The Speeches
John McCain. The guy I backed in 2000 is a wounded shadow of his former self. His speech was dull, plodding, uninspired, intellectually dishonest, and defensive. And whoever picked the green background should be fired. He talks of our progress in Iraq, where Sunnis are working with us to fight insurgency - Sunnis to whom we reached out in a diplomatic manner, realizing that there is something each side needs from the other. In the next breath he criticizes Obama for wanting to negotiate with mean dictators. McCain paints Obama with the big-spending, big-government program brush - a brush that’s 25 years out-of-date. The Republican Party is now the big-spending, big-government party. The Republican Party is now the party of government intrusion into public life, into mismanagement of the economy and energy policy, of turning the US into a torturing, aggressive, clumsy fool who spies on its own citizens. That’s not change we can believe in. McCain as a change agent? Co-opting Obama’s tag line as “A Leader We Can Believe In”? Nothing new, nothing original, and the whole notion of “change” isn’t exactly going to fire up the conservatives, who aren’t all that thrilled about McCain to begin with.
Hillary Clinton. The Senator from New York was feisty, defiant, conciliatory to the race Obama “has run” versus the race he has won. She gave out her web address and asked her supporters to tell her what to do next because she’s not making any decisions “tonight”. (The crowd at times chanted, “Denver, Denver!” and at one point I heard one voice cry, “don’t vote for Obama!”) It was Clinton’s opportunity to concede gracefully and acknowledge that Obama was over the top. She didn’t . It was Clinton’s opportunity to throw her support his way wholeheartedly to unify the party - an opportunity to do so to a live, nationwide audience. She didn’t. That’s a shame. Go to her site and tell her what you think? It begins, by default, “I’m with you, Hillary, and I’m proud of everything we are fighting for.” When you hit submit, it goes to her contributions page. What does she want? Not “respect” for the 18 million who voted for her. What she wants is help paying off her campaign debt. I thought her speech was an opportunity blown; it might have been the right speech for Hillary Clinton, but it wasn’t the right speech for the Democratic Party going into the general election. Ultimately, Clinton’s speech was all about her. She didn’t coalesce her supporters against McCain. She helped perpetuate the Hillary-as-victim myth. CNN pundits were getting angry emails about how this night was supposed to be “all about Hillary”. Jeffrey Toobin expressed disbelief at that sentiment, and chalked it up to “deranged narcissism”:
Barack Obama’s speech. Compared to McCain’s rhetorical bunt, Obama hit it out of the park. He extended a hand to Clinton and her supporters. But what I really loved - especially after the lackluster, wonky campaign Al Gore waged in 2000 and the milquetoast, defensive campaign John Kerry waged in 2004 - was that Obama got right in McCain’s face. He held the speech at the arena in St Paul where the Republicans will hold their nominating convention later this year. Right in his face. He praised McCain for his service to the country and his accomplishments, “even as he chooses to ignore [Obama’s]”. He went right at McCain as “embracing” Bush’s policies in Iraq and with domestic issues. While McCain criticized Obama for not visiting Iraq, Obama suggested McCain go and visit places in America that are facing tough times. It was patriotic. It outlined that, as far as Obama is concerned, the race won’t use religion as a “wedge”, and won’t demonize and turn opponents into the enemy. What a great speech. What a great night.
Bring it.
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[…] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHillary Clinton. The Senator from New York was feisty, defiant, conciliatory to the race Obama “has run” versus the race he has won. She gave out her web address and asked her supporters to tell her what to do next because she’s not … […]
hank Says:June 4th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Alan I’d expect no less from someone who sees Barry O as experienced (???), tested (???) etc.
If he does win the General, which I doubt strongly, within 4 years the Republicans will have control of both houses and the White House. Nothing runs the country into stagflation faster than a liberal president.
When the “weathiest 1%” of Americans get their asses whacked with tax increases, they don’t expand their businesses, outsource, don’t hire more employees, cut benefits, and there’s nobody to tell the affected to blame but the government–and the person who put the laws in place.
There’s more to this country that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. And not enough Berkley types and blacks to put him over.
mike hudson Says:June 4th, 2008 at 8:39 am
yeah, obama gave a great speech. whatever. i was busy watching cleveland lose to texas and i don’t want to discuss that but if you say it was great, alan, i’ll take your word for it. not that giving great speech has anything whatsoever to do with governing the most powerful nation on earth. or with much of anything outside the college debating society.
according to the new york post (and if this site accepts al jazeera as a reliable source it better accept the post) obama called hillary twice last night.
and got her voice mail.
mo dowd said it best this morning.
“Barry has been trying to shake off Hillary and pivot for quite a long time now, but she has managed to keep her teeth in his ankle and raise serious doubts about his potency.”
Chris Smith Says:June 4th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Good to see that Hank actually listened to Obama’s speech. Jeesh.
Over the last two months, Obama has been playing more defense than offense and last night was a return to his central campaign message. It was nice to see him recharged and energized about the campaign ahead. Soaring rhetoric, calls to greatness, and a step by step plan to change the country.
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf
Russell Says:June 4th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Dems have a history of giving great speeches. So what? Some of the best Dem speeches in US history were by Dem candidates for president that ended up losing. All Obama has is speeches and that won’t get him far enough.
Are you at all concerned with recent polling data showing that as Obama has come closer and closer to winning this his approval ratings have dropped? It seems the more people actually learn about him, the less they like. They’re already seeing there’s very little substance and a whole lot of rhetoric. What about the fact that in the final month of the primaries, Hillary did way better than Barack? And what about the point that half of Dem voters did not vote for Barack? You may think McCain and the GOP are wounded, but it looks much more like Barack is the one limping along.
Chris Smith Says:June 4th, 2008 at 8:58 am
I was watching McCain’s speech again and I am struck by his lack of vision, his sad delivery, and his just old-assishness. The idea of an Obama v. McCain general election is just plain old exciting. It’s a generational campaign, the storylines are interesting, and I think it’s a battle that over the course of five months, Obama wins easily.
Hillary wants the VP nod and if she doesn’t get it, she’ll take her campaign to the convention. If she is given the VP nod, and the ticket loses, she’s done it in a way to suggest it wasn’t her fault.
Last night, she had the opportunity to coalesce her supporters around the party and focus people on the fight ahead with McCain, but she didn’t. She still made it about Obama’s legitimacy and his inability to win in November and how she just very simply will not go away, even though she lost.
It is a fascinating study in lack of character. Obama needs to find a way to put her down without alienating her supporters who she has turned into a ranting and rabid pack of Obama-haters. I don’t envy his position and if he can pull it off, he’s a better politician than anyone has given him credit for.
Chris Smith Says:June 4th, 2008 at 9:05 am
The whole “speech but no substance” talking point is tired. If you haven’t consumed his platform or read his plans, that’s your shortcoming, not his.
The Obama website is just as filled out with step by step plans and ideas as McCain’s or Clinton’s.
Howard Goldman Says:June 4th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Let’ all hope that Obama’s 3 a.m. White House telephone has a teleprompter.
Queen Carlotta Says:June 4th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Darling,
President Mario Cuomo gave some of the most “booty-full” speeches in modern American history. However, I can’t seem to find any Franklin Mint collectable dinner plates for the Cuomo Administration.
And most importantly, Barack Obama is not black. If you look very carefully at your high definition screen you will notice that he is definitely green. He looks green. He’s not black. He’s not white. He’s green.
Who am I supposed to vote for sugah? I’ll vote for anyone so long as they aren’t a scientologist.
Russell Says:June 4th, 2008 at 9:40 am
It’s not a talking point, Chris. Obama needs to convince over 60 million Americans to vote for him and “go to my website” is not going to do it. McCain has experience that people know, respect and admire. People don’t know Obama’s experiences or accomplishments and, quite frankly, I don’t think they can measure up to McCain’s. Listing ideas is one thing. McCain has accomplishments and a record to back his up. What has Obama done?
Your whole post about Hillary and the VP stuff, Chris, shows how Obama is still in a bad position. This is supposed to be one of the times when his approval rating/support is around its highest. There’s supposed to be a bump once a candidate wins the apparent nomination. However, Obama is not getting that bump. He’s dropping. You shouldn’t get too excited just yet. Your candidate has a long way to go to make this an interesting battle. It’s June and he still doesn’t have the support of about half his party.
Snarky Snarkmore McSnarkamaphone Says:June 4th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Well, I know that when BP comes in a remarkably close second in the longest and most historic Democratic presidential primary in history, he too will concede in a timely fashion (preferably sometime before everyone gets to vote), accede to the wishes of the chattering classes, and won’t even think of negotiating his withdrawal.
Sheesh. GET OVER IT, whiny boy! Clinton’s gonna get her debt paid for + some other perks (I doubt VP, frankly; she’s not into sharing the stage) and then turn over her rather impressive fund-raising and political machine to Obama. Either Friday or Monday at the latest.
Then you can turn to whipping McCain 24/7.
KevinP Says:June 4th, 2008 at 10:31 am
“Everyone in government is now the party of government intrusion into public life”
Fixed
Snarky Snarkmore McSnarkamaphone Says:June 4th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Doesn’t this assume that everyone who voted for Clinton will not vote for Obama (and/or will vote for someone in another party)? ‘Cause that’s sort of, like, not at all true. The exact number of Clinton-voters unwilling to support Obama is only a guess. Within the Democratic party, I my guess it’s not a very big number. Independents, though… might be another story.
Agreed, though, that it is definitely Obama’s biggest issue right now. I would predict that The Big Obowski picks an Hispanic (Richardson comes to mind) or a “military experience” (Webb?) guy to address it. If he picks an Hispanic woman… very interesting.
Prodigal Son Says:June 4th, 2008 at 10:38 am
I’m a McCain guy, and I’m looking forward to a Presidental campaign where there are two people to vote FOR, rather than two people to vote AGAINST. McCain vs Obama is the first. Clinton vs Guiliani (as predicted a scant 6 months ago) would be the latter. But I think you are dead wrong, Chris - this is not an easy win for Obama. Or McCain. This will be close in “new battlegrounds” (i.e. watch for NY, NJ and CA), and the candidates may actually talk about policy differences. What a refreshing change from Kerry vs. Bush.
McCain gives a terrible speech. I cringe as he stumbles over the teleprompter. But speeches don’t mean a whole lot in the end, I don’t think. Debates matter at least as much, and McCain has the edge there. I also think he has the policy edge, but hopefully that is something we can debate as grown ups over the next five months. Too much of this race so far has been a campaign about the campaign. The Dems didn’t nominate anyone on policy - they did it on personality, campaign missteps, race and gender cards, and win-ability arguments. I hope we are past that, and instead of having a discussion about “generational differences” or “historic moments,” we can decide who has a better Iraq policy, Iran policy, economic package, healthcare plan, etc.
iNdAbUff Says:June 4th, 2008 at 10:53 am
“Let’ all hope that Obama’s 3 a.m. White House telephone has a teleprompter.”
Howard…awesome!
- - - - - -
Of course an Obama supporter is going to think that BO’s speech was the best.
- - - - - -
Even on the very last day of the primary when there was no chance for her to win the Dem’s nod, HC won one of the two contests left.
Party unification isn’t a one way street named Obama for the Dems…HC & BO received almost the same number of votes in the primaries…that does carry some political weight.
Russell Says:June 4th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Snarky, I said it’s June and Obama does not have the backing, not it’s election day. The point is that it’s June and he still has work to do on shoring up his base when this is normally a time (at least in the more recent presidential cycles) that candidates have their base solidly behind them and are appealing to voters outside the base, like independents. He’s limping out of the primaries, not riding triumphantly out of them.
Prodigal Son Says:June 4th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Russell - agreed. McCain, in contrast, has had time to quietly line up the base. Let’s hope he has actually done that.
This election will be different. I heard one pundit claim that now starts round two of the Democratic primary. I.E. McCain vs. Obama is just another push for the same Democratic voters (working class men, white women, etc). I think that’s about right. We know where Utah and Texas are going. The same for Berkley and Boston. But its the same demographics, on the Democratic side, that McCain wants. Its why he’s the only Republican that had a chance in 2008.
STEEL Says:June 4th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Listen to right wing talk radio and you will hear that it is very apparent that McCain has not lined up his base.
As far as teleprompters go it looks as if Obama does not use one.
Buffalo Girl Says:June 4th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
How about if Hill is made National Chair of his campaign and the word leaked that she would be the prime person for Sec. of State.
And he picked Bill Richardson as VP.
Tuco Says:June 4th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I really like McCain’s idea to have a series of town hall meetings, as opposed to the standard 3 debates. I’d much rather see voters who are actually still undecided and looking to pick a candidate asking questions, as opposed to media personalities. They have far more credibility than the Chris Matthews, Jeffrey Toobins, and Brit Humes of the world. The day of the noble newsman who “calls it like it is” are gone. Let’s hope Sen. Obama accepts.
@ BuffaloGirl: Richardson is an outstanding VP candidate, and would give the Dems a very strong ticket.
Richard Strongbridge Says:June 4th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
A presidential contest decided by debate of issues and policy???? Who would have thought this could actually be a possibility in the US?
I would have to imagine that Obama would need someone on the ticket with a little military experience as this is what McCain is going to hammer and this is what Obama and the Democrats have been touting. Jim Webb would be a great choice.
Snarky Snarkmore McSnarkamaphone Says:June 7th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Better?