| Filthy/Gorgeous |
[Jul. 28th, 2004|11:17 pm] |
1) Okay. So, I have a lot to say, but I have a political thing to go off on, so I'll save the fun stuff for tomorrow evening, or something.
I watched/listened to the convention for a while last night as I was going home from rehearsal, as I have been all week. I found Clinton's speech to be fairly inflammatory, Dean's speech make me glad Kerry got the nomination, Theresa Kerry's didn't really phase me, and all the other speakers I saw so far haven't really affected me one way or the other.
No, wait. I found Carter's speech highly amusing, considering his political track record. But that's neither here nor there.
Among the speakers that didn't really phase me was a man by the name of Barack Obama. When I saw his name on the screen, I recognized it immediatly, as he's running for Senate in Illinois, and was running against Republican Jack Ryan, who recently had to drop out due to a sex-scandal-that-wasn't with his former wife Seven of Nine Jeri Ryan. Either way, I kept an ear on the speech, it was pretty standard fare. He's quite articulate, he's engaging enough, but the speech didn't even last with me much after he left the stage.
Apparently, I was the only one.
I woke up this morning, and throughout the day, people were singing the praises of Obama. He's the Democrat's shining light! A rising star! Barack for President! It was really kind of shocking. I know I'm certainly the right winger in a sea of liberals, but could I have really missed something this huge? I'm typically savvy and objective enough to at least see when something is new and exciting and whatnot.
Well, it all came to a bit of a head between a few of us in Caroline's Obama entry. I know I didn't do a great job articulating myself, and I offended Marian a little bit unwittingly (and I do apologise for coming across that way), so I figure I'll own up to my mistakes in displaying my comments in Caroline's entry, and trying to be a little more articulate about it here, since it's obviously a big enough story.
For anyone who missed the actual speech, a transcript is right here.
So my short-answer issue with the speech is that it lacks anything substantial to get excited about. I'm not expecting substance from him right now: It's a political party convention, for god's sake. However, the way everyone's going off about how Obama's the best thing since sliced bread, you'd think that there was some actual meat to the speech, and, at least to me, there really isn't.
Obama spent the first portion of his speech going over his history, how he grew up, etc. He's actually got a pretty impressive resume, and what he had to go through to get there is very impressive too. It's very commendable.
His next part was some light talk on policy. He spent some time saying how great America is, how we're "measuring up" to the past and for the future. He brought up the required anecdotal story, this one of the man who was laid off because of outsourcing and can't pay for his medical bills anymore due to a lack of comprehensive health care, the defense of how no one wants to be on welfare, the touchy-feely about how we want kids to have a future, and how we want the "doors of opportunity to remain open to all." Very standard, expected statements from a speaker at a convention.
Next, he props Kerry up. Reading almost verbatim at times from the Kerry issue sheet, he talks about not giving tax breaks to companies that outsource (an eye-roller, but I'll get into Kerry's issues when I do my daily stuff), the same health care for Americans that the Congress gets stuff, the energy independence stuff (another Kerry eye-roller), and then jumps into another anecdote, this time about a member of the armed forces with the Convention-regulation jab at the percieved dishonesty of Bush and the war.
He ends the speech with an attempt at some uplifiting words, how we're not divided by "red states and blue states," complete with correct jabs (gay people in the red states), incorrect jabs ("poking around in libraries," which hasn't happened), and the assumption that the other side doesn't provide any hope.
I don't get it. I really truly don't. It was a short, stylish speech, but it was just a lot of the same tired talking points without any real significant backing to it, and yet people are fawning over him. The cynic in me thinks he was only invited because he's newsworthy due to the Jack Ryan thing, and who knows. I just don't understand what's so great about this speech that is getting everyone all excited. I looked at his stances on the issues, and he's certainly not bringing much of anything new to the table.
Maybe I'm too cynical. Hell, maybe my bias is showing more than it should, but there wasn't all that much in the speech to send me in one direction or the other. I just don't get the draw.
So yeah. That's that. A real entry tomorrow.
np: Scissor Sisters |
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