Great Speakers

I'm a big fan of speeches. I remember in High School when I discovered Patrick Henry and his speech on freedom.

Today, I've watched 3 great speeches. First, I watched Martin Luther King Jr. on a low resolution, black and white youtube video talking about his children playing with white children. Then, I watched Obama's speech from 2004 on a low resolution, color youtube video, when he talked about there not being a Red America and a Blue America but a United States of America. And finally tonight, I listened to Barack accept the nomination for presidency in front of 75,000 people in my mile high home state on a glorious full resolution, color youtube video with great sound. That's progress!

By choice, I haven't watched any analysis of the speech, and that's the great thing about YouTube. But here are the things that stood out to me:

"We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past."

"Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them."

"America, now is not the time for small plans."

"And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need."

"Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that's the essence of America's promise."

"John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives."

"We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe."

"So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. "

"I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things."

"This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores. Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZCrIeRkMhA