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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2008 / Seven Years Ago Today: Hope and Change

Seven Years Ago Today: Hope and Change

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I don’t know about you, but for me it was an amazing day. Amazing. So many things I never thought I would see in my lifetime. I am so proud of this man and so proud that we worked our butts off to help him get elected.

Here is the C-Span full archive of video of the events of the day.

We cannot backtrack. We cannot.

Consider this an open thread. Cheers.

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  4. 4.

    Germy

    What’s next for Obama?

    Could Obama — a former president of the Harvard Law Review who will be 55 years old as he starts his post-White House life — be tempted by the high court?

    “I think being a justice is a little bit too monastic for me,” he told The New Yorker in October 2014. “Particularly after having spent six years and what will be eight years in this bubble, I think I need to get outside a little bit more.”

    The example of the two Democratic presidents before him — Carter and Clinton, who both launched foundations that are respected beyond America’s borders — could serve as a guide for Obama.

    Persistent rumors also suggest he could be interested in teaching courses at Columbia University in New York, where he studied in the early 1980s.

    “I love teaching. I miss the classroom and engaging with students,” he told The New Yorker.

  5. 5.

    Hungry Joe

    I was disappointed in his inaugural address because at the end he didn’t point to Bush and Cheney, then say to the Secret Service, “ARREST THOSE MEN.”

  6. 6.

    eemom

    What a great day that was. I’ll never forget the thrill I got for months afterward whenever I heard the words “the President”, and remembered that they referred to Obama, and no longer to….well, you know.

    Even went to an inaugural ball to which I somehow got an invite, with eedad and another couple.

  7. 7.

    David *Born in the USA* Koch

    @Hungry Joe: He sold us out, right at the very moment!

    The worst part of that inaugural address is when he said, “I proudly stand as Bush’s 3rd term.” I was shocked.

  8. 8.

    Mnemosyne

    @Hungry Joe:

    I still laugh at Cheney in the wheelchair on Obama’s Inauguration Day. I still think it was a classic narcissist’s cry of, Why aren’t they paying attention to MMMMEEEEEE???!

    I’m also still convinced it was my Chicago peeps who started the “Na Na Hey Hey” singing as Bush’s helicopter flew away since White Sox fans have been using that song forever.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    Also inaugurated again the next day, just in case, as the Chief Justice flubbed the wording of the oath on Jan. 20.

  11. 11.

    Wag

    I agree that the past seven years have been bearable largely because of the President. Well tha and the fact the Sarah Palin isn’t the VP

    Just read about her “speech” endorsing Trump in The Guardian. Best description of SP ever.

    Inexplicably, a human being who speaks like the comment thread underneath a YouTube video remains a political force in this country.

    Go read the whole thing.

  13. 13.

    oldster

    One of the greatest days of my life, too. This last seven years has been immeasurably better than the eight that the Supreme Court stole from us through Bush v. Gore.

    And if they had not stolen it from us, 2015 might not have been the hottest year on record, either.

    Scalia et co. have a lot of blood on their hands.

  14. 14.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    I was all the way back by the Washington Monument. I had driven from Toronto to Delaware and taken an Inauguration special chartered Amtrak in from Wilmington. The Na Na Hey Hey singing was great.

    As soon as Biden finished his oath of office and Cheney was no longer VP someone yelled out, “Now watch for a fucking spaceship to come down and pick up Cheney!”

  15. 15.

    David *Born in the USA* Koch

    President Obama’s plaque on Mount Rushmore

    ☑ Landmark peace agreement with Iran
    ☑ Regulated CO2 – cut emissions by 30%
    ☑ Ended Bush’s war on Iraq
    ☑ Withdrew 183,000 of 188,000 troops fighting and dying in two Middle East quagmires
    ☑ Kept the US out of war in Syria, Iran, and Ukraine
    ☑ Repealed DADT
    ☑ Overturned DOMA
    ☑ Enacted Federal ENDA
    ☑ Endorsed Gay Marriage
    ☑ Set strong Net Neutrality regulations
    ☑ Raised car millage to 55 mpg
    ☑ Rescued the Auto Industry
    ☑ Prevented a 2nd Great Depression
    ☑ Ended Bush’s tax cuts for the rich
    ☑ Brought health insurance to 32,500,000 million people
    ☑ Normalized relations with Cuba after 54 years
    ☑ Stopped Keystone Pipeline
    ☑ Enacted Dodd-Frank financial reform
    ☑ Deferred to Colorado’s and Washington’s pot laws instead of using federal preemption
    ☑ Overturned the ban on stem cell research
    ☑ Saved millions of Latinos from deportation
    ☑ Enacted free contraceptives for women
    ☑ Enacted 6 weeks maternity leave for federal workers
    ☑ Extended Social Security benefits to gay couples.
    ☑ Eliminated color coded terror alerts
    ☑ Rebuilt FEMA
    ☑ Appointed first 11 openly gay judges on Federal bench
    ☑ Appointed first Latina to Supreme Court
    ☑ Appointed first female Solicitor General
    ☑ Appointed first female Federal Reserve Chairwoman
    ☑ Appointed 41% of female judges to Federal Bench
    ☑ Ended rescission, pre-existing conditions, lifetime caps
    ☑ Enacted Fair Sentencing Act
    ☑ Ended federal criminal asset forfeiture
    ☑ Ended gender discrimination in the Military
    ☑ Enacted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
    ☑ Enacted Lilly Ledbetter Act
    ☑ Enacted Mathew Sheppard Hate Crimes Act
    ☑ Enacted Credit Card Reform Act
    ☑ Enacted Food Safety Act
    ☑ Eliminated banks from federal student loans
    ☑ Found bin Laden
    ☑ Captured Whitey Bulger
    ☢ Reduced Nuclear arms with Russia by 66%
    ☑ Provided crucial financing for Telsa’s electric car
    ☑ Negotiated Co2 reduction accord with China
    ☑ Expanded SCHIP and Pell Grants
    ☑ Syria surrendered their WMDs
    ☑ Enacted world program to secure loose fissionable material
    ☑ Saved movie “The Interview” from being censored and buried by Sony Pictures
    ☑ Secured release of POW Bowe Bergdahl
    ☑ Saved Yazidis and Benghazi from genocide
    ☑ Oil trading at 14 year low of $26 per barrel.

    Obama has accomplished all this in only seven years, in the face unprecedented obstruction by the wingnuts and the corporate media.

  16. 16.

    the Conster

    @Baud:

    That’s exactly how I feel. When the country was in a true crisis in 2008, he was the only adult. He knew exactly what he was getting if he got elected, conveyed the smarts and temperament to calm a nation, and that’s why he won in a landslide. He’s been nothing but reviled since. He’s a great great man, and I don’t want to see him go.

  19. 19.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    FYWP I can’t edit the comment. Stayed in Delaware since it was half the price of just about everything in Maryland – 2 star hotels on Baltimore wanted $250 per night.

  23. 23.

    David *Born in the USA* Koch

    The Iran deal confirms something that has been clear for a while now: Barack Obama is one of the most consequential presidents in American history — and he will be a particularly towering figure in the history of American progressivism.

    ***

    Clinton and Carter were middling, at best. Obama is LBJ or FDR-level.

    Vox

  25. 25.

    Elizabelle

    I love Barack Obama. Best president of my lifetime.

    May he have a long and healthy and productive life after.

  26. 26.

    David *Born in the USA* Koch

    He`ll always be the president who got health reform done after decades of other people calling for it and trying for it and failing. He did it.

    He will be the president who reopened U.S. embassy in Havana after being shut for more than 50 years. He`ll be the president that allowed gay people to serve openly in the military, who saw the legalization of same sex marriage nationwide. He will always be the president who got bin Laden. He`ll always be the president who got Syria to give up its huge arsenal of chemical weapons.

    He`s the president who brought the country back from the brink of a second Great Depression. Barack Obama will go down in history as the president who signed Wall Street reform and credit card reform and student loan reform. He will always be the president who rescued the U.S. auto industry when it was on the brink of extinction.

    We know a lot of the things that will be on the list for this president. But now today, as he starts his last 500 days in office as of today, another one of those big pieces fell into place. If the Iranian nuclear deal works, it will end the long standing global fear of an Iranian nuclear bomb without having to go to war to stop it.

    Forget how hard it was to negotiate that deal in Vienna, it was really hard to negotiate that deal within our own political system with a Republican-led Congress that did everything they could to try to throw the deal out.

    This is one of those things that the pundit class said couldn`t be done. This was seen as an impossible political task in Washington. But it`s done.

    And looking at this huge political lift, this political accomplishment, the success against all odds, if you were president, what would that make you want to do next? Is there something about the way this improbable victory has been achieved by the Obama administration that clears the path or at least shows the path to what else could be done in the last 500 days of this very, very consequential presidency.

    Rachel Maddow

  28. 28.

    Jeffro

    Btw if y’all read Ross Douthat’s column today, it’s like…it’s like he finally realizes it’s over, and the barbarians have won. Kathleen Parker and Michael Gerson are in similar states of shock, denial, acceptance.

    (and this is on top of David Brooks calling for someone…ANYone…to unite for sensible conservatism and fend off Trump and Cruz!)

    David, we don’t really want you, but come on over to the sensible, quite middle-of-the-road side.

  29. 29.

    David *Born in the USA* Koch

    Obama has emerged as one of the most consequential and, yes, successful presidents in American history.

    Paul Krugman

    The Obama presidency is one of the most monumental shifts in American society and social life and policy of any presidency, particularly in the last 100 years.

    Chris Hayes

    Ezra Klein @ezraklein

    If you had told me in 2004 that America would have a black president, universal health care, and gay marriage by 2015, I would have laughed

    Retweets
    6,133
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  30. 30.

    David *Born in the USA* Koch

    Perhaps it was a bit of hyperbole, but one writer we admire said, “This a week that historians will write books about.” When an African American president sang Amazing Grace as the country buried the Confederate battle flag. It was a week in which the left/right ideological struggle swung sharply in favor of progressives, as Americans came to look at three issues in a different way in rapid order.

    The Confederate flag came to be seen by most, not just some, as a reminder of hate, not heritage. Healthcare reform, seen now as a right, not a privilege. And same-sex marriage became law of the land. It was also a week that cemented President Obama’s legacy. Here he is, celebrating that Supreme Court’s healthcare decision with his chief of staff, Denis McDonough. And Friday night, the White House was bathed in rainbow colors, in honor of the marriage ruling, capping the most sweeping period of social transformation since the 1960s. It was a week of dramatic social change inextricably linked to the age of Obama.

    Chuck Todd

  31. 31.

    ThresherK

    @Mnemosyne: Then he opened up his newspaper and found that missing $8000 and kept it, the rat. What a warped, frustrated old man.

    Just wondering if anyone on Cheney’s immediate staff had the balls to tell him that Mr. Potter wasn’t the hero of the movie.

  32. 32.

    Linnaeus

    When he started out, I figured he’d be good, but not necessarily “consequential”. He’s been both.

  36. 36.

    Gussie

    He is the greatest president of my lifetime, and also responsible for the death of 500-1000 civilians in Pakistan, including 200 children. I’m not saying anyone could’ve done better, but the hero worship makes me nervous.

  40. 40.

    jacy

    I remember the day very clearly, and sharing it with my kids. The only thing that had been more emotional up to that point was election night.

    I was never so proud of my country, never so full of feelings that anything was possible. And although things haven’t been perfect, good gravy, but am I proud of our president. I feel privileged to have existed at this time during history, and to have contributed, no matter in what small ways, to having his presidency become a reality.

    And even when things suck, and dog knows our political environment sucks balls, this happened. A difference was made. Differences were made small and large. I am confident that Obama has done the best he was able, and a lot of times, that was pretty fucking able.

  42. 42.

    Cacti

    Obama has been one of the greats, and I doubt I’ll see his like again in my lifetime.

    Now, if we can just keep the emo progs from turning everything back by nominating George McGovern for a second time.

  43. 43.

    Eric S.

    His first inaugural was the first time I ever heard a national politician positively speak of my kind (atheist). I think he used the phrase “people of no faith.”

    It was a little thing and he went on to do many, many more and more important things but that validated my support for him in his senate and 1st presidential campaigns.

  44. 44.

    Linnaeus

    @Cacti:

    Now, if we can just keep the emo progs from turning everything back by nominating George McGovern for a second time.

    I don’t think you need to worry much about that.

  45. 45.

    JPL

    Today Jeb reminded us what came before
    Jeb! reminds crowd that his dad and brother have been president. “I’ve seen how it’s done the right way and how it’s done the wrong way.”
    Thanks to Dave weigel

  46. 46.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @David *Born in the USA* Koch: That’s an amazing list. I’m going to save it to show to people who claim Obama disappointed them and did nothing.

    Since this is an open thread, caucuses are Feb 1 at 7 pm. My town has scheduled a vote on a school millage for Feb 2. How does that make sense? People will have been up late politicking the night before and their political energy will be spent. Only old people will vote, and the millage will be defeated.

  47. 47.

    gwangung

    @Gussie: Unlike other folks, I get the feeling Obama knows that…and broods about it. One if the reasons why his hair us gray.

  48. 48.

    Gussie

    @David *Born in the USA* Koch: I’m sure glad about that, too. Even though the fight against al Queda is peanuts when compared to the WWII, I -still- think we should try to acknowledge that even Great Men–or maybe especially Great Men–often have the blood of innocents on their hands. That doesn’t discount all the good that they do, or the fact that they’re a lot Greater than I’d ever be. But that’s a lot of dead children. Trying to remember them isn’t all bad.

  49. 49.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    @Gussie: Just about every US President has experienced non-American civilian deaths at the hands of Americans overtly or covertly.

    He’s likely a lot closer to the Michael Douglas line from “The American President” than almost all of his Republican predecessors. “You’ve just seen me do the least presidential thing I do.”

  51. 51.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL: if Bush ! and Bush II were an Oedipal loop-de-loop, adding Debbie makes it a tilt-a-whirl, with Barbara as Pennywise the Clown holding her paw on high speed button

  53. 53.

    gwangung

    @Linnaeus: No, I worry about emo profs throwing a tantrum and not realizing we will NEVER get anyone so competent in the White House in our lifetime.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    @JPL:

    Kids. From now on there are three ways of doing things: the right way, the wrong way, and the Max Power Bush family way.

    Bart Simpson: Isn’t that just the wrong way?

    Yes, but faster.

  55. 55.

    ThresherK

    @khead: I would be disappointed if nobody referred to that skit. I remember seeing it live and it stunned me, then made me howl.

    I remember Jessie Jackson’s tears of relief and joy, because the entirety of white America finally had another black person to go to when they wanted an explanation or apology for something a black person said or did.

  56. 56.

    Culture of Truth

    Full confession: Although I knew may people high up with Team Hillary, I joined the Obama campaign early in 2007. So yes, January 2009 was pretty amazing.

  57. 57.

    lol chikinburd

    An awesome day, and so much done since, and of course so much yet to do.

    If I’ve learned anything in the last two weeks, it’s that, when faced with a seemingly insurmountable set of tasks, what you do is what you can. Obama’s done what he can. He wasn’t going to be able to end four-plus centuries of racism or build us an NHS. He chipped away and did what he could, and that’s been remarkable.

    (Had a better day myself, after getting some needed help and getting a big chunk of estate business done.)

  58. 58.

    Linnaeus

    @gwangung:

    Even if they do, it’s a relatively minor problem. The much bigger challenge is getting people to the polls, especially those who aren’t normally inclined to vote.

  59. 59.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I was home alone on 2008 election night. I watched the scene in Grant Park with tears in my eyes. It was a moment I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. It was history and I knew it even as I watched.

  62. 62.

    Cacti

    I remember seeing Obama’s keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention and thinking to myself:

    “That man could be the first black President of the United States.”

    It just came a bit sooner than I expected.

  63. 63.

    Mike J

    Anybody checked out “The Bern Identity: A Search for Bernie Sanders and the New American Dream” by Will Bunch yet?

    Use the balloon juice amazon link to look for the ebook.

  64. 64.

    Cacti

    Also can’t believe how Sasha and Malia have grown from kids into young women during that span of time.

  65. 65.

    JPL

    @Cacti: When I watched the speech, I had the same feeling as you. In 2007 when Senator Obama gave a campaign speech at GA TECH, I sat there and listened to him, and walked away knowing he could be President.

    We are so lucky.

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mnemosyne:

    I still laugh at Cheney in the wheelchair on Obama’s Inauguration Day. I still think it was a classic narcissist’s cry of, Why aren’t they paying attention to MMMMEEEEEE???!

    It was partly that, I’m sure, but even more I think it was Cheney’s way of saying “Fuck you, I’m not standing up for a ni-clang.” It was a vaguely plausible excuse for being totally disrespectful.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    @Gussie:

    I think you’re confusing conservative hero worship and liberal hero worship. To paraphrase Al Franken, conservatives loved Bush the way a 4-year-old loves his mommy, thinking that everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Liberals know you have to acknowledge the bad with Obama but also that the bad does not outweigh the good.

  72. 72.

    Jim

    I cried. The inauguration was one of the best days of my life, and I’m forever glad I lived to see it. It was the United States that I’d always believed in. Simple as that.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    @Linnaeus:
    I saw that fucker and said “Where’s the white cat?” And yet, Cheney lives still, a free man available for any Sunday chat show. Am only slightly relieved to know Lizard will never have a political career. What a piece of work she is.

  75. 75.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Cacti: I said, “I’ve just seen the first Black President”; but like you I didn’t think it would be in 4 years.

  76. 76.

    Betty Cracker

    Wow — Maddow just played a clip of remarks by Bill Clinton. He has aged shockingly — looked like a frail old man. I hope he’s okay.

  78. 78.

    Jim, Foolish Literal

    @trollhattan: Am only slightly relieved to know Lizard will never have a political career.
    Please to be touching piece of wood near you. As glad as I was to see her fall on her face, I wouldn’t count her out in the future. Wyoming is blood red and (I imagine given its size and media markets) a cheap race for a candidate who would have more or less limitless resources. And both her grandfathers is Satan.

  79. 79.

    the Conster

    @Betty Cracker:

    He’s been a vegan for a long time – he looks like he could use a steak or three. He sounds really feeble too. Hill is not going to get the dynamic schmoozing Bill, and that’s probably a good thing.

  80. 80.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @trollhattan: Am only slightly relieved to know Lizard will never have a political career.

    Please to be touching piece of wood near you. As glad as I was to see her fall on her face, I wouldn’t count her out in the future. Wyoming is blood red and (I imagine given its size and media markets) a cheap race for a candidate who would have more or less limitless resources. And both her grandfathers is Satan.

  82. 82.

    gogol's wife

    @Betty Cracker:

    My husband is really worried that something might go wrong with Bill, and that will throw Hillary off.

    I’m trying not to worry about anything. I’m ready for a woman president (D). I didn’t realize it until recently.

  83. 83.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    I don’t remember the day that much – Arethas crazy hat, FLOTUS’ cool Jackie O style coming through. Kist a huge relief that W was gone. I love Obama. I don’t care if saying that makes me sounds like the stupid Bush fans. It’s a pity the GOP have obstructed souch. So much lost opportunity for this country. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think he’s perfect. The healthcare rollout and the VA scandal were awful. He didn’t bargain as well as he could have in the beginning. Obamacare is personal for me and several extended family members. Health Insurance and self employment in a red state is stressful. I am hoping he goes the Jimmy Carter route and not the Bill Clinton route. If HRC wins she’s got some yuuge boots to fill. Unless we get a trust buster like TR in the next few years ,I’m pretty sure will be the best president of my lifetime.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mike J:

    Scoreboard is genius. I wonder whether it originated with someone at the high school, or with the campaign itself. There must be a fair number of h.s. and college gyms as venues for Bill over the next few months — they could, and should, do this every time.

  90. 90.

    liberal

    @David *Born in the USA* Koch:

    Saved Yazidis and Benghazi from genocide

    LOL. The second part of that, at least, has been shown to be propaganda. What he and Hillary really accomplished was the overthrow of a secular dictator, who was replaced by a bunch of religious nutjobs. Great work!

  92. 92.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @efgoldman: I don’t know about the band thing. My son was in college by the time we moved here, so I’ve never been closely involved with the schools. Except to vote for millages, of course. They’re an automatic yes for me.

  95. 95.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffro: Those guys will all be talking about the homespun genius and high moral character of Donald Trump a week after he accepts the nomination.

  97. 97.

    qwerty42

    An amazing president. I had a good deal more, but had to delete it as so many sentences were incomplete. I doubt his equal will come in my lifetime.

  98. 98.

    mike in dc

    @Cacti:

    I don’t think the two are comparable, unless you are suggesting that nearly the entire Democratic establishment will conspire to undermine the nominee’s campaign, should they win the nomination. Because that’s what happened to McGovern.

  99. 99.

    Glenn Dexter

    I’ll never forget it either.
    My mortgage was immediately paid.
    I got a free cell phone.
    I didn’t have to work full time anymore.
    I could go on and on but best of all he kept that bitchy woman outta the White House.

  103. 103.

    Zinsky

    One can only wonder what the man could have accomplished with a non-racist, rational, responsible Congress.

  104. 104.

    Calliope Jane

    Cried election night, cried during the speech. A family friend was in DC and brought back souvenirs for me (and my uncle in Chicago made sure to get me a button). I was glued to CSPAN the whole day. And I was glad that Ted Kennedy got to see it, although he got sick at the luncheon. I’m not sure I’ll see as good a president in my lifetime and I’m grateful I got to see it and live it and contributed in some small way to getting him elected.

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I watched the inauguration in the office on an old TV with no cable. To this day, my memory tells me it was snowing heavily.

  107. 107.

    eemom

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It was cold as shit at the main event here in deecee. Didn’t stop the crowds…..though I must admit, I opted for weeping with joy in the comfort of my home.

  109. 109.

    redshirt

    It’s felt really good to trust completely the ruling power in DC. I’m going to miss that.

    Barry is the only politician to get me to participate in actual election stuff. I knocked on doors! Best President by far in my lifetime and I doubt I’ll see a better.

  110. 110.

    arrieve

    @Thor Heyerdahl: I was back by the Washington Monument too! I don’t remember seeing you. What I do remember is how cold I was. And how much I didn’t care. And that I thought I would cry when he took the oath of office but instead I started laughing, and hugging everyone around me. And then I cried. A great, great day.

  111. 111.

    Emily68

    I was at a party a week or so before the inauguration and we were all talking about where we’d be when we watched. One guy was going to be on a plane and he’d miss the whole thing. When the big day came, my husband & I were right there in front of the TV and when (I think) Di-Fi told everybody to stand up as the swearing-in was at hand, my husband said, “We better stand up, too.”

  115. 115.

    Momstheword11

    So sad it is coming to an end. I love you Mr. President and First Lady and First Daughters.
    What a wonderful 8 years!
    Thank you for what you have done and I would march into hell for you, gladly.
    Just wish you could be cloned and we could have you for 8, no 80 more years!

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