Obama's Speech

It would be fair to say that I’m hopelessly in the tank for Barack Obama. I honestly don’t think that there’s another choice to be made – John McCain would be a disaster for the United States and for the world. So, it most likely won’t come as a surprise to hear that I thought Obama gave a great speech last night. Reading the blogs this morning, it seems like it pretty much broke on party lines – progressives loved it, and conservatives hated it. I guess that makes sense. As much as the media likes to pretend that bi-partisanship is the default, desirable status that we seek, there are real, fundamental differences between the two outlooks. Last night, Barack Obama laid out the progressive vision of governance – and did it masterfully.

Obama had some impossible expectations to fill, and it is impossible that he could fulfill them all. The AP claims that Obama didn’t lay out his policy vision. I’m not sure which speech they watched last night, but it certainly wasn’t the one I watched. Not only did Obama lay out specifics of what he’d do as president, but if there were ever any question about what he’d do, you could simply go to his website, where you can find specific, detailed descriptions of the policy changes that Obama is calling for.

If you want to keep on presenting both sides of the political debate as if they were both equally worthy, it makes sense to continue to air conservatives complaints. There are real, honest differences, and in case after case, the conservative vision is simply wrong. The media is afraid of being called biased, and so those real differences get elided. You don’t want to step on delicate conservative toes by implying that they’re simply wrong on so many issues.

Obama had some kind words for McCain last night, too. Certainly, he was unsparing on why McCain is wrong, but he never implied that McCain is a bad person. This is a courtesy that will certainly not be extended to Obama next week. A lot of progressives find this to be a worrisome choice – they think it shows weakness. I disagree. It’s the only way Obama can go. The media is largely an ignorant creature. It’s very reactive. It is possible that it will miss the difference in tone between the Obama campaign and the McCain campaign – but I don’t think it’s likely. The tone between the two is going to be too stark, too apparent for people to simply pass it off as the way the game is usually played.