OBAMARAMA

About 30 minutes ago, Sen. Obama gave a powerful and poignant speech at the Democratic National Committee’s Winter Meeting. I was fortunate to be able to be there and hope to write more about the event later, but as I have to hit the road to be at the Students for Barack Obama rally in Fairfax this afternoon, I’ll just post some quick thoughts and images for the time being.

He opened his remarks by calling for Democratic unity in the race to come. The primary, he said, “shouldn’t be about making each other look bad. … Our rivals won’t be one another.” Our rivals won’t even be the other party, he said. Our rival will be cynicism.

“We’ve been told that consensus on any issue is no longer possible,” he continued, and that all we’re left to do is “tinker around the edges.” But the problems we face are too big to let cynicism win. “We owe voters an election where they’re inspired.”

It was a stirring address and seemed to be very well-received. Although most people in the room have already picked a horse in this race, my first impression is that this will go down as an important moment for Sen. Obama’s campaign.

Now for some pictures. Here is Sen. Obama at the podium:

He has to remain neutral, of course, but I’m betting Gov. Dean is a big fan:

His exploratory committee hadn’t arranged for either signs or theme music for his entrance and exit, but DraftObama.org had managed to spread a few signs around:

Now, off to Virginia. More to come.