Obama's Acceptance Speech

What a difference a fortnight makes.

Last night, Barack Obama delivered his much-anticipated acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. It was a speech laden with perspective: 45 years to the day after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on the Mall in Washington; 4 years after Obama's own electrifying nominating speech at the DNC that took him from complete obscurity as an Illinois State Legislator to his party's nominee; but perhaps the most immediate perspective, a fortnight after his appearance in a virtual debate with John McCain at Saddleback Church.

At Saddleback, as I wrote at the time, Obama's answers rambled into long erudite analyses and complex discussions of nuances. His rambles were exacerbated by a proliferation of "Ums," "Ahs," and "Y'knows," that made his answers seem even longer. McCain, on the other hand, true to his "Straight Talk Express" slogan, made his responses prompt and succinct.

On the morning of the Saddleback debate, the RealClearPolitics aggregation of 8 different polls had Obama ahead by 3.2 points. One week after the event, his lead had dropped to a virtual dead heat of 1.4 points.

Last night at Invesco Stadium, in front of 80,000 spectators and 30 million television viewers, in a milieu like that of the 2004 DNC, Obama returned to his oratorical form. As this morning's New York Times headline summarizes it, "Obama Takes Aim at Bush and McCain With a Forceful Call to Change America." That forcefulness was characterized by specificity and succinctness. Gone were the nuances, and gone were the "Ums."

This morning, his lead in the RCP average bounced back up to 3.5.

Comments

[nunez]

The acceptance speech was in the same league as Kennedy's acceptance speech, Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech, Clinton's inspirational speeches (numerous, the best being on Wednesday of this month), and those of Gandhi. For the first time in eight years, I believe the working people of this nation have a glimmer of hope that the promise of America can be real again for ordinary citizens who work paycheck-to-paycheck. I am sure it frightened the stuffing out of the industrial captains, especially those who have been shipping American jobs overseas in order to add even more obscene profit to already large bottom lines and CEO bonuses. Obama was clear, forceful, compassionate, specific, and gracious. He did not stoop to character assassination, but pointed out facts about McCain's record. Obama did not cheapen McCain's patriotism, as did McCain Obama. And Obama did not even attempt to monger fear. He offered hope, commitment, and accountability, three qualities the Bush administration seems to have neglected to offer the people of this nation. Like Michele Obama, I, too, can say I am once again very proud of this nation, for through Obama's speech, some of Dr. King's dream transformed into reality. And the icing on the cake of this speech is that it was literate and unassisted by notes. Rehearsed, to be sure, but not robotic, as the Commander in Chief's eight years of fractured oratory containing not much more than the empty rhetoric of a puppet ideologue.

[nunez]

The acceptance speech was in the same league as Kennedy's acceptance speech, Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech, Clinton's inspirational speeches (numerous, the best being on Wednesday of this month), and those of Gandhi. For the first time in eight years, I believe the working people of this nation have a glimmer of hope that the promise of America can be real again for ordinary citizens who work paycheck-to-paycheck. I am sure it frightened the stuffing out of the industrial captains, especially those who have been shipping American jobs overseas in order to add even more obscene profit to already large bottom lines and CEO bonuses. Obama was clear, forceful, compassionate, specific, and gracious. He did not stoop to character assassination, but pointed out facts about McCain's record. Obama did not cheapen McCain's patriotism, as did McCain Obama. And Obama did not even attempt to monger fear. He offered hope, commitment, and accountability, three qualities the Bush administration seems to have neglected to offer the people of this nation. Like Michele Obama, I, too, can say I am once again very proud of this nation, for through Obama's speech, some of Dr. King's dream transformed into reality. And the icing on the cake of this speech is that it was literate and unassisted by notes. Rehearsed, to be sure, but not robotic, as the Commander in Chief's eight years of fractured oratory containing not much more than the empty rhetoric of a puppet ideologue.