I was there - Obama speaks at Sharpton's National Action Network convention
"I've said to Rev. Sharpton and I'll say it today, if there is somebody - I don't care whether they are white or black or they are male or female - if there is somebody who has been more on the forefront on behalf of the issues you care about and has more concrete accomplishments on behalf of the things you're concerned about, I'm happy to see you endorse them. But I am absolutely confident you will not find that."
I was at the National Action Network (presided by Al Sharpton) meeting where Barack Obama spoke yesterday (midtown Manhattan Sheraton, 12 noon). It wasn't a huge crowd but I'm sure that's because it wasn't widely publicized that he would be speaking there that day (I only got an email from a fellow pro-Obama person less than 36 hours before). Hillary had been invited to speak the day before and apparently she did quite well.
His remarks, often addressed directly to Sharpton himself, were actually more pointed than the linked-to article depicts; he told Sharpton almost in as many words (and right in front of "his people") that he is wrong in his unofficial endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
Also, the article doesn't really do justice to the incident with the cell phone. It wasn't quite as quick and by compressing it they make it sound like the intent of his joke was something other than how it was meant.
What happened, in order, is that a buzzing sound was heard for about 5 seconds while he was speaking. He paused and said "What's that buzzing sound? You hear a buzzing sound?" (pause) "I think it's Sharpton's Blackberry." (quiet general laughter).
Sharpton takes out his phone to turn it off.
Obama: It IS Sharpton's phone. (laughter) Is that Hillary calling?
(the implication, as far as I took it, was that Hillary and Sharpton are in constant contact, perhaps several times a day, in order to coordinate their efforts; a natural thing since they both have region-specific complementary interests).
Sharpton: No, it's your wife.
(Consider what plausible scenarios would explain such a thing happening.) At this point I'm covering my face with my hands from embarrassment; what an awful, stupid, positively Don Imus-like thing to say. I was actually expecting the crowd to go "oooohhhh..." (pronounced: "I can't believe he went there"). Instead there was raucous laughter and clapping so the moment was saved. Perhaps the subtler implication of the joke was lost on them, or they chose to ignore it in order not to damage either of the two men on stage.
Obama: (Obviously also trying to defuse it) Tell her I'll pick up the groceries on my way home. (or something like that; I'm doing this from memory).
In any case, I'll try to go out of my way to go see him whenever he comes to town; it's fun to get these things live and then see them reported nationally.
There are photos I took of the event here:
http://public.fotki.com/juanolator/obama-08/
And random video clips (unfortunately not of any of the above-described moments) I shot here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z4tpvCgEdrI
Also, my new favorite Harry Chapin song; photo taken at the event yesterday:
2 comments:
Did Al Sharpton talk about "[Jewish] diamond merchants," "crackers," "bloodsucking Jews," and "white interlopers" the way he and his entourage did when a member of the latter burned a Jewish-owned store in Harlem and killed seven people?
Did Sharpton trade notes with Obama about how "Greek homos" (Sharpton's words) were living in caves while Black people were building empires and "inventing astrology?"
Did Sharpton tell Obama that he was glad Obama is not a cheap "n***er whore turning tricks in City Hall," as he called David Dinkins?
Not that the microphone could pick up, I would say.
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