Disciples Share "Obama Conversion Stories"

. . . But the clincher came on March 17, when she met the Democratic contender face to face. She describes how he lit up the room with his wide smile, shook her hand and thanked her for volunteering.

"He looked at me, and the look in his eyes was worth 1,000 words," said Mack, now a regional field organizer. Obama hugged her and whispered something in her ear – she was so thrilled she doesn't remember what it was. [...]

"Values are not just concepts, they're feelings," Ganz said. "That's what dropped out of Democratic politics sometime in the '70s or '80s." [...]

"Just follow Barack's lead and be honest with them," [Obama's] site advises. "You don't need to debate policy or discuss the day's headlines. You have a very personal reason for investing your time and energy in this campaign – that is the most compelling story you can tell."

Indeed, participants in the Saturday morning precinct-captain training were already adept at telling their Obama-conversion stories.

Libbie Coleman, a 61-year-old microbiology teacher at McClatchy High School, read Obama's books last spring.

"I've been a voter for 40 years," she said. "I feel like I've been needing to hear these things for 40 years."

- "Obama basic training", by John Hill. January 31, 2008.

"I couldn’t recall a single thing that he had said, and the speech dissolved into pure feeling, which stayed with me for days"

It was the day before the primary, and Obama began to improvise a theme, almost too much in the manner of Martin Luther King: “In one day’s time.” It carried him through health care, schools, executive salaries, Iraq—everything that Clinton had invoked, except that this was music. Then came the peroration: “If you know who you are, who you’re fighting for, what your values are, you can afford to reach out to people across the aisle. If you start off with an agreeable manner, you might be able to pick off a few folks, recruit some independents into the fold, recruit even some Republicans into the fold. If you’ve got the votes, you will beat them and do it with a smile on your face.” It was a summons to reasonableness, yet Obama made it sound thrilling. “False hopes? There’s no such thing. This country was built on hope,” he cried. “We don’t need leaders to tell us what we can’t do—we need leaders to inspire us. Some are thinking about our constraints, and others are thinking about limitless possibility.” At times, Obama almost seems to be trying to escape history, presenting himself as the conduit through which people’s yearnings for national transformation can be realized.

Obama spoke for only twenty-five minutes and took no questions; he had figured out how to leave an audience at the peak of its emotion, craving more. As he was ending, I walked outside and found five hundred people standing on the sidewalk and the front steps of the opera house, listening to his last words in silence, as if news of victory in the Pacific were coming over the loudspeakers. Within minutes, I couldn’t recall a single thing that he had said, and the speech dissolved into pure feeling, which stayed with me for days.

George Packer, New Yorker

Kennedy passes "Treasured Covenant" to Obama

I am convinced we can reach our goals only if we are "not petty when our cause is so great"-- only if we find a way past the stale ideas and stalemate of our times - only if we replace the politics of fear with the politics of hope - and only if we have the courage to choose change.

Barack Obama is the one person running for President who can bring us that change.

Barack Obama is the one person running for President who can be that change.

I love this country. I believe in the bright light of hope and possibility. I always have, even in the darkest hours. I know what America can achieve. I've seen it. I've lived it--and with Barack Obama, we can do it again.

Excerpt: Ted Kennedy's Endorsement of Barack Obama January 28, 2008

"In the civic religion that is Democratic politics, the most treasured covenant was passed to the young Senator from Illinois."

From CBS' "Early Show" Harry Smith

"Creative Imagination coupled with Brilliance"

In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates. That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom.

Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace--that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom.

When, I wondered, was the last time this country was guided by such a leader? Someone whose moral center was un-embargoed? Someone with courage instead of mere ambition? Someone who truly thinks of his country's citizens as "we," not "they"? Someone who understands what it will take to help America realize the virtues it fancies about itself, what it desperately needs to become in the world?

Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities. Yet unleashing the glory of that future will require a difficult labor, and some may be so frightened of its birth they will refuse to abandon their nostalgia for the womb.

There have been a few prescient leaders in our past, but you are the man for this time.

Toni Morrison to Obama The New York Observer January 28, 2008.

Carolyn Kennedy on Obama: "I Believe!"

Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible. . . .

I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.

A President Like My Father, by Carolyn Kennedy. New York Times January 27, 2008.

"My blackberry starts going off like crazy everytime this man speaks . . . and do you know what they say? 'I believe'!"

During the post-South Carolina primary coverage last night on MSNBC, Joe Scarborough used a very interesting metric to evaluate the popularity of Barack Obama: Blackberry buzz. "My blackberry starts going off like crazy every time this man speaks, and it is from Republicans," said Scarborough. "It is from conservative Republicans, it is from independents, it is from Democrats, and do you know what they say? 'I believe.' I've never seen anything like this before."

Huffington Post January 27, 2008.

"We will transform THE WORLD!"

"... If we get rid of the fear and the doubt and the cynicism, nobody can stop us from creating the changes that America needs. If you stand with me, if you vote for me, if you crave the kinds of changes that America is ready to see happen, I promise you this, I will not just win an election, I will not just win, but more importantly you and I together, we will transform this COUNTRY, and WE WILL TRANSFORM THE WORLD!"

- Barack Obama. Florence, SC. January 25, 2008 (Video)

"Believe in Obama"

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas January 18, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA)

Obama to Disciples: "You will experience an epiphany"

"My job is to be so persuasive that if there's anybody left out there who is still not sure whether they will vote, or is still not clear who they will vote for, that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany ... and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama"

Lebanon Opera House, New Hampshire. January 7, 2008.

There is some dispute as to the original version of this Divine Prophecy. Following are the results of our investigation (-- The Obama Seminar):

• "Obama: For Now, Perspiration Over Inspiration", by Andrew Romano Newsweek January 31, 2008:

  Reading the recent flurry of stories about Barack Obama--the Clinton-slayer! the youth candidate! the next Kennedy!--it'd be easy to imagine that his campaign is all inspiration and little perspiration at this point, with rainbows and starshine bursting from the tailpipe of his tour bus. Obama both lampoons and slyly encourages the perception. In New Hampshire and South Carolina, for example, the senator was fond of telling audiences that "at some point in the evening, a light is going to shine down and you will have an epiphany and you’ll say, ‘I have to vote for Barack.’" Next up: levitation.

  
  
  

• "Is Obama's Constitution Strong Enough?", by Nat Hentoff Village Voice:

  Once in a while, Obama makes a passing reference to our diminishing individual liberties, but hardly ever in his stump speeches. At an early-morning rally the day of the New Hampshire vote, he told some 300 students at the Dartmouth College gym: "My job this morning is to be so persuasive . . . that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Barack."

  
  
  

• "Seeing the Light in South Carolina" Columbia Journalism Review January 26, 2008:

  The local field coordinator, Kevin, a short white guy with glasses and a goatee, got so excited that even his warm-up speech sounded southern fried. “We’ve been told too many times to wait,” he screamed. “That our time had not yet come!” [...] When the senator did arrive, he gave a pitch-perfect stump speech, surfing the enthusiasm of the pulsating gym. When he took the stage he said, “At some point in the evening, a light is going to shine down and you will have an epiphany and you’ll say, ‘I have to vote for Barack.’”

  
  
  
• Obama, McCain win New Hampshire's first votes CNN Political Ticker 10:23am January 8, 2008. The original story read:

  ... Among Democrats, a CNN/WMUR poll found Obama with a nine percentage point lead over Clinton, 39 percent to 30 percent. Edwards, who edged out Clinton for second place in Iowa, ran third with 16 percent.
  

  At a morning rally, Obama praised the student volunteers working for his campaign and gave them one last mission: to persuade undecided voters to cast their ballots for him.
  

  My job is to be so persuasive that if there’s anybody left out there who is still not sure whether they will vote, or is still not clear who they will vote for, that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany … and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama, the Democrat said in Hanover.
  

  Clinton has tried to turn the tide by emphasizing her record as a change agent, as a senator and as first lady. ...

  
  

  The original quote was removed entirely from the article in later publication, but we offer as evidence this reposting of the CNN article in full on January 28th by blogger 'Fair Proxy Web'; as well as cited by Roberto Davila-Loyola in January 8th, 2008 1:16 pm ET responding to original with this commentary:

  "My job is to be so persuasive that if there's anybody left out there who is still not sure whether they will vote, or is still not clear who they will vote for, that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany … and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama," the Democrat said in Hanover.
  

  The above words by Senator Obama as reported by CNN are troubling as they show Senator Obama believing that he has the power to cause a divine manifestation to the undecided voters of New Hampshire which will show them that he is the chosen one. Alternatively, he is contemptuosly using as political rhetoric the Christian concept of what happened on the Feast of the Epiphany (just celebrated on January 6,) when a divine manifestation (the Star of Bethlehem) announced the birth of the Baby Jesus.

  
  This version of the quote is likewise attributed to CNN campaign coverage by "Mike in Kentucky" on 1/08/08.
  
  

• "Riding the Wave" ABC News: Politics. January 8, 2008:

  "There's something stirring around the country," Obama said in a stump speech today. "It started in Iowa and now it's happening here in New Hampshire."
  

  "I'm going to be so persuasive that a light will shine through the clouds and say I must vote for Barack and you'll have an epiphany," he told voters in Lebanon.

  
  
  

• CNN CNN Newsroom. Aired January 7, 2008 - 11:00 EST. Transcript (of video of Obama himself?):

  That's his job, get you to the polls, vote for Obama. My job is to help him do his job. So I am going to try to be so persuasive in the 20 minutes or so that I speak that by the time this is over, a light will shine down from somewhere.
  

  It will light upon you. You will experience an epiphany. And you will say to yourself, I have to vote for Barack. I have to do it.

  
  
  

• CNet.com:

  "My job this morning is to be so persuasive...that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Barack," he told a crowd of about 300 Ivy Leaguers--and, by the looks of it, a handful of locals who managed to gain access to what was supposed to be a students-only event.

  
  
  

• Washington Post ("Swept up in the Obama Moment") "The Trail" Campaign Blog. January 6, 2008:

  An Obama event is not a friendly place for cynics, skeptics, or the chronically unimpressed. This is revival-tent stuff. The senator from Illinois used the metaphor of a religious conversion: "I am going to try to be so persuasive, so that those of you who are still wavering...will suddenly come to the conclusion -- a light beam will shine through -- will light you up -- and you will experience an epiphany -- I have to vote for Barack!"

  
  
  

• Obama's Cocky Messianism", by Christopher Beam Slate January 6, 2008:

  Inside the gym, packed to capacity with 2600 people, Obama was describing to the crowd how his speeches generally work: “At the end—or maybe somewhere in the middle—a shaft of light comes through and hits you and you experience an epiphany: I have to vote for Barack.”
  

  Obama has attracted Jesus comparisons since announcing his candidacy. He’s been described as the party’s savior. A Chicago art gallery displayed a sculpture depicting Obama crowned with a neon halo. Slate’s Timothy Noah kept tabs on these and other revelations in the "Obama Messiah Watch."
  

  But now, with Iowa as his witness, Obama is he starting to sound like he believes the prophecies, too.

  
  
  

Supporters of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) pray in the front row as he delivers remarks during a campaign rally at Concord High School in New Hampshire January 7, 2008. Obama is campaigning on the eve of the January 8 New Hampshire Primary. SOURCE: REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)

After Obama's speech on the night of his Iowa victory, pundits began to speak about his ascension to Democratic frontrunner in terms of a veritable movement. But witnessing his campaign stops here, this movement seems less like a political one than a religious one. Earlier in his campaign, Obama spoke quite openly about his belief in Jesus Christ, reaching out to Christian voters with tales of his conversion and the role faith has played in his life.

In New Hampshire, this week, he's talking to people about salvation as well. But this time it's our salvation, and the messiah's word he's spreading is his own. And it's this godly fervor, not a political one, which may well be galvanizing the grassroots youth effort not just in New Hampshire, but across the country.

Obama's sermons setting forth his own transcendent leadership are not accidentally Christian in nature. He's internalized this practice so deeply that he's already joking about it in his stump speech. Like a pastor who asks first-time church-goers to raise their hands at the beginning of the sermon, he requests a show of undecided voters and beams his kilowatt smile upon them, saying "A light will shine down from somewhere. You will experience an epiphany." In the chortles of the crowd, you can practically hear the angels sing.

It's not his own resurrection Obama preaches, but that of the country, and that of ourselves. His litany on hope has basically nothing to do with politics and everything to do with incandescent inspiration.

Obama Recast As MLK, Jesus, Leading Spiritual Youth Movement, by Lauren Sandler. Huffington Post January 8, 2008.

"The Hour is Almost Upon You"

"A Nation HEALED . . . A World REPAIRED . . .

"Believers Flock to see Obama in the Flesh"

Barack Obama is nearly two hours late when he takes the stage, flashes that smile, and says in that instantly recognisable baritone: "Good afternoon, believers."

And they do believe: teenage girls pressing against the crowd control barricades to take pictures with their mobile phones; middle-aged couples carrying copies of Obama's memoir for signing; fathers with children perched on their shoulders, getting an early lesson in politics.

Everybody wants to say they have seen Obama - up close . . .

Believers flock to see Obama in the flesh Suzanne Goldenberg in Derry, New Hampshire. The Guardian January 7, 2008.

HOPE!

Germany: "Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama!!!"

... The Berliner Morgenpost over the weekend ran with the headline, "The New Kennedy." The tabloid Bild went with, "This Black American Has Become the New Kennedy!"

An editorial in the Frankfurter Rundschau went one historic president better with a headline that read simply: "Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama," adding that "hope and optimism" are "the source of the nation's strength." ...

Barack Obama's popularity soars - in Germany, by Nicholas Kulish. International Herald Tribune January 6, 2008

"A Quantum Leap in American Consciousness"

Sen. Obama has written eloquently about his search for identity, and those who have met him personally come away believing that he knows himself deeply, sincerely, and truly. With such grounding in self-awareness, Obama gave himself something that can't be gained from the outside: the ability to evolve personally and the flexibility to adapt quickly as the times demand.

In essence Sen. Obama's speech said, "I am America," and amazingly enough, people from all walks of life, political persuasions, faiths, and ethnic backgrounds believe him. . . . Obama made himself both lighthouse and lightning rod. (I imagine some part of himself quakes to think on what he's done.) Watching cynical reporters and political commentators believe in him almost instantaneously is breathtaking. . .

I'd suggest that the X factor which sets Barack Obama aside as a unique candidate is his hard-won self-awareness. If we are lucky, we will wake up and begin the journey back to self-awareness as a people. . . . If Barack Obama makes it all the way to the White House, it will represent a quantum leap in American consciousness and a promise to restore America's position in the world.

Deepak Chopra, Huffington Post January 5, 2008.

"He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh"

. . . Obama's finest speeches do not excite. They do not inform. They don't even really inspire. They elevate. They enmesh you in a grander moment, as if history has stopped flowing passively by, and, just for an instant, contracted around you, made you aware of its presence, and your role in it. He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh, over color, over despair. The other great leaders I've heard guide us towards a better politics, but Obama is, at his best, able to call us back to our highest selves, to the place where America exists as a glittering ideal, and where we, its honored inhabitants, seem capable of achieving it, and thus of sharing in its meaning and transcendence. . . .

"Obama's Gift", by Ezra Klein. January 3, 2008.

PROGRESS!

Obama the "Next Lincoln"?

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present," that young "inexperienced" politician, another tall thin native of Illinois (who became our greatest president) once said. "As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we can save our country."

As Abraham Lincoln experienced in his time, this nation is again at a crossroads. We again need a president who is above all authentic, who points us confidently toward that future, a leader with real character, like Obama, who calls upon each and every one of us to heed what his predecessor from Illinois called "the better angels of our nature" and not our basest fears. I am confident that Obama will be that kind of president. It is time for real change.

Ken Burns (endorsing Barack Obama) Concord Monitor January 1, 2008.