Obama's In The House--National Urban League

One day after Senator John McCain spoke at the National Urban League Convention in Orlando, Florida rival Senator Barack Obama came in on a caravan that would have put ancient Hannibal's elephant train crossing the Alps to shame. Lined with a motorcade that included local, state, and federal police, news reporters, and public historians the Obama train entered the Convention Center where he was met with an equally imposing mass setting of thousands of supporters 1/4 mile deep waiting to watch,listen and hail the Democratic presidential candidate.

The senator from Lincoln-land did not disappoint the audience. He attacked McCain on drilling for oil, education reform, the War, the environment and Paris-Obama racist political advertisement. However, he did surprise many when he duplicated some of the same stances as the GOP candidate. First, he maintained a conservative position on education, family, employment, and business development. Obama maintained that in each of these areas is the demand for personal accountability and responsibility. That is, one cannot expect the government to do everything--the people must do something themselves. He radically borrowed a page from republic conservative Booker T. Washington when he remarked, "why go to a restaurant when you can't afford the lunch?" And, "you can't worry about a neighborhood if you can't afford a house in that community." In essence, work hard, save, be thrifty and responsible.

Secondly, he co-signed McCain's thoughts on advancement in the military. The day before Senator McCain stated that equality within the military has demonstrated a better fit for non-whites than in the public sector. He mentioned the promotions and power position jobs that African-American hold in Uncle Sam's Army. The NUL audience soundly rejected the Senator's opinion. However, Obama stated that many Blacks hold important positions in the American military. He focused on the African-American three star general who is "really" overseeing "all" the operations in the Afghanistan War. The NUL leadership and its members became dead quiet when these words where spoken by the Senator.

Nonetheless, regardless of Obama's position and his gradual alignment to conservative principles he rocked the house. His style, Malcolm like speech, cool demeanor, and gracious confidents won over the crowd. It reminded me of Ronald Reagan. That is, it is not what he said that's important; but rather, how he said it. Out of all people--I even found myself tapping my feet to the Obama beat and train. At the end of the lecture I overheard someone saying "This is Obama's House." I don't know about that--but, I can say, that Saturday afternoon in Orlando belonged to Senator Barack Obama.