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Thoughts on Obama’s Speech

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I just watched Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination with a friend from the Illinois Senator’s party. He agreed with my evaluation that the normally eloquent speaker was not “as smooth” as he normally is, but asked that I add that his style tonight “in now way detracted from” his support for his party’s nominee.

Obama seemed angry and almost never smiled. This speech lacked the cadences of a typical Obama speech. Of his addresses that I have seen, this was one of the worst. He seemed at times to rush it, sticking on some words while eating others.

UPDATE: Just scanning the commentary at the Corner. I’m not the only one who thought he sounded angry. Mark Hemingway writes, “There’s a fine line between indignant and angry, and Obama is swerving back and forth all over it.” And like me, Kathleen Parker is “missing the soaring rhetoric.”

More later, off to dinner with that good and kind Democrat. But, well, I don’t think of him as a Democrat, but as a friend.

UP-UPDATE: If Obama’s campaign is trusting in the power of the candidate’s oratory, he didn’t deliver tonight.

UP-UP-UPDATE: As I was preparing to leave for dinner, I did catch Juan Williams’ commentary on Fox and pretty much agree with him. The speech was more “prose than poetry.” It lacked catch phrases, no memorable lines. It as a “laundry list” which was not quite satisfying. He didn’t play to the emotion of the crowd.

I would add that Obama’s boilerplate about change and a new kind of politics was just that, boilerplate. Sounded tired. We’d heard that so many times before. Kind of ironic, I guess, about the line about a new kind of politics sounding old. And a discourse on change sounding very much the same.

UP-UP-UP-UPDATE: No surprise here: Media Cheers Obama Speech. More UP-DATES below the jump.

UP-UP-UP-UP-UPDATE: Polipundit:

After watching the first five minutes of Obama’s speech, I’m certain that – barring some unforeseen event – John McCain will be the next president of the United States.

Via UP-UP-UP-UP-UPDATE: “>Instapundit.

UP-UP-UP-UP-UP-UPDATE: While finding that the “language did not soar,” Big Tent Democrat found the right speech at the right time. Make sure to check out her post as she offers a thoughtful perspective from the left on the speech and reaches a conclusion at odds with my own. (Also ia UP-UP-UP-UP-UPDATE: “>Instapundit)

Comments

  1. “in no way detracted from” his support for his party’s nominee.

    Of course not. To paraphrase Benedick, An he had been a Republican “dog” that should have howled thus, they would have hanged it.

  2. Barack Obama gave an extremely angry speech and a rushed speech with no vision or soaring imagery. It was not any where close to his 2004 Keynote speech and this should have been the speech of his life and where he laid out a vision for his Presidency. What instead I felt he gave was heat and anger instead of “The American Promise”.

    Amazingly, in comparison, Hillary gave a far better speech.

    Obama gave anger, seething and no ‘there’ there in warmed over campaign lines and no outline of ‘change we can believe in’

    Even more surprising is to see the likes of Bill Kristol say it was an amazing speech.

    Bill Clinton gave a far better speech last night and in his 1992 acceptance speech.

    Obama gave warmed over campaign lines and what happened to the Politics of Hope and Change We Can Believe without attacking your opponents and offering up a vision of where you want to take us.

    I found not an ounce of that…..indeed, his was more a keynote speech of slash and burn rather then one of Hope and Promise….I found it very weird.

    Indeed, he didn’t even stay after his speech or invite anyone on stage of a celebration…so much for creating inspiration…..I found not a drop of it…

    In sum, I felt Obama gave negativity and no vision…….very strange indeed….He came across as someone who was pissed off and as the Angry Young Man but not as a leader promising us that “Yes We Can” achieve that “American Promise” of Hope and Mission of the American Dream…..I find it ironic that he slashed and burned using the politics of old while saying we need a new changed future (indeed based upon very old government programs that haven’t worked in ages.)

    Obama gave no vision….nada and no there there in anything.I am quite stunned actually….indeed, he barely gave a few sentences to acknowledge the vision that Dr. MLK, Jr. offered with such majesty 45 years ago today.

    Obama earned the moniker NObama tonight since I say NO he can’t lead…and can’t even give a speech of vision…Ronald Reagan did in 1980…Bill Clinton did in 1992 (whether one agrees or not with Clinton), JFK did in 1960….

    NOBama did not in 2008….

  3. You paid attention to the speech?! Why do you think they had all of those people, the grand Temple of Barackopolis and the fireworks? You were suppose to awed in submission and not think about what he said. All of that planning down the drain…

  5. For some reason, I didn’t get sucked in to the production of it, and get hung up on one line here or another there, but instead listened to him talk, and tried to listen to what he was saying about why he should be the President of the United States… and he shouldn’t.

    His speech was full of new programs he wants to propose, budeting items, and nice stories about why people should elect him… for the Senate. He campaigns as a legislator, and as President, he will try to govern as a legislator. Look at how he thinks about the budgeting process- he is going to use the (unconstitutional) power of the line item to go through the budget as Presidnet? Can’t do that Barak.

    Also, didn’t mention once our Constitution, our founding fathers, wars we fought to uphold the Constitution, or any of the main ideas in the Declaration of Independence. Government is instituted to protect life, liberty, and property- not to divert my money to government run schemes. This guy should not be President.

  7. Wow, the media is cheering Obama, this will really get Middle America excited about this man being ‘of the people’. Makes him seem like more of an elitist than ever.

  9. I will be very curious to see how the electorate responds to this speech. I didn’t see a hopeful speech, I saw an angry, nasty, name calling speech. Not to mention being chock full of outrageous lies from beginning to end.

    Says the man with his own Logo, an “O” force one, his own presidential seal and Greek temple … “its not about me, its about you!’

    And what the hell was with the funeral dirge they played at the end?

    #5 Teacher,

    You cant mention the founding fathers and documents when your vision for America is diametrically opposed to theirs.

  10. Great political theater. Packed stadium; rock band stage; pyrotechnics. I was soooo close to breaking out my cigarette lighter and swaying it over my head while yelling out “Play Stairway! Free Bird! Woooo!” I was hoping for an Ozzy-esque stunt from Barack Opollo to top off the evening, where he bites off the head of a fake, blood capsule-laced fetus and immediately vanishes from the stage amidst a smoke bomb cloud. The Greek temple motif was nice but I would have preferred a Stonehenge motif. I would have even approved of a laser drenched spaceship beaming Opollo up a la Ziggy Stardust.

  11. McCain has his work cut out for him in Minneapolis, St. Paul. I recommend a Miss Saigon finale-like stage set where McCain gets lowered from a copter while sticking it to Charlie with Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper” blasting in the background. The climax should be at the speech, when he rescues a scared kid named Georgia and his puppy, Zion, amidst heavy mortar fire. Cameos in full SOCOM costume should include Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Rock and Chuck Norris.

    Semper Fi! U-Rah!

  14. I didn’t watch the speech, so I didn’t see the media dancing with glee. But, before the convention started today, I did have CNN on while I was working on the computer (background noise), and man, they were all absolutetly gushing about the historic event. God, it was pathetic how in the tank they appeared. And you know, during McCains convention, the media will conpare his convention to Obamas and use the following meme; how will McCain and the Republicans top Obama’s shining moment.

  16. “…we are our brothers and sisters’ keepers….”

    No comment from his brother George in Kenya? Oh, that’s right….George lives in a shanty-town without electricity or running water. Silly me, I would have thought that his multimillionaire half-brother might have sent him atleast a few bucks, if only for damage-control to Barry’s image while running for President of the United States.

    And you thought Jimmy Carter had embaressing relatives…..