While normally not a television watcher, I did have the tube on for a good portion of the evening last night, tuned in to the events in Denver where the Democratic faithful have gathered all week. When possible, developing direct impressions drawn from observation will generally be more useful than weeding through other peoples’ interpretations filtered through their own biases. To the best of my ability, I make an effort here to present an unbiased account what I saw and heard last night.The evening unfolded with many important speakers lauding the hero of the campaign, culminating in the acceptance speech of our first black presidential candidate nominated by a major party. What follows are a few of the notes I took while listening to and watching the final portion of this made for television spectacle. At the end, infinite confetti and fireworks, and a handful of talking heads expressing how they saw it.
Once you cut through those over-the-top light shows and larger-than-life projection screens, you could see that the evening was well orchestrated. By the time Obama took the platform, they had hit all the right notes. And then, for forty-three minutes he shared his vision for the future of these United States.“It is a promise we make to our children that each of us can make what we want of our lives…” This was the opening line of the video introducing Barack Obama.
The narrator continued. “His childhood was like any other, but it was his search for self that defined him.”
“What he learned is that by discovering his own story he would learn what was remarkable about his country.”
“His grandfather fought in Patton’s army, his grandmother worked on an assembly line…”
From here, we learned about the values his mother taught him, how his relationship with his wife Michelle developed, about his schooling, and how after graduation he came to develop his passion for the downtrodden, needy and forgotten who have taken a hit due to insensitive political and business decisions. “That’s not right, someone ought to work to fix it.”
Other callouts from the intro video:
“In Washington, he would remember who he was fighting for…”
“It is a promise we make to our children that each of us can make what we want of our lives. It is a promise that his mother made to him, and that he would intend to keep.”
“Imagine what it would be like to be in someone else’s shoes. One person’s struggle is everyone’s struggle…. That’s the country I believe in. That’s what’s worth fighting for.”
In an event that is bigger than life, Obama begins the last leg of his journey to the White House, “Change” as his theme.
Barack Obama’s opening sentence to the nation, after much fanfare from the faithful who had gathered for this historic moment: “With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for presidency of the United States.”
Followed by a tip of the hat to Hillary, to former President Clinton, to Ted Kennedy “and to the next Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden,” and to the lovely love of his life, wife Michelle, he declared, “This moment, this election, is our chance to keep the American Promise alive.”
The position Obama seeks to establish is that John McCain is a Republican no different from Bush, and that change is a must, therefore Obama is the only real choice in November. According to Obama, McCain at the Republic Convention in September will strive to give the impression that he is not like George Bush.
Obama’s appeal is to those who are needy, and those who have been hurt by the policies of Big Money and special interests.
Reiterating another message from the intro video, Obama underscored the Promise. “I am my brother’s keeper.”
His goals were specific. “I will cut taxes for 95% of all working families.”
“And within ten years we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East,” he said. “Now is the time to end our oil addiction.” With this, and many other platform initiatives, Obama repeated his edict, “Now is the time…”
Citing Kennedy, he likewise appealed to our personal responsibility if we are to see change. Government can’t do it all. Parents must turn off the television and help their children with their homework. Fathers must help in the home. Mutual responsibility is his appeal.
“This election has never been about me,” Obama said. “It’s about you.”
“The change doesn’t come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.”
“America, we cannot turn back…. And in the words of Scripture, let us hold firmly to the hope that we profess.”
His specific promises are many, and presented clearly. Can he accomplish all this? It will be interesting to see how the Republicans position their man.
5 comments:
>>>>>>>It will be interesting to see how the Republicans position their man.
"Rookie and Bullwrinkle 2008"
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/30/bush-aide-palin-pick-is-disrespectful-to-the-office-of-the-presidency/#comments
There's a play if football called the Hail Mary. It is a desperation play which you only call when you are losing and there is no time left on the clock for your offense to work its way down the field to the end zone. The receivers all run to the end zone and the quarterback throws it out there, with a prayer that your guy gets it and theirs doesn't.
Now, ideally, if you have a strong team, the score should be in your favor when you get to the last four seconds on the clock. You should be winning and not even need to score.... and preferably winning big.
Unfortunately, this selection feels too much like a Hail Mary pass to me. Is this really the strongest person in the Republican party and most capable to Republican in the nation to step into the Oval Office in a worst case scenario? If yes, this does not bode well for the Republican party.
The reality is, in my opinion, that the strongest Republican candidates just do not want to be associated with this election.
The Republican spinners will be working hard to massage what they've got to work with here...
And for armchair observers it will still remain interesting to see how the Republicans position their team.
>>>>>>Unfortunately, this selection feels too much like a Hail Mary pass to me. Is this really the strongest person in the Republican party and most capable to Republican in the nation to step into the Oval Office in a worst case scenario? If yes, this does not bode well for the Republican party.
Well, their predecessors included Ronald Reagan with all his B-Grade acting experience and Reader's Digest anecdotes, and Dan Quayle. Not to mention "Is our children learning" GWB.
Funny you should mention Quayle. I just read an article on Friday about the guy who was in a spelling been and was told by Dan Quayle (a sound byte opp in a public school) that he mis-spelled Potato when he wrote it on the chalk board. Quayle said it should be Potatoe.
The funny part of the story is that Quayle had been given cue cards so he could know how to spell the words correctly that the students were spelling. These are twelve year olds, by the way.
Quayle's cue card was incorrect, too. One wonders how many other words he would have not known the spelling of that day... but alas, the kid got notoriety out of it.
Reagan may have been a B-actor but he was a consummate politician. I think an honest reading of an unbiased biography would put him on a higher pedastal than most of his detractors would like to see.
Neither Quayle nor Gore were popular in their home states amongst voters who knew them best.
>>>>>>I think an honest reading of an unbiased biography would put him on a higher pedastal than most of his detractors would like to see.
Well, I think that an honest reading of an unbiased biography would knock the "old shy-poke" (my grandmother's words), right off the pedestal his biased defenders have set him up on.
I don't have access to an unbiased biography in book form, of course, but I do have Internet access, and I do have my memory.
I well remember Reagan's cuts to education, cuts to the school lunch program, ketchup as a vegetable, and his smearing of low-income single parents as being lazy and irresponsible.
I remember his cuts to funding for the elderly, handicapped, and veterans.
I remember his huge increases on military spending, $900 toilet seats, and billions and billions spent on "Star Wars", which STILL doesn't work. Basically, they claim they can use a missile to shoot down a missile that they don't know has been fired. They couldn't (or, as some say, didn't) even shoot down 4 relatively slow-moving passenger planes on 9/11, but "unbiased" defenders of Reagan still faithfully claim that Missile Defense can invariably shoot down missiles coming in unannounced, from anywhere, at anytime.
I remember the beginning of the borrow-and-spend policies that led to nearly a tripling of the National Debt, which had been decreasing since the end of WWII.
I remember his murderous attacks on Libya and Grenada.
I remember his union-busting.
I remember Iran-Contra, and Reagan saying he didn't know anything about it. Iran-Contra involved the US selling weapons to Iran (which had been listed BY the Reagan administration as a "terrorist country") in exchange for hostages, and then diverting the profits to funding the Contras in Nicaragua. Congress had voted to suspend any funding to the Contras because of their extra-judicial killings (terrorism). If Reagan really didn't know anything about such a blatant thwarting of Federal law and support of terrorism, it proves he was nothing more than a B-grade actor, set up as a genial-looking, but ignorant prop to cover criminal activities -- and was not presidential material. If he DID know, then he too was a criminal.
I remember the big push for deregulation and "smaller government", and the beginning of the empowerment of the banking, pharmaceutical, insurance, medical, energy, communications, and corporate food-packing and processing industries.
I remember that the first emergence of the so-called "Christian" Right occurred under Reagan, with his blessings.
I remember the first-ever divorced US president being used as a symbol for "family values".
I remember when he took down the solar panels on the White House, that Jimmy Carter had installed as an example of how to save energy and reduce US dependence on foreign oil. (Not necessary, I guess.)
Of course the right likes to claim that all of Reagan's sword-rattling *scared* the Soviet Union so badly that they broke up. Biased Reagan defenders completely ignore the fact that the Soviet Union had so overspent on it's military and on foreign-policy adventures, that it went bankrupt, (which of course is what is happening in the United States, as well, under policies began by Reagan and continued by the Bushes).
I feel that my research is unbiased, as I only accept information from web-sites which provide original sources, either in the article, or when requested in an open comments section.
An example of my research methods: The National Review, which I saw quoted here, posted a ridiculous statement claiming large numbers of high-name entertainers performing in US prisons, but refusing to entertain in Iraq. I did my own Google search, and found that no such entertainment or entertainers have existed, since Johnny Cash at San Quentin. I pointed this obvious error out to the National Review, and had my efforts thrown into the circular file. I would call THAT a biased, dishonest publication.
Naturally, I rather resent being called "biased" or "dishonest" in my opinion of Reagan, without any listing of any of the great things he supposedly accomplished, to prove me wrong.
Could you please point out some of Reagan's enduring accomplishments?
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