of course it’s not the case that Lincoln’s speech was universally recognized as a masterpiece immediately afterwards.

True. However, note that Wiki doesn’t give a footnote to the Chicago Times’ pan of the speech. That’s because the Times was cited by Carl Sandburg, but no one else has been able to find the article in the Times archives.

Hitchens: If Obama’s race speech was so memorable, try quoting one line from it

Hitchens sucks, but he hit one over the wall with that one!

“This is our time, our time, down here … “???

Do I get partial credit?

Dusty on July 25, 2008 at 3:41 PM

The media, right?

“This is our time, our time, down here … “???

Do I get partial credit?

Dusty on July 25, 2008 at 3:41 PM

hehe Goonies

This is a megalomaniac narcissist.

In a British accent – it’s bloody precious.

I love Christopher Hitchens. He’s very curageous. I’m glad we’re both naturalized citizens of this still wonderful country, in the same time.

Perhaps in the coming days, he could attempt to explain this to the Obamasses.

Hitchens: If Obama’s race speech was so memorable, try quoting one line from it

PEOPLE: “Uh”, “um” and variations are indeed quotations, but they don’t count as, uhhh, “memorable“.

I wished we lived during a time when oratory still meant something. No speeches are memorable anymore save for the last couple of eulogies I’ve heard.
The Race Card on July 25, 2008 at 6:21 PM

Unfortunately, not many speeches, even the Gettysburg address, are as memorable upon delivery as they are historically. The converse is also true, as Obama proved with his “race speech,” which was hailed by the media as a speech for the centuries, but wound up in the trash heap with, as Hitch says, no one able to quote a single line.

Hitch had an even better line further on in the video, re the potential crash of politicians reaching rock star status, to the effect that what you really need in a politician is someone “steady,” with basic promises — but when you get “someone who promises a great deal, in return you might get something quite sinister.”

I can live without great oratory.

If Obama’s race speech was so memorable, try quoting one line from it

That’s a killer point.

This guy will be a gnat in American History. A gnat. Small, insignificant and annoying as fuck.

Annoying, yes. Insignificant, no. Let’s at least be honest. Shees.

His campaign has raised more money than any other in our short history. He is still the first viable AA candidate. Those factors alone negate your assertion.

Furthermore, if he becomes President, he will have reached the apex of significance. Kinda sucks, but it could happen (especially with the pantsload of candidates Repubs started out with).

To me, you sound just like those blacks who try discount Sec. Rice and Justice Thomas as “insignificant.” Ebony Magazine went so far as to leave them off the list of the 100 most influential African-Americans one year.

You read Ebony or did you come up with that on your own?

For Obama to criticize his grandmother for that incident seemed particularly petty to me. It’s even more disgusting that he would use such an incident as an example of white “racism.” His grandmother expressed fear of the man because of his aggressive behavior towards her, not because of his skin color.

I come as a citizen of the world to tear down walls throughout the world.

Funny, nothing about building bridges comes to mind from his Berlin odyssey of the mouth.

Yeah, IIRC, Barack got the racial context from Grandpa and the only reason it came to Barack’s attention at all was because of an argument about Grandpa’s refusal to drive Grandma to work to avoid the panhandlers.

now in the Blog ‘O’ Sphere lexicon..