The Speech

For awhile there, I thought Barack might screw up big time - with all the huge buildup of expectations, he was doing little more than presenting a litany of standard Democrat whines (followed shortly with an attack on Phil Gramm's "nation of whiners" faux-pas - I wondered if anyone else heard the irony in that). He seemed to be stumbling a bit reading the text and on the verge of almost breaking down at some points as he struggled with the words. But then he got past the sob-story section and lit into the loss of American jobs overseas and the erosion of our manufacturing base with a powerful call for reversing that trend, and the speech started to turn around.

There were a few standard Democrat horror-shows, like "equal pay for equal work" and mandatory sick leave for waitresses, like small-businesses need anymore administrative overhead and government audits of their operations. And of course the education nonsense - how in God's name does anyone think it's possible to make college more affordable while having more students attend college? It's like saying we're going to make gasoline more affordable, then call for a doubling of the number of miles we drive. We can make college more affordable, but that would require us to admit that college is often a complete waste of money - but no politician will ever admit that.

Speaking of energy, here was a good example of Obama doing the Clinton triangulation thing. He didn't say we shouldn't drill for more oil, just that that's a "short-term" fix. He included nuclear energy among his alternative energy sources, and painted the issue in terms of a vast business opportunity for America. Very centrist.

I was most disappointed when he discussed foreign policy. This is where change is most needed, but his approach is very timid. Essentially, he's promoting a Bush-lite approach: a "responsible" exit from Iraq, more hawkish on Afghanistan, but otherwise business as usual, except that he'll be nicer about it.

I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression.

So now we have both nominees being very confrontational with Russia. I would classify McCain's foreign policy as insane. Obama's may not be certifiable, but it sounds awfully wrong-headed. The last thing this country needs is a protracted power struggle with Russia. Hopefully, Obama is just trying to deflect some nasty attacks and fears being labeled weak and naive. It appears some of his advisers have much more sensible views on the subject. But I didn't find it very reassuring.

His peroration was truly thrilling. Pat Buchanan, the only adult voice on MSNBC and a professional speech writer himself, was overwhelmed. (Here's video of Buchanan's reaction.) He has a gift for oratory - a great ear for the cadence and words that can inspire. I'm guessing that policy-wise he's still learning. He's not really sure where he wants to go. Events will probably dictate his presidency, and I feel confident that his intelligence and ambition (to be great) will lead him away from doing stupid things and will keep him attentive to the day-to-day job of managing the executive branch - a part of the job that's been neglected the last 8 years.