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Barack Obama Tucson Speech:
Barack Obama may have transformed his presidency
Barack Obama woke up at the White House on Thursday to a chorus from America's political class hailing him as having transformed his presidency by delivering an artful and heartfelt speech in Tucson.
By Toby Harnden, Washington 8:08PM GMT 13 Jan 2011
This was the response not just of Democrats or liberal reporters but also Mr Obama's Republican opponents, who conceded that he had done himself a power of political good.
In an article headlined "Obama Brings It Home", Gail Collins of the New York Times" wrote: "Maybe President Obama was saving the magic for a time when we really needed it."
Many contrasted Mr Obama's address with the video message sent out by Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice-presidential contender. She was pilloried across the political spectrum for using the term "blood libel" to characterise liberal criticism of conservatives in alleging a "climate of hate" had influenced the killer Jared Loughner.
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post hailed Mr Obama as the nation's "consoler in chief", writing that the speech "seemed not to come from a speechwriter's pen, but from the heart".
One of the top Republicans in the country sent an email to Politico's Mike Allen, a premier political reporter, that said: "Changes everything. Reagan after the Challenger. He finally employed the symbolic power of the Presidency. And he did it perfectly."
The mention of President Ronald Reagan was a reference to his speech after the 1985 Challenger space shuttle disaster in which he said: "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"
Mr Obama will hope that his political fortunes will rise just as those of President Bill Clinton did in 1995 after a widely-praised speech at the memorial service for the 168 victims of the Oklahoma City bombing.
The only political comfort for Republicans might be that he was already known as a fine orator but has yet to convince many Americans that he can be a master of actions as well as words.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/8258209/Barack-Obama-Tucson-Speech-Barack-Obama-may-have-transformed-his-presidency.html
Barack Obama may have transformed his presidency
Barack Obama woke up at the White House on Thursday to a chorus from America's political class hailing him as having transformed his presidency by delivering an artful and heartfelt speech in Tucson.
By Toby Harnden, Washington 8:08PM GMT 13 Jan 2011
This was the response not just of Democrats or liberal reporters but also Mr Obama's Republican opponents, who conceded that he had done himself a power of political good.
In an article headlined "Obama Brings It Home", Gail Collins of the New York Times" wrote: "Maybe President Obama was saving the magic for a time when we really needed it."
Many contrasted Mr Obama's address with the video message sent out by Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice-presidential contender. She was pilloried across the political spectrum for using the term "blood libel" to characterise liberal criticism of conservatives in alleging a "climate of hate" had influenced the killer Jared Loughner.
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post hailed Mr Obama as the nation's "consoler in chief", writing that the speech "seemed not to come from a speechwriter's pen, but from the heart".
One of the top Republicans in the country sent an email to Politico's Mike Allen, a premier political reporter, that said: "Changes everything. Reagan after the Challenger. He finally employed the symbolic power of the Presidency. And he did it perfectly."
The mention of President Ronald Reagan was a reference to his speech after the 1985 Challenger space shuttle disaster in which he said: "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"
Mr Obama will hope that his political fortunes will rise just as those of President Bill Clinton did in 1995 after a widely-praised speech at the memorial service for the 168 victims of the Oklahoma City bombing.
The only political comfort for Republicans might be that he was already known as a fine orator but has yet to convince many Americans that he can be a master of actions as well as words.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/8258209/Barack-Obama-Tucson-Speech-Barack-Obama-may-have-transformed-his-presidency.html
