My thanks to those that watched the live feed from South Carolina! Please let me know if there is a YouTube or other video of today's speech from Oprah & Obama. I'll place it in this post to replace the live feed box. OK?
- Final update [4548 viewers] - Barack ends by telling a story of his trip to Greenwood, SC and the 'Fired Up' chant of a local city council member. One voice can make a difference. He leads chant, Fired Up ... Ready to Go. The crowd eats it up. This appears to be a slam dunk for Barack Obama. I imagine that he will get a big bump in South Carolina and elsewhere.
- 3:30 pm update [4494 viewers] - Barack Obama calls on voters to be bold. He gives a story about home health care worker in Oakland. He shows his compassion for women and other common folks that need some help from government to knock down some of the barriers to the American Dream. Barack breaks it down about why he is running for President. He talks about his foreign policy vision. He talks about criminal justice system ('no more Jena 6'). Our moment is now ... the fierce urgency of now. He gives list of things that he doesn't want to see four years from now.
- 3:15 pm update [4523 viewers] - Barack Obama is on fire! He acknowledges his wife, Oprah and the largest crowd in the election cycle. Big applause from the crowd when he reminds them that George W. Bush will not be on the ballot next year. He challenges the audience to ask, 'What is next for America?'. He talks about how America has lost trust in government. He says that this is a chance to come together and work on big problems (healthcare, energy, poverty, children in prison instead of college) that have been on our agenda for decades.
- 3:00 pm update [4450 viewers] - Oprah is breaking it down. She is sharing why she is inspired by Obama. She isn't telling the audience to just trust me, rather she is breaking it down in terms of the reasons she believes we should vote for Obama --> statesmanship, strength, honor and compassion. She looks to see Obama inspire us to fix education problems ... fix health insurance ... Now is the time for Barack Obama. Oprah is sick of politics as usual. We need to tell the truth and be the truth. Oprah hits Hillary, "...the amount of time you spent in Washington DC doesn't matter if you haven't used good judgement while you are there." She challenges the experience argument. She wants us to see if there is wisdom in the candidate. She breaks down his resume and track record as community organizer, state legislator and US senator. Clarity and conviction and proceed with moral authority. Oprah sez, "it does matter what the rest of the world thinks about us." She reminds the audience that Jan 23rd is the time for South Carolina to seize the moment. Some say Barack Obama should wait his turn ... Oprah knocked down this argument by saying that we can't wait for the future ... the moment is NOW. She took the microphone and is walking around the stage now to tell her Jane Pittman story. Is he the one? she asks. It's Obama-time!
- 2:40 pm update [4273 viewers] - Michelle Obama did a wonderful job of introducing Oprah Winfrey. Is Michelle taller than Barack?
- 2:30 pm update [4133 viewers] - World record set for the Largest Phone Bank with 36,426 participants, beating previous record of 15,000.
- 2:15 pm update [4176 viewers] - Two members of the Obama campaign staff are on stage asking folks in the stadium to take out their cell phones and join the campaign text-messaging program. The two staffers are now using a gimmick to get the folks in the stadium to make phone calls to potential voters that are not in the stadium. They are trying to break a world record evidently. This is boring for those of us viewing on streaming TV. I'm ready for Oprah, Michell and Barack now!
- 2:00 pm update [3753 viewers] - The crowd appears to be building. Of course, the camera view doesn't give the full stadium, however, you can see the crowd grew considerably since the show first came on 90-minutes ago. Arrested Development first started 17 years ago. These two sisters that are dancing are probably in their 40s. I see one of them is sitting down now. I know that I would be sitting after the energy that they placed into the early part of their set. OK. I'm ready for Oprah, Michelle and Barack now!
- 1:45 pm update [3425 viewers] - The first hour was filled with performances by local groups, including some high school marching bands. The real show appears to be heating up now with the appearance of Arrested Development. They are setting stage with song called, I Believe in Miracles.
