Monday, January 07, 2008

Happy Warriors

TNR's Jason Zengerle has this quote from Obama:

And if you’ve got a working majority, if the American people are behind you, then you can fear no man. You can walk into a room with a sunny disposition, you can smile and say “Yes sir,” “No sir,” “Yes maam,” and “No maam,” and if they don’t agree with you, you’ve got the votes, and you will beat them. And you can do it with a smile on your face. . . . We are happy warriors for change.


Zengerle then adds:

I know a lot of people have already compared Obama to Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy. But maybe Hubert Humphrey is more apt.


Humphrey was indeed known as the Happy Warrior, but Al Smith was the first with the nickname. Franklin Roosevelt gave the label to him when he nominated Smith at the 1928 Democratic convention. The phrase comes from poem by Wordsworth.

No comments: