The Day After
If you’re a Democrat, admit it…you feel a bit underwhelmed don’t you? If you were the idealist looking for a high last night, you didn’t wake up with any hangover. If you’re a Republican, you’re still laughing. If you’re an independent, you’re disappointed that Obama wasn’t “the one” you were looking for all of these years. Back to match.com for you.
I can’t believe that little Platte County was given the preview of this historic speech on Tuesday. But I can believe that, as of today at least, media pundits are “universal in their praise” of Obama’s address last night. I’ll give them two days — particularly for the self loathing liberal types — to turn that around.
Let’s start with the video. “He had a childhood like any other,” the narrator intoned.
I know! It was just like mine. Except for the part where my father was Kenyan, my mother was from Kansas and I grew up in Indonesia before returning to Hawaii. That video looked like an SNL sketch…I was waiting for Will Ferrell to appear at any moment.
And the part about the brakeworkers out of jobs but kept working to fill orders? Yeah…I liked that story the first time I heard it — when it was made into a Chris Farley movie called “Tommy Boy.”
So Obama wanted to show his base that he could “swift boat” like a Republican, that he would protect you from the mean jocks at the next lunch table. You felt energized there for a moment, right? But it didn’t feel entirely right, did it? The vast majority of my friends on social networking sights I belong to are extremely liberal. I’ve read posts of theirs where they say they oppose the death penalty — except in the case of corporate CEOs. Nice. Anway, today? Today you couldn’t hear a pin drop from their Twitters and status updates. Crickets.
The golden opportunity now passes to McCain, who played his hand like an incredible pro. By 10 am this morning, there was no mention of Obama’s speech on Google or Yahoo news — particularly in the “most viewed news stories” section. His VP selection was shocking, but it was a game breaker. He has the chance to go for the win at his acceptance speech, and I give him the same advice I gave to Obama in my previous column. Rise above it. Don’t even mention “the kid.” Deliver a speech for the ages.
All ages.