Barack and the 008 Movement



Last night, Saturday, April 28, 2007, presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, spoke in front of a crowd of roughly , a large number of whom where below the age of 35. Industry insiders and hipster politicos were among the crowd entertained by Cedric the Entertainer, who introduced the Senator.

Standing behind the stage where Senator Obama was to speak, I looked up to see Cedric the Entertainer enter so that he could warm up the crowd and introduce Barack. That Mr. the Entertainer is a funny man.


The Senator spoke for about 20 minutes, galvanizing the crowd with his booming voice harking me back to growing up in the Baptist churches of Louisiana. The man should have been a preacher. He spoke of the nation's need for a universal health care plan, how, when he moved to Chicago, no one could pronounce his name correctly, the current administration's dreadful foreign policy, the desire to help curb our nation's actions in destroying the environment and our dependency on foreign oil. He talked about his recent trip to Selma, Alabama and the 42nd anniversary of the march there, his ability to unite crowds by showing that events and identities America tends to seperate and classify into different groups can all be identified as one unit. Someone related to his story of the visit to Selma by saying how wonderful an experience it must have been to have been in touch with such a great event in African-American history. Obama replied to the person saying that it wasn't African-American history, it was American history.


I almost cried several times during the speech. Then I almost cried again when I saw Kate Walsh (Dr. Addison Shepard on Grey's Anatomy) standing directly behind me because I knew at that moment I would never be that hot. There were quite a few celebrities at the event, most of whom were African-American. The Senator's Harvard Law School classmate, Hill Harper, Gabrielle Union, Henry Simmons, Eric LaSalle, Lawrence Bender. I believe I saw Sanaa Lathan and supposedly, Oliver Stone was there, as well.

I spoke with one of the producers of the event, who works with 008 The Movement, and was told that there will be many more events to come, in an effort to reach out to younger voters, in the LA area.

All in all, a great event. An opportunity to see someone of Mr. Obama's stature do what he does best.
Here are some really short and not so great videos I took with my roommates digital camera.