Finally some vigorous attacking. One-two punch from the Dems–Gore, then Obama. Al Gore finally, energetically, compellingly indicting this administration for its malfeasance. 2008 Gore would have blown 2000 Bush out of the water. Richardson addressed the torture and rule of law themes earlier, and Gore hit them strongly as well. Obama, alas, did not. Obama's, nevertheless, speech was very effective, and exceeded my expectations.
I think that the line of attack, for instance, suggested in the line that it's not that McCain doesn't care, it's that he doesn't get it could be very effective. The Grandpa Simpson theme is implied in it. The theme about tough talk and bad strategy when it comes to foreign policy also works along those lines, especially regarding temperament and judgment. Another good attack theme: Republicans making a big election about small things. All these are pregnant with future possibilities.
More positive themes: Something is stirring–either you feel it or you don't. His appeal to the American ideal and American promise at at time when we have lost our sense of common purpose is exactly the kind of thing the country needs, and he needs if he's to win over the mushy middle. I liked his appeal to find common ground and understanding regarding the controversial cultural issues that divide us–abortion, gay rights, gun rights, etc. If he can get the country to bracket those, it will be a major coup.
It seemed to me the Obama that has been missing since June has at long last showed up again. He must define rather than be defined.
I'm feeling temporarily at least, less cynical. This guy does have potential. It's just a question of whether he realizes it. He's a project in development. More as I absorb the details. Or not.
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UPDATE: Some more thoughts. The content of the speech was primarily addressed to Main Street. I thought is was masterful in being both post-partisan and aggressive–It's not that McCain doesn't care, he just doesn't get it. He's a nice guy, and you love him, but he's like your grandpa who just doesn't understand your music and your problems–and you don't want him running your life. It's an effective way to aggressively attack McCain and the GOP legacy without demonizing him and it. Sure, he gets a little cranky and petulant, but he's a good guy, really. He's grampa! They don't have to stress that he's physically old, but that he's attitudinally old; he's simply out of touch and clueless–he doesn't even know how to use a computer, and only recently mastered two or three buttons on the TV remote. It's not that he's an evil Republican; he's just not presidential caliber material.
Post partisanship is not primarily about compromise but about saying "Enough" to all the nonsense our politics has become, and it defined McCain very effectively as just another purveyor of that out-of-date nonsense. That resonates with what most sane people know about our political culture. But they need somebody who can credibly call it out and credibly present another possibility. People are intrigued by something new, but they're afraid of it at the same time. The trick is to represent the possibility of something new and better while at the same time representing something safe.
Now it's an open question whether Obama can effect something new and better, but no one in my memory can conjure an imagination of it for a Main Street audience more effectively than he. That's his meal ticket. Job number one for Obama is to change in a fundamental way the framework of our political discourse. He will do it not by sounding like Ted Kennedy or Hillary or even Joe Biden, but like Lincoln. He has to be kind and conciliatory, but he has to be strong and fair. He has to redefine the center, and he has to do it by appealing to America's best sense of itself and its basic ideals of fairness and compassion. In this sense, his speech was Lincolnesque.
The speech reminded me of what attracted me to this guy in the first place. My fear was that he was going to go all timid and become Kerry deja vu. But the fire was there again. If he keeps it stoked, he will win. First win, then change the terms of the conversation, and then we can start talking about restoring the constitutional infrastructure of this country that the GOP has systematically worked to dismantle.
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