The Obama Nomination

Regarding Obama’s speech last night: Going in, I agreed with Peggy Noonan, that the whole scenario (the stadium, the columns, the sheer scale of the event) was fraught with needlessly enormous risk. So many things could have gone wrong and made the night a failure, regardless of the speech.

I agree with Tom Brokaw that the whole convention template is beyond ridiculous (gazillions of dollars spent on yahoos and goobers and dorky looking characters cavorting gracelessly in Styrofoam boaters and childish campaign regalia, while chanting stale responses to lame calls, as the whole world watches). It makes American politics look even stupider and less prepossessing than it is in actuality (which is no small feat) and it evokes Bill Maher’s axiom: Politics is show business for ugly people.

I didn’t like the idea of the Obama campaign showcasing this notion on such an absurdly grand scale. I wanted it to go well. I was predisposed to like it, regardless of the disconnect between conception and execution. But, still… This was reckless.

That said, I am pleased to report that I was pleasantly surprised—thrilled actually. I found the speech to be a tour de force. Oratory as performance art is a lost art these days. Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich possess marvelous vocabularies, and can marshall mountains of information with remarkable ease. But they both do so in a way that reveals their insecurity. Bill is all aw-shucksy. Newt is ever so professorial. Jesse Jackson is a one trick pony—as evidenced by his immortal rendition of Green Eggs and Ham. And everybody else just sucks. Obviously Bush is off-the-charts horrible, but Hillary sounds like her hearing-aid batteries are nearly dead.

Today’s best public speakers are regarded as such because they are the least awful. Obama is a refreshing throwback to Mario Cuomo and Barbara Jordan, Bobby and Jack Kennedy, FDR and Churchill… It’s not so much what he says, but how he says it…Political theater can be marvelously entertaining, and Barack Obama outs on a hell of a show.

Emotionally, the speech was perfect. Not too mawkish, or gushing, or melodramatic—but fascinatingly passionate. He gave the impression that he really, really meant what he said.

Technically, it was breathtakingly thorough. He didn't run through a to-do list, he just made damn sure he left no item out of a stunningly fluid, charmingly conversational presentation.

Rhetorically, it was Lincolnesque, Churchillian, Cuomo-rific, Kennedy-licious…

“It’s time for them to own their failure.”

“…as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer…”

“If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament and judgment to serve as the next commander-in-chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.”

“You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in 80 countries by occupying Iraq.”

“The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but … they have not served a red America or a blue America; they have served the United States of America.”

“Don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals … surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in a hospital … passions may fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child…"

“I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer, and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values—and that's to be expected—because, if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters.”

“What does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I am not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.”

“The change we need doesn’t come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.”

I understand that talk is cheap—especially out of the mouths of politicians. When Obama said, “In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.” I thought to myself—good luck with that. But at least he gave the impression that he gets it. And that is an impression that I find woefully lacking in Bush, McCain and even Hillary.

Still, the critiques are inevitable. Some are predictable reactions from pre-programmed nay-sayers. Some are pedantic nit-picking. Some are thoughtful objective observations. But the one I have the biggest problem with is this (from the National Review):

What it didn't do was answer the basic question the McCain campaign has worked to plant in voters' minds: what makes this guy think he's qualified and ready to be president?

What I want to know is: Who says John McCain is ready? and, Why?