Episode IV: An Old Hope
This column was penned, and The Luminary went to press before Barack Obama’s acceptance speech late Thursday night, but because he was in Platte County, I can’t miss the chance to comment.
As detailed in The Luminary’s front page story about Mr. Obama’s visit to KCI, Democrats and those in the know like Senator Claire McCaskill say the speech he delivered to American Airlines workers was a dry run for his speech. Since Mr. Obama writes his own speeches – that makes sense. In much the same way a comic tries out new material on open mic night before the big gig at the Ha-Ha Hut, Mr. Obama is not going to wing it before 85,000 at Invesco Field.
The thing is, if he delivers a speech that resembles the speech he delivered Tuesday in Platte County, there will be a lot of disappointed people – particularly among those who consider themselves to be independent or unaffiliated with either party. Things being how they are in most newspapers, however, don’t expect to read any reviews that are less than shimmering.
Mr. Obama started the speech off on such a dreary, drab and miserable tone – about how bad everything is, how everyone hates us – it was almost impossible to make up for it later in the speech when he promised everyone feats of magic and special treats. But what really turned me off was how Mr. Hope and Change delivered the exact same kind of nonsensical and dishonest attacks on John McCain that all of his supporters purport to be so sick and tired of.
With a straight face, Mr. Obama claimed that Mr. McCain thinks if you’re making more than $5 million per year, you’re rich. That’s been the subject of his recent attack ads, as well. The problem is, if you believe that, you’re getting played for a fool. After Mr. Obama’s speech, I researched the comments for the article, which Mr. McCain made to Rick Warren in a CNN forum. On the video, Mr. Warren asks Mr. McCain to define rich. After the usual politician stuff about he wants to make everyone well off, Mr. McCain attempts to lighten the mood and says, “If you’re just talking about income, how about $5 million?” Everyone laughs. He continues: “So, but seriously… and I’m sure that comment will be distorted…”
He knew he’d get clobbered. When Mr. Obama was introduced from Kansas City (you know, where we “cling to guns and religion”) on his convention’s opening night, he said he was in St. Louis. If Mr. McCain made the same gaffe, we’d never hear the end of it.
Mr. Obama is an incredible man. To achieve what he just did, to defeat two of history’s most successful politicians in the primary, to run a campaign as strong as he did, to be able to fill a football stadium with 85,000 fans and get Bruce Springsteen to be your opening act? That’s truly incredible. And in becoming the first black man nominated for president when we’re not even three generations removed from segregation? He needs to be commended for that, and that is something we can all enjoy and be proud of as Americans.
That man I just described has an opportunity to make an even larger dent on history. Mr. Obama is a much smarter man than me, I think we all can agree on that, but if I was to give him my advice, I would send him to back to rewrite desk.
He should deliver a speech for the annals of time. It should be Churchillian. Not once should Hillary Clinton’s, Bill Clinton’s or John McCain’s name be mentioned. Republicans like to make fun of him, calling him the “Messiah” (some, according to my spam e-mails, say he’s the anti-Christ) but this is truly a chance for immortality.
His Platte County speech, to me, suggests he’s going to blow it.
You’re going to hear the same old stories every politician makes. You’ll hear about the factory worker he met and the steel mills he saw — but he won’t mention the World Trade Center. And he’s going to rip into Mr. McCain. The fans at Invesco will do the wave. Then they’ll leave, waste gas in traffic, and come November half of them won’t even bother to vote.
A lot of Park students and a lot of dyed-in-the-wool Democrats stopped reading this in disgust a few paragraphs ago. It’s just that I’ve seen this story before. And I mean the same exact story before. Bill Clinton was the man “who still believed in a place called Hope.” He believed that “now was the time for change.” Within two-years, the liberal newspaper reporters turned on him…nitpicked him to death (the right wingers were only on AM radio, so there’s little printed record outside of that Rush Limbaugh book). The phony Internet boom drove our economy while the war on terror was solved by bombing an aspirin factory – but we bombed the Balkans pretty well…the peaceniks are quiet when it’s a Democrat doing the bombings.
What’s sad about this election is that win or lose, we’re going to rip up a genuinely good senator in John McCain. He must change his rhetoric on the war, but this is the guy we were all supposed to agree on, right? And we’ll turn on Mr. Obama, too. Democrats are already second guessing and asking if it’s a bad thing that he is an articulate speaker and popular. See? The seeds of doubt are already being sown.
Some things never change.