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.It was the first time he hadmet Kerry, so Obama was a bit surprised when, a few weekslater, he was invited by Kerry to speak at the 2004 DemocraticConvention, which was being held in Boston in July.Later,Obama learned that, not only was he invited to speak at theConvention, he was in fact scheduled to deliver the keynoteaddress.Apart from the speeches given by the presidentialand vice-presidential candidates, the keynote address is oneof the most visible in the convention and is scheduled toattract maximum television viewers and set the tone for theconvention.Obama had been to only one other Democratic Conven-tion the 2000 convention held in Los Angeles.That trip hadbeen a disaster.He had been persuaded by friends to attend atthe last minute.His credit card was rejected at the car rentalcompany at the Los Angeles airport.Finally, he was unableto get a floor pass and so ended up watching the speech on atelevision screen before finally flying back to Chicago.KEYNOTE ADDRESSOn July 27, 2004, Barack Obama introduced himself to anational television audience, in one of the most memorablemoments in the 2004 presidential race.Although the aim ofhis speech was to urge those listening to vote for the Demo-cratic candidate, John Kerry, the speech ultimately prompted76BARACK OBAMAmany to wonder when Barack Obama himself would be apresidential candidate.The theme of Obama s speech was  the audacity of hope,the phrase taken from the sermon he had heard many yearsago.Obama shared his life story, the story of a grandfather whohad been a domestic servant and a father who was raised in asmall village in Kenya.He told of his mother s father, who hadbeen a G.I.in World War II, and her mother, who had workedon a bomber (a type of military airplane) assembly line.His speech was a call to action, painting a picture of anAmerica where dreams could be realized, where peopledeserved a chance to make their lives better.In one of the mostmemorable sections of his speech, he criticized those whosought to divide the country:Well, I say to them tonight, there s not a liberal Americaand a conservative America there s the United States ofAmerica.There s not a black America and white Americaand Latino America and Asian America; there s the UnitedStates of America.The pundits like to slice-and-dice ourcountry into Red States and Blue States; Red States forRepublicans, Blue States for Democrats.But I ve got newsfor them, too.We worship an awesome God in the BlueStates, and we don t like federal agents poking around ourlibraries in the Red States.We coach Little League in theBlue States and have gay friends in the Red States.There arepatriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who sup-ported it.We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance tothe stars and stripes, all of us defending the United Statesof America.In the 18 minutes he spoke before the Democratic NationalConvention, Obama was transformed from a Democratic can-didate for the Senate to a political star.Suddenly, Obama wasthe person other Democratic candidates called asking him77Campaign for the U.S.Senateto help them with fund-raising or to speak at their campaignrallies.Obama spoke at rallies for Russell Feingold, a 12-yearveteran of the U.S.Senate seeking reelection in Wisconsin.Hespoke at Democratic fund-raisers in Los Angeles and Denver.His own fund-raising efforts took off, so that his campaignwas able to make contributions to the Democratic SenatorialCampaign Committee and to Democratic state parties withcompetitive races, including those in Alaska, Oklahoma, Wis-consin, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, and South Dakota.Illinois Republican party leaders began searching aroundfor someone anyone to challenge Obama for the Senate2004 Democratic Convention Keynote AddressOn July 27, 2004, Barack Obama delivered the keynote address at theDemocratic National Convention.His speech introduced him to a nationalaudience and would prove the launching point for a presidential campaignthree years later:Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?.I m nottalking about blind optimism here the almost willful ignorance that thinksunemployment will go away if we just don t talk about it, or the health carecrisis will solve itself if we just ignore it.No, I m talking about somethingmore substantial.It s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing free-dom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hopeof a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hopeof a mill worker s son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kidwith a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.Theaudacity of hope!In the end, that is God s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation; thebelief in things not seen; the belief that there are better days ahead.I believewe can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a roadto opportunity.I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to thehomeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violenceand despair.I believe that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we canmake the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us.78BARACK OBAMAConservative Alan Keyes (right) was a late entrant to the U.S.Senaterace, challenging Obama in a campaign that was often confrontational.seat.They finally settled on an unlikely choice: Alan Keyes,a political activist who lived in Maryland.He had twice runfor the Senate in Maryland (in 1988 and 1992) and had twicesought the Republican nomination for the presidency (in 1996and 2000).An African American with conservative credentials,Keyes had served in the administration of President RonaldReagan and spent several years working in the State Depart-ment and the United Nations.Keyes quickly rented an apartment outside Chicago and,according to Davey, began to campaign against Obama, dis-missing his sudden fame as  manufactured, artificial hype likethe Wizard of Oz. Keyes trailed by wide margins in the polls,but Obama writes in The Audacity of Hope that Keyes con-frontational campaign style managed to get under his skin,as did his comment that Jesus would never vote for Barack79Campaign for the U.S.SenateObama. When our paths crossed during the campaign, Ioften had to suppress the rather uncharitable urge to eithertaunt him or wring his neck, Obama later wrote in TheAudacity of Hope.Obama s lead remained consistent throughout the finalmonths of the campaign, however.In November 2004, he waselected to the U.S.Senate, capturing 70 percent of the vote [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]