After watching Barack Obama’s DNC speech for the third time, I’m still as electrified as I was when I saw it the first time. I can say without a doubt, it was the greatest piece of public speaking I have ever heard in my lifetime. Granted, I am young. I was not alive to hear Martin Luther King speak. I wasn’t alive to hear Kennedy (or any of the pundits comparisons.) Yes, I’ve seen the footage of Dr. King and yes I was inspired greatly… but there’s something truly special about being alive and being a witness.
To be sure, I am a musician not a politician. I don’t know very much about foreign policy. I don’t study every proposition or measure that ends up in a pamphlet on my doorstep.
I am, in a sense…very ordinary.
But after hearing Obama speak over the past couple years, I’ve realized something. I want to learn more about US foreign policy. I want to learn about governments, both domestic and global. I want to educate myself to be both a better American citizen and world citizen.
And that’s it right there: The man re-charges people. He is so inspired in his beliefs, so charismatic in his delivery and so deep on so many levels that it’s almost impossible to not listen to him.
He chooses such good angles that its very difficult to argue with him and not unlike a really, great song, he inspires emotion in people. But perhaps more importantly, he inspires motion.
Truly, it’s a great time to be alive.