Chris Matthews’ crush on Barack Obama deepens
Nearly a month ago, Chris Matthews declared on his “Hardball” show that the candidacy of Barack Obama gave him a “thrill up his leg.” With that, we witnessed the official beginning of Chris Matthews’ crush on BO.
It was anticipated that in response to BO’s big speech yesterday on race, Chris Matthews would practically be blasting off into space gushing about how great it was and, as Geoffrey Dickens at Newsbusters reports, Matthews did not disappoint:
On Tuesday night’s “Hardball”, Chris Matthews praised the current Democratic frontrunner’s speech on race as “Worthy of Abraham Lincoln,” and also claimed it bypassed Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” address as the “best speech ever given on race in this country.” Of Barack Obama’s speech in Philadelphia today, Matthews went on to declare: “I think this is the kind of speech I think first graders should see, people in the last year of college should see before they go out in the world. This should be, to me, an American tract.”
Here’s one of several excerpts from the transcript:
MATTHEWS: Let’s all listen now to a bit of the speech. We should all, by the way, at some point after the program, please wait for the end of “Hardball,” at least. But check this out on our Web site, MSNBC.com, you can watch the whole speech. I think this is the kind of speech I think first graders should see, people in the last year of college should see before they go out in the world. This should be, to me, an American tract. Something that you just check in with, now and then, like reading Great Gatsby and Huckleberry Finn. Read this speech, once in a while, ladies and gentlemen. This is us. It’s us with the scab ripped off. It’s white people talking the way they do when they’re alone with other white people, some people. It’s black people talking the way they are when there’s not white people around. It’s an honest statement from a guy who comes from both backgrounds. We have never heard anything like this.
Can we officially call him “ObamaGuy” now?
Barack Obama will be in Charlotte for a speech this afternoon at 3:30 pm. I only got notice of it on Monday, which is too short a notice for me to be able to take off to attend. I’m sure there will be other speeches he will give in this state in the next couple of months, seeing as it now has become a big player in the Dem race for the nomination (the NC primary is May 6th). Hopefully I’ll be able to go to at least one of his appearances, so I can experience firsthand the man who supposedly rivals Abe Lincoln and MLK in his speech-giving ability. Two months also gives me time to re-learn CPR, a skill which I’m sure comes in handy at any BO speech. 
Related: The NYT and Newsweek imitate Obama Girl as well in their sugary sweet reviews of the O-man’s speech.