Great speech. Delivered very well, hit all the notes he needed to hit, avoided most of what he needed to avoid. The energy issue is a losing battle for Obama, he can’t keep saying that drilling here won’t do anything. Look at what gas prices have done just on the rumor that we might drill here soon.
However, for the most part, I was very impressed. As far as political speeches go this was one of the most energizing I’ve seen. I believe in the grand themes that Obama evoked; individual responsibility, individual liberty, bridging the partisan divide, the American Dream, etc. The issue though is that I simply flat out don’t believe him when he tries to paint the America of today as some dysfunctional society teetering on the edge of self-inflicted destruction unless we bring some “change” to Washington, the details of which are shrouded by bumper-sticker slogans and dumbed-down-for-the-masses one-liners.
I do believe Washington needs change. I really do. It’s a complete mess. Has been for years. I just don’t buy into the hype around this guy. I think Rudy Giuliani said it best in his words describing Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden: “He’s never run anything. He’s never run a city, he’s never run a state, he’s never run a business.”
That also applies to Obama. A few terms in the Illinois State Legislature and one term as a U.S. Senator (half of that term, by the way, was spent campaigning for the Presidency). How can a man who’s never run anything be asked to run the largest and most complex organization on the planet, the United States Government?
At the end of the day, I believe both candidates will change things. McCain is not the nominee that your grandpa’s Republican Party would have nominated. Nor is Obama the nominee that the party of Truman and Kennedy would have nominated. I think both men have a natural disdain for party politics; McCain has spent his political career as a thorn in the side to many hardcore conservatives in the GOP, while Obama has spent his political career navigating the waters of a fractured party that doesn’t know whether it needs to run conservative-looking democrats to win elections or whether it needs to run only candidates whom Michael Moore has on speed dial.
What it comes down to for me is that McCain has spent more time pissing off the far right in his party than Obama has spent pissing off the far left in his party. Naturally I gravitate toward the candidate who more quickly jettisons their ‘base’ in favor of the average person who doesn’t have the time or the inclination to go to an abortion or war rally…on either side of the fence.
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