Democratic Convention Day 4 Thoughts: Obama Takes Giant Step Towards Presidency

Posted by Ashish on 08.29.2008

Obama delivers what may be remembered as one of his greatest speeches ever...



UPDATE: Full video of the speech added at the bottom of the post.

Barack Obama took a giant step towards the Presidency on Thursday night, delivering a speech that is already being praised by much of the media as his best speech. It was a speech where Obama addressed every criticism thrown out against him, explained in detail what "change" is, and took the gloves off and went right after John McCain in a way that no Democrat since Bill Clinton has done. For all of us who thought Obama might be too timid, too passive, we were proven wrong tonight.

This wasn't a speech full of soaring rhetoric, the kind that defined Obama during the primaries. This was a speech full of red meat, of policy contrasts, and of connection. Obama was able to connect tonight to ordinary people in a way which he hadn't before. And he was able to offer direct contrast on every policy position of John McCain in a very clear way.

It was a speech that was obviously aimed at exciting Democrats, and reaching out to Independents. In many ways, it followed the mold of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. Obama shot back against Republican attempts to paint him as a liberal by vowing very forcefully to cut taxes for 95% of the country. He talked directly about abortion, about religion, about gay marriage, and about all the things that Al Gore and John Kerry tried to ignore in 2000 and 2004.

But the most stunning thing from the speech was how aggressively Obama went after McCain on foreign policy, the area Democrats usually try to stay out of. Obama linked Bush and McCain for all the foreign policy failures of the last eight years, for America's collapse in the eyes of the world, and painted himself as a credible Commander-in-Chief.

Those who have heard a few of Obama's other speeches may have heard a lot of what he said tonight before. But there was something about Obama's approach, his attitude, the way he spoke, that made him stand so far apart from the failed Gore and Kerry candidaces. This time, he was taking it to the Republicans. Not on just traditional Republican issues, but on every issue, from war to terrorism to tax cuts.

In a a roughly 35 minute speech, Obama was able to cover everything, from his background and his patriotism to McCain's "celebrity" attacks and his credibility to be Commander-in-Chief, and he did so in a way that was clear and easy to understand. Obama defined himself in this speech better than he ever has, and in such a forceful way that it may be difficult for McCain to turn around and continue to run the celebrity attacks, or the tax attacks, or the foreign attack.

This speech will have a huge impact on not only further rallying Democrats, who are already far more energized for this election than Republicans, but it spoke directly to Independents and Republicans who don't care about social issues and are upset with Bush for fiscal irresponsibility and war mongering. Obama spoke directly to them, even vowing to cut government programs that are no longer needed and vowing to go right after terrorists and hunt down Osama Bin Laden. Hearing Obama say with such aggression that McCain said he would follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell but won't even go to the caves he is hiding in is something few expected from Obama.

Obama called McCain and the Republicans on every non-policy attack against him, from the celebrity angle to even calling into question Obama's love for country. Obama had a particularly strong line where he said he loves America, McCain loves America, we all love America, and that love of America should not be a question in this race. Is McCain now going to go so far down the negative route and say, no Obama, you don't love America? It would come off as extremely petty and divisive. Obama was able to effectively neutralize so many of the McCain attacks we've been hearing for the past few weeks that it puts into question what the main line of attack against Obama will be next week.

This speech served as the opening shot in what is probably going to be a VERY rough general election. But unlike recent years, it's the Democrat who is coming out swinging. Now, McCain is in the position of having to answer questions. McCain now has to defend himself. Has to explain himself. And he will have to do it with, if he is lucky, half the audience watching his speech compared to the one that watched Obama's speech. In a campaign where McCain will be outspent on TV ads and out organized on the ground, he is now already on the defensive, having to answer a laundry list of questions Obama raised about him in the speech. I checked out what the FOX News analysts had to say about the speech afterward, interested to see what the right's view was, and even their analysts had very few negative things to say about the speech tonight, and most praised it. The Republican analysts on CNN also praised the speech, with Alex Castellanos coming right out and saying whoever doesn't get picked as McCain's VP probably should consider themselves lucky after the speech Obama game. Even Pat Buchanan himself, the guy who has been ripping up Obama on MSNBC for the past year, called the speech "outstanding" and said it was the greatest convention speech he has ever seen (the video is here.

This was a speech I doubt McCain and Republicans expected. This was a speech NOBODY expected. Nobody thought Obama was going to come out fighting the way he did and nobody thought Obama was going to go so hard after McCain. McCain has a very tough act to follow with his speech next week.

And after some nervousness in Democratic circles about the decision to hold the speech in a huge stadium, the entire event came off perfectly. The images will make their way around the internet for the next several days -- the thousands of people, the American flags being waved, the unity, the determination, the excitement. Watching the media cover the event like a major historical moment probably drove up ratings, but it did so much more. And with hype building all day for the speech, Obama more than delivered and sent a clear message that he is going to win or lose fighting, not standing aside like Kerry did in 2004. The people I watched the speech with instantly compared the visuals of the massive crowd, the fireworks, etc. to the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, an event that left many scratching their heads and wondering if America could match that. Having people compare a political speech to the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games is something I never thought I'd hear.

Obama delivered an event, and a convention, that, as drama and TV, was a hit. In four days, we saw the saga of the Clintons, Michelle Obama rebrand the Obama family, the party unite in dramatic fashion with Hillary's speech and her nominating Obama at the roll call, Bill Clinton declaring that Obama IS ready, Joe Biden's introduction to the world, and a closing speech from Obama that closed so many doors (the party united, the Clintons came around, everything was a success) and opened so many others.

We will obviously now get a very strong response from McCain and the Republicans next week during their convention, but in many ways, McCain is now boxed in. Will the celebrity and foreign attacks still work after tonight? Probably not. And if this election suddenly turns to being about the issues, all trends on virtually every major issue, including the economy which is by far the #1 issue, favor Democrats. McCain's campaign knows that they are simply not on the right side of the major issues to win on policy debate. And the Bush Presidency is going to handicap McCain in a major way because it gives Obama a trump response to everything. Economy sucks? Blame Bush. The war? Blame Bush. No healthcare? Blame Bush. Oh and guess what, John McCain is from the same party and voted with Bush 90% of the time. If this election isn't all about Obama, and his foreignness, and whether he is ready to be President, McCain will lose. Both sides know that. And Obama took a HUGE step with his speech in defining who he is, and explaining that he is the person to lead the country into the next generation and that McCain represents the failed past of the last eight years.

And as a show, the Republicans will have a very tough time matching the drama and excitement that the Democrats delivered this week. Most are expecting the Republican convention to draw far less viewers than the Democrats did this week, and that all but ensures that not as many people will see McCain's speech as saw Obama's. The big questions for the Republican convention now is how will they respond if another hurricane disaster is going on and what will they do with Bush?

Aside from Obama's speech tonight, there was little of note. Al Gore did his thing. Bill Richardson gave a particularly strong speech. But the night was all about Obama. He did more tonight to justify and strengthen his candidacy than he has done all summer long. This was the speech Democrats have been waiting to hear for the past eight years.

It will take a few days to determine what kind of bounce Obama will get from this. But it doesn't matter. This speech wasn't about a bounce. It was about defining Obama and, more so, defining the election. Defining what was at stake and what was on the line. And on those counts, Obama hit every note he needed to hit.

The fight's now on. And it'll get bloodier next week with the Republican convention. Count on that. As good as tonight was for Obama though, let's keep things in perspective. We are still two months away from November 4th. Much can change. But let's also acknowledge what we saw tonight -- Obama taking a huge step in solidying his chances.


The speech in full: