LIANE HANSEN, host:
From NPR News, this is WEEKEND EDITION. I'm Liane Hansen.
Two hours after the polls closed in South Carolina last night, with nearly all the votes counted and his 2-to-1 victory assured, Senator Barack Obama took the stage before a wildly cheering crowd of supporters.
(Soundbite of speech)
Senator BARACK OBAMA (Democrat, Illinois; Presidential Candidate): Yes, we can.
Unidentified Group: Yes, we can.
Sen. OBAMA: Yes, we can change.
Unidentified Group: Yes, we can.
Sen. OBAMA: Yes, we can.
HANSEN: What followed was far from a typical election night victory speech. It was one of Barack Obama's most notable orations to date, easily the equal of his words after the Iowa caucuses or even the speech that launched his national career at the Democratic convention of 2004.
(Soundbite of speech)
Sen. OBAMA: The same message we had when we were up and when we were down…
(Soundbite of cheering)
Sen. OBAMA: …that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we will hope; and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and fear, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words: Yes, we can.
Unidentified Group: Yes, we can.
Sen. OBAMA: Thank you, South Carolina. I love you.
(Soundbite of cheering)
HANSEN: With us to talk about last night is NPR's news analyst Juan Williams. Thanks for coming in, Juan.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Good morning, Liane.
HANSEN: What stood out about this speech for you?
WILLIAMS: Well, I think it was the optimism and the sense of looking at the Clinton campaign in specific. He does not mention Hillary Clinton by name, but there is this sense in which he's talking about the Clintons as the kind of old-school pragmatism - people who say, no, you can't express hope and a sense of vision and hope to succeed in America, that you're going to be defeated by racial politics, you're going to be defeated by the generational divide, you're going to be defeated by cynicism and young people who don't actually turn out to vote. And here was Barack Obama saying yes, we can, and it became a refrain. It became kind of like, you know, the rallying cry of people who were finally sensing that there were other people in America who share their optimism and idealism. And it's so appealing on that level.
HANSEN: Did it make sense, do you think, for him to give a speech like this after, well, first of all, a week of what seemed to be racially polarized campaigning and then the vote?
WILLIAMS: Well, it makes sense in this regard. He's going forward and he's hoping that he can recapture that spirit. Right now, Liane, he has won victories in Iowa and South Carolina, literally one of the whitest states in the nation, one of the blackest states in the nation. And if he has any hope, it really comes down to people having a sense, as he put it in the speech, that you are not defeated by your doubts, by your fears, by the cynicism, but that you believe instead that there is a possibility of coming together. Yes, we can. You know, I don't want to sit here this morning and sound like I'm trying to give his speech again, but I thought it was a really tremendously positive and powerful speech.
HANSEN: Senator Obama got a big endorsement today and the New York Times editorial Caroline Kennedy has endorsed him.
WILLIAMS: And said that in her generation, she has never been touched by a politician the way that she has touched by Obama and that she heard from others that her father touched people in this way, and that she wants now a politician that might touch her children, and she sees that in Obama. An interesting note here: The New York Times earlier this week endorsed Hillary Clinton.
HANSEN: Senator Hillary Clinton came in second last night. She had 27 percent of the vote. How would you advise the Clintons to campaign against Barack Obama at this point?
WILLIAMS: She's got to continue asking hard questions about his take on the issues - where have you been, where have you stood, what's your experience. I think it's a winning ticket for her ultimately, especially as she goes into the big states. So, you know what, a lot of this is inspirational, but I'm the one who's the mechanic when your car breaks down. And if you really want to win, you got to go with me.
HANSEN: NPR's Juan Williams. Juan, thanks a lot.
WILLIAMS: You're welcome, Liane.