The thirty second summary:<p>"We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Our unification is a more powerful weapon than any fleet or army on Earth. We are one people. With one will. One resolve. One cause. We shall prevail!"<p>edit: My point is that the speech was complete demagoguery. It didn't contain a single concrete idea, just hollow bromides and feel-good bullshit.
I see a lot of complaints about "platitudes" here, but I think this glosses over the impact of the Obama campaign.<p>There is not really much disagreement about what the important issues are. Get out of Iraq. Stop using fossil fuels. Get everyone affordable health insurance. Inflation and stagnant wages. There is a general consensus now that these are the U.S.'s big problems and we need pragmatic solutions to them. (The other consensus is that the Republican party has collapsed and needs to be removed from power as soon as possible.)<p>What Obama is offering is a way out of the broken record of baby boomer liberal vs. conservative rhetoric. If Hillary wins, we're in for 4 to 8 more years of the same old partisan story line that has played out since her husband was elected. Many Americans are more than sick of that and that is what Obama is appealing to and that is why he won.<p>And I think his attitude is basically right. More than specific policy proposals at this moment, Americans need a new mindset.
Hard call, but I think an occasional story related to politics may be ok if it is about some kind of major event that transcends politics-- just as a story about technology might occasionally appear in a magazine about politics if it is an important enough story.
I'm surprised to see this at No. 1, too.<p>"President Obama" (if that happens) is <i>perhaps</i> a transcendent enough event to make it here, but not a caucus victory speech.<p>FWIW, a better synthesis of politics & technology is Michael Bloomberg's take on the results <a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/bloomberg-parses-the-iowa-results/" rel="nofollow">http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/bloomberg-parse...</a> particularly this comment about all the major candidates:<p>"<i>I don't want to disparage anything, but let me say this: If you have complex problems, there probably are no simple cost-free solutions to them, because if there were, somebody would have solved them ... You know, the people running for office always say: 'I don't want to bring that up now. If I do, I won't get elected. But if I don't mention it and get elected, then I can do the difficult stuff.'</i>"
Generally I'd be upset at an article like this being on news.yc, but this was a really great speech that didn't focus too much on politics. It had much more to do with hope, success and fighting for what you believe in. That's a pretty universal message, and one that could easily be applied to startup life.
One reason this video belongs here: President Obama would appoint the nation's first CTO among other initiatives that are highly relevant to the things we care about.<p><a href="http://www.barackobama.com/issues/technology/" rel="nofollow">http://www.barackobama.com/issues/technology/</a><p>I'll venture to say: President Obama would be very good for hackers. It's one reason I'll be trudging through the snow tomorrow in NH to knock on doors.
On economics, Obama will be bad for technology and start-ups. The Bush tax cuts and the Reagan tax cuts before have freed up tremendous amounts of venture capital that sparked economic growth. The venture capital market didn't exist in America when the top income tax rate was 70% under Jimmy Carter. Vote Democrat and the only way you'll be able to get funding is through government grants, and the government will seize your income if you are a success.
Personally, I like Edward's rhetoric better:<p><a href="http://www.johnedwards.com/media/video/iowa-caucuses-thank-you/" rel="nofollow">http://www.johnedwards.com/media/video/iowa-caucuses-thank-y...</a><p>Nothing like "corporate greed", "corporate democrats", and "an epic fight for the future of the middle class". His dad worked at a mill, you know... ;)<p>Yum.
I believe if Obama becomes President his wife is really going to run things. It will be her and Oprah running the White House, Obama seems fine but his wife looks really controlling.