are some selected highlights from the speech.

This has been one of the longest, most closely fought contests in history. And that’s partly because we have such a formidable opponent in Senator Hillary Clinton. Tonight, many of the pundits have suggested that this party is inalterably divided – that Senator Clinton’s supporters will not support me, and that my supporters will not support her.

Well I’m here tonight to tell you that I don’t believe it. Yes, there have been bruised feelings on both sides. Yes, each side desperately wants their candidate to win. But ultimately, this race is not about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John McCain. This election is about you – the American people – and whether we will have a president and a party that can lead us toward a brighter future.

This primary season may not be over, but when it is, we will have to remember who we are as Democrats – that we are the party of Jefferson and Jackson; of Roosevelt and Kennedy; and that we are at our best when we lead with principle; when we lead with conviction; when we summon an entire nation around a common purpose – a higher purpose. This fall, we intend to march forward as one Democratic Party, united by a common vision for this country. Because we all agree that at this defining moment in history – a moment when we’re facing two wars, an economy in turmoil, a planet in peril – we can’t afford to give John McCain he chance to serve out George Bush’s third term. We need change in America. 

He then goes on to explain the hardships of the people he met in North Carolina and outlines his priorities to help people like them in a way that would make any Lefty gush red tears of joyous pride. Compare this to some of the anecdotes by Brendan Nelson on his recent mystery tour.

The woman I met in Indiana who just lost her job, and her pension, and her insurance when the plant where she worked at her entire life closed down – she can’t afford four more years of tax breaks for corporations like the one that shipped her job overseas. She needs us to give tax breaks to companies that create good jobs here in America. She can’t afford four more years of tax breaks for CEOs like the one who walked away from her company with a multi-million dollar bonus. She needs middle-class tax relief that will help her pay the skyrocketing price of groceries, and gas, and college tuition. That’s why I’m running for President.

This is West Wing good!

 

Where’s the fear and loathing about this gang?

Police believe a gang is responsible for several vicious assaults and robberies in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. The latest victim was an Indian student, who was bashed unconscious by a group of up to four men.

Interestingly The Age describes the alleged gang as “Caucasian and aged in their late teens or early 20s”.

Meanwhile the Herald Sun describes the gang as “believed to be in their late teens”. Do you think the Herald Sun would have omitted the physical description if they were Asian, Middle Eastern or African?

Of course the lack of any ethnic angle to this story, apart from the poor victim, also means the nut jobs who, I’m sure would have been quick to fill the comments section with calls for deportations, are noticeably absent, almost two hours after the story went online at 12.50pm.

In fact at 2.35pm there were just two comments including one along the lines of this post, and another highlighting problems in Noble Park.

Go figure.

UPDATE: Comments have started rolling in (it’s 3.30pm), mostly by people calling on Victorian Police Commissioner Christine Nixon to be sacked, or having a dig at the Victorian Government’s obsession with speed cameras - are they saying the civilians who man speed cameras could be out there catching muggers?

UPDATE 2 The Herald Sun newspaper has run the story this morning on page 17 with a picture of the poor, brutally injured victim. I may be stretching my cynicism here but they describe the offenders as “olive skinned, caucasian and in their late teens”. There are no editorials or comment pieces about this story, as there no doubt would be - and has been - if suggested this was an “ethnic gang”.