As most are aware by now, today is the 100th anniversary of the start of World War [7]I - the war which was supposed to end all wars, when in reality, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve - which was created just few shorts months prior - it merely unleashed the most deadly series of wars the world has ever seen.
What may be less known is that today's "other" anniversary is perhaps just as momentous, if not (yet) as destructive or GDP boosting: on July 28, 2004 is when America got its first glimpse of a political newcomer few if any had heard of previously. Barack Obama.
Now looks just a wee bit older. RT @TheFix [8]: Ten years ago today, America met a guy named Barack Obama. pic.twitter.com/N9ZlRDXRTj [9]
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) July 28, 2014 [10]
Boston Magazine's take:
Ten years ago on July 28, 2004, those Americans who don’t watch national political conventions in primetime woke up to hear about a newcomer to the Democratic political scene: Barack Obama.
The Democrats hosted their national convention in Boston that year and offered the keynote address to a relatively unknown candidate for Senate in Chicago. On a night with speeches from more familiar faces like Ted Kennedy, the keynote offered Obama the chance to drastically raise his national profile. He succeeded.
The address offered a message of unity with lines like, “There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America; there’s the United States of America.” His speech presented an “us versus them” narrative that didn’t put Democrats against Republicans but the audience against those who wanted to divide them. “Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes.”
And how right he was.
