Barack Obama gave a masterful speech tonight in St. Paul, Minnesota. Now, at last, the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Obama was gracious, inspiring, and powerful in contrasting the differences between his candidacy and John McCain's.
Universal health care, a military policy that goes after real not concocted threats to America, a political process that brings in young Americans - these are just a few of the many crucial differences between Obama and McCain.
This was a great evening for America, and its position in the world. No other Western nation has ever had a person of African descent as President or Prime Minister. The candidacy of Obama, based just on who he is, makes a revolutionary statement to the world. This would be the case even if his policies were not as sensible as they are.
Obama was also and especially gracious to Hillary Clinton. She ran a superb campaign, which also inspired millions of voters. I think she would make a great Vice Presidential candidate.
But I was disappointed that she did not endorse Obama tonight. She came in second, not first. Nothing can change that (even though, yes, technically, no delegate is required by law to vote for any particular candidate). I would have liked to have seen her acknowledge that, and give a dynamic speech supporting Obama, rather than saying she needed to hear from her supporters before deciding what to do.
But there's still time for that.
In the meantime, Americans can celebrate one of the most enlightened and inspiring nights in its history. I expect it will be just the beginning of a great Obama Presidency and the end of the benighted Republican party.
7 comments:
Hillary was going to leave with grace, she was going to be classy and show she was a true leader in the Democratic party by being the bigger person and telling Obama her party's victory means more to her then any title...then she blew that chance.
I agree. She had an opportunity, but she missed it.
I think what you'll see now, based on Obama's love of Lincoln and the notion that you build your cabinet around the people who ran against you, is Clinton offered a role in the health care fight. Her chances at VP are beyond remote after the type of campaign she ran, the looming presence of Bill Clinton, and the lack of a concession tonight.
What was most interesting today, was the contrast between the speeches given by the presumptive nominees. McCain more or less plagiarized Obama's campaign theme and tagline, while standing in front of a hideous green backdrop. The speech was given before Obama's in front of a few dozen people. Then, Obama comes on in front of 17,000 wild people and knocks another speech out of the box.
From a pure media standpoint, McCain is in for a drubbing so brutal one might wish to avert the eyes as not to face lifelong psychological trauma.
Pay close attention, because what I'm about to write is a rare statement: I actually read an interesting in the New York Post yesterday that made a lot of sense
Anyway, the columnist (I can't remember his name right now and I'm not near the paper to check) said that if Hillary wanted to make a huge statement, she should have shown up at Obama's rally, conceded , and endorsed him. It would have been a momentous moment that could have brought everyone together, and simultaneously increased her chances as a VP candidate. Too good to be true.
I, as usual, agree with Mike - his speech hinted at a role for her in the new health care initiative, and McCain's speech was well spoken, I thought, but abysmal in appearance and energy. Both candidates are media favorites, but I think Obama's style will easily win out over McCain's and have a huge impact.
Good analyses, folks.
Actually, I think Hillary would work great as a Supreme Court Justice.
I'm less enthusiastic about her as VP after her lack of endorsement of Obama - and Matt, I agree that her showing up at Obama's rally would have been wonderful - but I think that Obama needs to have the strongest possible ticket, and if that includes Hillary, and she wants that, maybe that's still the best way to go.
A great clip from The Daily Show that combines the primaries and Lost. You should watch.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=171031&title=lost&byDate=true
Hilarious! (Though, actually, I found the Democratic primaries far better than the second season of Lost.)
Yup....Hillary blew it...big-time. I am absolutely, 100% opposed to her for the VP slot. There would be something almost Shakespearean about a young, groundbreaking president with his VP and her former-president husband, both of them ferocious narcissists, plotting against him in the hallways. I keep thinking of Thomas Boleyn pimping out his daughter to the still-idealistic Henry VIII on The Tudors and visualizing the Clintons as that kind of scheming "family at court."
I do think you're being too charitable towards McCain, though. That speech was so scary I thought, "My God, he's worse than Bush." He too has that Beavis laugh that he does at the wrong time, he can't even read off a frakkin' teleprompter, his teeth look like they haven't been brushed in years, and he looked like Aunt Ada Doom in drag.
Post a Comment