Obama cries as he thanks campaign workers
US: In the most candid and emotional scene ever captured of Barack
Obama on camera, the normally composed US President teared up as he told
young campaign workers of his pride in them.
Obama’s campaign team distributed on Thursday a YouTube video of the
president’s emotional tribute to his team at his Chicago headquarters
the day before, hours after he won re-election to a second term.
“What you guys have done, means the work that I am doing is
important, I am really proud of that, I am really proud of all of you,”
Obama said before pausing as tears welled up and dampened his cheek. “I
am absolutely confident that all of you are going to do just amazing
things in your lives,” Obama said, standing alone at a microphone with a
poster of his slogan “Forward!” behind him on the wall.
“What Bobby Kennedy called the ripples of hope that come out when you
throw a stone in a lake, that is going to be you,” Obama said, his voice
still hoarse from days of campaigning. The YouTube video was posted on
BarackObama.com and was distributed by campaign staff on Twitter and
email.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in an email to supporters
that the president was not just talking to campaign workers in the
office, but to all the thousands of volunteers who built his huge
grassroots movement. “He was talking to all of you,” Messina wrote in
the email. Obama, famed for his cool, “no drama” persona, has sometimes
been accused of showing too little emotion in public and appearing
aloof. He nonetheless got teary in stump speeches at the end of both his
2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.
But he has rarely displayed the kind of raw emotion that was seen in
the YouTube video. |