Tonight Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party on the convention's closing night in a speech before 75,000 people at Denver's Invesco Field. He had many things to accomplish. He needed to introduce himself to the large number of Americans who are just now starting to pay attention to the election. He needed to appear presidential: tough but compassionate, idealistic yet practical. He needed to inspire the spirit with his vision and rhetorical gifts while at the same time reassuring the nation that his 29 specific policy solutions would help to cure its ills. Finally, he needed to tie John McCain to the unpopular policies of the current president and make a persuasive case that Senator McCain cannot be counted on to deliver the change both campaigns agree the country needs.
So what do you think? I'd like to invite you to post your evaluation of how well Obama did. Style, substance, tone, issues--whatever struck your fancy, let's have a look at what you thought. I'm looking forward to your impressions.
Steve
3 comments:
Once again, I'm baffled at others views of the same speech I heard. A Republican pundit said, that if you turned the sound off, he appeared to be an angry man. I didn't get that impression at all. He came off as Presidential, said the right things and didn't talk down to the American people.
Going on a tangent a little bit, I think one of the yardsticks to measure a candidate is how they go about making their first major decision, that of VEEP. In my mind, Obama made a much more intelligent and wise choice than his opponent did this week. That ticket is even more scary now than is was 48 hours ago, when it was just McCain at the top and some unknown entity as VEEP candidate.
Steve, I give the speech 5 stars, but I think there's no question he's an orator--he's proved that over and over. The question is, can he bring it home?
He can bring it home, but it can go either way.
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