Before getting into any analysis, let me just say that I’m very proud of this country for choosing a nominee that doesn’t look and sound like Generic TV President(i.e., Bill Pullman from Independence Day, or Mark Warner from, er, Virginia). I know that everyone on TV and on the Internet has said the same thing, but it really should be repeated over and over. America– no matter what you think of Obama’s politics—you did good.
Now on to Obama’s speech. For the most part, he did what John Kerry couldn’t or wouldn’t in 2004–go to Senator McCain’s side of the playground and punch him square in the gut. The Democratic proclivity to not answer attacks(Dukakis, Gore, Kerry) looks to be a non-issue in this campaign. Examples:
And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. She’s the one who taught me about hard work. She’s the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she’s watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.
I don’t know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as president of the United States.
As commander in chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm’s way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.
I will end this war in Iraq responsibly and finish the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.
But what I will not do is suggest that the senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism.
The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America, they have served the United States of America.
So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.
The answer was a celebrity charge was very important in the beginning of the speech to stall any further use in this campaign without making Senator McCain look as petty as the attack actually is. Secondly, he rhetorically shuts down any future talk about his “patriotism”. Americans are a tolerant people. We are tolerant of ideas and tolerant of attacks on those ideas, but once they reach a level is beyond the pale, America will punish you and punish you hard. By connecting his patriotism with his grandfather and to those currently in the Armed Forces, McCain’s surrogate attacks will have much less negative effect on Obama and a larger risk probability for McCain.
The best part of tonight? No Bill Clinton and very little Hillary Clinton. Thank God.
