I Never Watch the Speeches
Jason Kuznicki on Aug 29th 2008
…I read them. The next morning, preferably before I’ve had my coffee, so that I’m still grumpy. This passage from Obama’s acceptance strikes me as important, and it seemed that way even before the coffee:
And when one of his chief advisers, the man who wrote his economic plan, was talking about the anxieties that Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a mental recession and that we’ve become, and I quote, “a nation of whiners.”
A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made.
Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third, or fourth, or fifth tour of duty.
These are not whiners. They work hard, and they give back, and they keep going without complaint. These are the Americans I know.
This is Obama playing Reagan, and casting McCain as Carter — I’m the optimistic one, it says. That’s Obama’s basic appeal, regardless of policy position. Granted, I find few policies of either candidate appealing, but “Get us out of Iraq with a smile” is a lot better than being called a whiner and told we’re staying for a hundred years. If Obama does win, this could be the reason why.
And no, I’m certainly not endorsing him. In the past I’ve noted the occasional pro-market comment from Obama. We got virtually none of that last night — just a good deal of contempt for the market, and support for proposals that would put vastly more of our economy in the hands of the state. We got not a peep on civil liberties. He’s a likable guy, and he may do one or two things I support. Not enough though. Not nearly enough.
Filed in The Basement
I think you’re right on track saying that the optimisim may be what gets him elected. No matter how bad things get, we like someone to tell us there’s hope, not that the situation is dire. Besides Reagan’s “morning in America,” there’s FDR’s “nothing to fear but fear itself,” and Winston Churchill’s “England’s finest hour.”
Obama does have Austen Goolsbee as an advisor, so at least someone is in the room saying the right things. I’m not hugely optimistic, but not totally pessimistic, either. Hopefully Obama is smart enough to know he doesn’t know economics so he listens to his advisors. If he wins and doesn’t pull back on free trade or try to roll back the Carter/Reagan deregulation, I’ll be reasonably satisfied (since I don’t expect to get anything more than that from anyone who might conceivably win the presidency before I reach retirement age).
I watched parts of several of the speeches. It’s a disease I have.
Most of the speeches were platitudes and garbage. Biden’s wasn’t terrible.
Oddly enough, I thought Chris Matthew’s analysis of the speech was the best. But broken clocks are right twice per day. He said that Obama was attacking from defensive cover — that is, he was turning the best stuff of his opposition back on them (hoisting them on their own petard).
IMHO, Obama’s speech was a home run. He was actually sliding in the polls as of Wednesday. I would be very surprised if this doesn’t elevate him again. He hasn’t been talking this way. But if he maintains this rhetorical style for the rest of the campaign, he just might win.