I've been trying not to write about The Speech, but since a billion trillion people have asked for my take, I decided to offer it up:
I read the speech transcript because I couldn't bear to watch pundits with as much courage as Obama has in one thumbnail rip it to shreds. I still have no idea how it's being spun, but if he spoke what I read, he showed up for the show down, and won. I mean the man gave a speech.
The good news is that he responded forcefully, compassionately, and with vision. The bad news is that Hillary really wants to win, and so does McCain. They are going to try to string Obama up in many different ways before this is over. I'm pretty sure the plan is to drag him through so much, to demoralize him so completely, that he basically keels over, eviscerated before our very eyes. It will be like an assassination, but he won't be dead.
They've hit him on race and religion, the only place they can go now is sex and family. They will attack his last refuge: Michelle. If he can stay in it (and keep transforming these hideous moments into opportunities for teaching) and not get beat down and depressed and distracted, and pull that team of his together to figure out how to stop this country from going into a major recession, it will all be good. If not? We're looking at Hillary, admittedly not an awful choice. But then there's the possibility of McCain.
I've decided to wait it out. I can't spin it, argue it, rehash it anymore, and certainly not for the next eight months. Obama has proven his mettle as far as I am concerned and if he makes it, I will say so on election day. The rest is just a daily attempt to steal any hope he, or the rest of us, have left.