Barack Obama: Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention (2004)
Barack Obama was relatively unknown when he gave the Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention on July 27, 2004. The highest office he had held was state senator, but he started to attract attention as a rising political star when he won an overwhelming victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary for U.S. senator from Illinois. Obama’s command of issues, skill at public speaking, and charismatic personality so impressed Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democrats’ choice for president in 2004, that Kerry made sure that Obama secured the coveted position of keynote speaker.
Obama’s first address to a national audience was a rousing success. For this occasion he composed an address that expresses many of his most important ideas about American life and politics, combining biographical details with his vision of America and the reasons for his support of Kerry’s candidacy. In what was becoming a distinctive part of his vision for America, Obama urges...
