Obama's 5 Best Speeches of All Time

While the reporting and analysis of President Obama's recent State of the Union address has lauded his words, it didn't even rate a mention in a list of Obama's five best speeches drawn up for Whispers by Josh Gottheimer, author of Power in Words: The Stories behind Barack Obama's Speeches. [See photos of the Obamas behind the scenes.]

What's more nothing from Obama's mouth since he became president made the list. The reason: Gottheimer tells our Suzi Parker that his words were much more meaningful during his run for the presidency

Still, he does give kudos to Obama for his State of the Union and speech after the recent Tucson, Arizona shootings. Gottheimer, who worked for Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign, says of Obama's Tucson speech: "He touched the country and lifted their spirit up. He hit what's going on right now, and you see it in the polls."

Obama's Top Five Speeches

1. October 2, 2002 speech decrying the Iraq war when he was a state senator. It put him at the head of the anti-war pack and helped him crush Hillary Clinton and John Edwards on the campaign issue.

2. July 27, 2004 Democratic National Convention address calling for American unity and decried the political divisions between red states and blue states. The speech put him on the 2008 political map for the first time.

3. November 10, 2007 remarks at Iowa Jefferson-Jackson dinner that sparked his presidential bid, where he laid out his agenda and unveiled his theme, "our moment is now."

4. January 3, 2008 Iowa caucus victory speech propelling his candidacy past Clinton and others like Joe Biden. It was similar to his convention speech and introduced the nation to his campaign theme of "choosing hope over fear."

5. March 18, 2008 race speech in Philadelphia, "A More Perfect Union," where he finally, and forcefully, described his roots and what it meant to him.

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