From the Sunday Statesman:
Obama speaks at Texas Book Festival
Democratic senator – a possible '08 presidential hopeful – discusses main
points of book.
By Isadora Vail -
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, October 29,
2006
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., glided into the Texas Capitol on Saturday
with a coolness that only certain luminaries possess. His reception proved his
celebrity status, with people cheering and roaring.
Obama was in town to promote his new book, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts
on Reclaiming the American Dream," at the 11th annual Texas Book Festival, a
benefit for libraries that first lady Laura Bush started when President Bush was
governor. Several hundred people turned out to see the possible presidential
contender.
On Oct. 22, Obama made national headlines by announcing that he is
considering a run for the presidency in 2008 even though he has held only one
major political office.
"He speaks openly and clearly of his faith; may I remind you that he is a
Democrat?" said Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith, who introduced Obama.
Most of Obama's speech highlighted themes in his book, and he admitted to
"borrowing" the title from an Illinois pastor. Obama didn't discuss last week's
announcement but did criticize the current political climate.
"Politics in Washington is sort of the intellectual equivalent of WWF
wrestling,'' he said. "Everybody acting tough, smacking each other, throwing
chairs, but nothing really gets done."
People began lining up outside the Capitol as early as 6:45 a.m. to hear
the nation's only black senator speak.
Actually, despite the Statesman's lazy reporting, people starting lining up
at 1:30am. It wasn't hard for me to discover this simple fact. I simply asked
the first person in line what time he arrived.
I only bring this up because the Statesman missed the most important angle of
this story. If the Statesman wasn't such a corporate, Perry-endorsing
newspaper, then it would have sent out a someone to interview the first person
in line. That would have been a good story. This is the hometown newspaper,
and the Statesman should have been all over this story. They should have taken
a panoramic picture of the over-600 people wrapped around the block before
8:00am on a Saturday morning. Oh well. If we're going to change the direction
of our political landscape, we know we can't rely on the corporate media to tell
the full story. We'll have to tell the story ourselves. Thanks YouTube.
Thanks Blogs. Thanks MySpace. Indeed, 2008 will be a people-powered movement
completely independent of the corporate media elite.
