McCain and Able
Sep. 5th, 2008 12:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdWatched McCain's speech. He doesn't have the orator's voice or touch, we knew that, but he did as well as his abilities let him do. The last 60 seconds of his speech was one of finest examples of television speaking I have ever seen. He ignored the thousands of cheering delegates, and delivered the finale knowing the TV sound mixers would keep his voice well above the crowds, and he didn't stop orating until he came to the end of the script. The effect was astounding.
I think what amazed me most is through two conventions, nobody else figured out that if you're playing to the millions of TV viewers, you don't need to -- or want to -- stop for the local audience to quiet down.
He was interrupted by hecklers a few times, and it was clear that the delegates had been coached on what to do, because they launched into a chant to drown out each heckler, but it also drowned out McCain, and he didn't appear to appreciate that at all. He caught on quickly, though, that it was useless to try to gesture them to stop. He managed to get an ad-lib dig at both sides - saying America doesn't want the two sides yelling at each other.
McCain also got the clue that if he tries to ride W's coat tails into the White House, he'll find out the hard way that W isn't wearing a coat. His speech drove the mother of all wedges between his campaign and the Bush administration. He promised to have a tri-partisan administration (Independents as well as Dems and GOP) and said he would reverse a lot of the policies the entrenched politicians have put in place. He blamed both parties for the pork barrel politics of the past 8 years.
There were some deep digs at Obama, the ones about platform items were, most of them, bogus party rhetoric, but he hit home for me with one remark where he basically said Obama was in it for this own ego, McCain was in it for America.
And of course there were some things McCain said he is for which I am against, but he made a strong case that his election would not mean four more years of failed Bush policies. The plot thickens.
During the speech, he mentioned his wife's work with land mine and special needs children's programs, and it dawned on me that if Obama is elected, once again we will have two lawyers in the White House and one in Blair House. If McCain is elected, there will be no lawyers among the top two executives and their spouses.
I think what amazed me most is through two conventions, nobody else figured out that if you're playing to the millions of TV viewers, you don't need to -- or want to -- stop for the local audience to quiet down.
He was interrupted by hecklers a few times, and it was clear that the delegates had been coached on what to do, because they launched into a chant to drown out each heckler, but it also drowned out McCain, and he didn't appear to appreciate that at all. He caught on quickly, though, that it was useless to try to gesture them to stop. He managed to get an ad-lib dig at both sides - saying America doesn't want the two sides yelling at each other.
McCain also got the clue that if he tries to ride W's coat tails into the White House, he'll find out the hard way that W isn't wearing a coat. His speech drove the mother of all wedges between his campaign and the Bush administration. He promised to have a tri-partisan administration (Independents as well as Dems and GOP) and said he would reverse a lot of the policies the entrenched politicians have put in place. He blamed both parties for the pork barrel politics of the past 8 years.
There were some deep digs at Obama, the ones about platform items were, most of them, bogus party rhetoric, but he hit home for me with one remark where he basically said Obama was in it for this own ego, McCain was in it for America.
And of course there were some things McCain said he is for which I am against, but he made a strong case that his election would not mean four more years of failed Bush policies. The plot thickens.
During the speech, he mentioned his wife's work with land mine and special needs children's programs, and it dawned on me that if Obama is elected, once again we will have two lawyers in the White House and one in Blair House. If McCain is elected, there will be no lawyers among the top two executives and their spouses.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-05 08:49 pm (UTC)Obama is quite literally risking his life--not to mention the lives of his wife and daughters--to do this. And he knows it. You could see it in his face when he made that acceptance speech; there are people in jail who travelled to Denver with the expressed intention of killing him at that moment.
He is in it for far bigger things than just himself; if he wasn't he could quit right this minute and spend the rest of his life on the quite lucrative lobbyist and speaking tour circuit.
He is not perfect, nor is he going to be some kind of godlike savior. He is an imperfect human being and an accomplished politician ... just as anyone who manages to get elected to high office will be. What he is, however, is a symbol, a symbol of hope, and of a progressive, forward-thinking, problem-solving 21st century. I'll take that over a fear-mongering, war-mongering stuck-in-the-60's narcissist like John McCain ANY day.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-05 09:39 pm (UTC)Anyone who runs for President is risking his life, and the lives of their families. Part of being stuck in the 60's is being stuck with having seen JFK, RFK and MLK gunned down. I saw Robert Kennedy shot "live and in color" on TV, and believe me, it makes it real. If you saw fear in someone's face, perhaps you were looking at the face of someone who is not ready to be President.
he could quit right this minute and spend the rest of his life on the quite lucrative lobbyist and speaking tour circuit.
Bullshit. Obama would be a one-tour wonder on the lecture circuit and has zero connections which could be useful as a lobbyist. McCain, on the other hand, could make megabucks as a lobbyist. And he knows he would flat-out fail on the lecture circuit.
And don't give me this "imperfect" crap. McCain and Obama have dished up about the same amount of humble pie during their speeches. Both are proud enough to think they can run the country, both are humble enough to know they can't do it alone. It's not an issue.
If you are voting for a symbol, fine. I can see that, and if I saw the same symbol in Obama that you see, I'd vote for him in a heartbeat. I don't. But the whole point of my "all sides of the issues" posts is maybe he will do something which changes that.