It was a progressive speech and seemed mainly designed to appeal in particular to working and middle class Americans. The video introduction tried to counter the impression that Obama is somehow "foreign." It was all about Kansas, grandparents, heartland. Opening the speech, Obama went right to "ordinary men and women - students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors."
He went right to concerns that affect the middle and working class in particular, such as home foreclosures, health insurance, gas prices, then accused McCain of being out of touch with ordinary people, and tied Phil Gramm's clueless and haughty crack about a "nation of whiners" to McCain. He talked of the difficulties of own life, and contrasted this with McCain's remark that middle-class was something under $5 million in assets. (This was a triffle unfair. McCain was clearly joking when he said that.)
Reaching out to middle-class and working-class Americans is exactly what Obama needed to do. He needs those votes, and he can get them. In fact, he sounded quite a bit like Bill Clinton, the last Democrat to do well with middle America.
From my perspective, the best thing Obama said all night was, "We Democrats." Obama has not run as much of a Democrat. It was not part of his strategy to do so, and since his strategy worked, you can't really argue with it. Nevertheless, it has bothered me that Obama has tended to lump Democrats and Republicans together and accuse them both of screwing things up. (Sorry my friend, that is not true.) I was pleased, therefore, with Obama's self-identification as a Democrat.
It was a beautiful night, the speech was great, he delivered it well, the reception was positive. I keep wondering: What was missing? Why didn't the "thrill run up my leg"? For one thing, the hype about Obama's speeches has been so over-the-top that he couldn't possibly meet those expectations--nobody could. That's part of it.
The other part may have been the venue and the situation. It was a great sight to see Mile High Stadium filled up and fired up. The field was set up for the convention, just like in the Pepsi Center, which meant that 80,000 people were not only there for Obama's speech, but also for the Democratic Convention itself.
The set, with its Greek columns, has come under some criticism. I'd have ditched the Greek columns--they invite sarcastic cracks--but, otherwise, the set looked to me more like a newly-constructed department store, especially on television. When Obama gave his speech, the background looked like a store display window.
The setting didn't seem to fit the speech. The production was slick, high-tech, flawless in execution. I couldn't help thinking of the evangelical megachurch. The progressive message of Obama, oriented toward working class America, didn't really fit in a venue and style that seemed to reflect more the world of affluent suburbanites.
He is product. Hear him roar.
I joked that after Hillary's speech, Barack tore up his speech and started over. Maybe that's what happened.
I was bored a quarter of the way through. There were very few lines that I hadn't heard before -- and not necessarily from Himself.
Posted by: redrabbit | August 31, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Actually, he pretty much took Hillary's speech then added the "hopey-changiness" stuff at the end.
Posted by: John Petty | August 31, 2008 at 03:05 PM