Barack Obama – Page 30

The speech — 10:56 p.m

Connecting to the MLK speech 45 years ago — “America we cannot turn back” — and linking it to the lives of every American today, before closing to a standing ovation.

Talking Points Memo offers an interesting take on the stadium:

I think — not just in the speech but in the lead-up over the course of the afternoon — the impression of this event, holding it in a stadium, is one of a mass event, an open event, a popular event, not one of grandiosity as many of the critics claimed. (I would structure that sentence better; but I’m trying to listen to what he’s saying at the same time.)

Thoughts on the speech so far — 10:54 p.m.

Barack Obama is offering the laundry list everyone has been asking for, a list that includes small-business and middle-class tax cuts, an end to energy dependence, a promise to protect Social Security, equal pay for equal work and an end to the war and America’s isolation from the rest of the world.

It is a moderate agenda , with some progressive elements, and a few red flags that worry me. Most notably, Obama’s strong position on the environment — higher fuel-efficiency standards, alternative fuels, solar and wind power, investment in efficiency and subsidies to help working people afford cleaner cars — is tempered by a commitment to nuclear power.

But the speech is long on the notion of “American promise” — the idea that we are in this together, that there are larger ideas that drive us, that people matter. I am not the best one to gauge it — my cynicism is tempered by a wish for change and a deep progressive streak — but I truly believe this speech will resonate among the uncommitted.

“This election has never been about me,” he said “It’s about you.”

Change. Change — think of Dylan’s “Times They Are A-Changin'” — a song about a moment in time, or another of his songs, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which hits many of the same notes.

The speech and the packed house is a reminder of the massive turnout during the primaries — just as McCain’s difficulty in drawing crowds is a reminder of the lower turnout for the Republican primaries.

The speech continues

Some more lines:

“I don’t believe John McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans. He just doesn’t know.”

“It’s time for them to own their failures,” he says of the GOP.

The shots of the crowd are rather amazing — a stadium of 70,000 rabid followers a day before the Republicans, before John McCain, is to hold a rally in Ohio, a rally at a 12,000-seat arena. And if you want to go, there are still tickets.

The speech begins

Some nice early lines:

“We are better than the last eight years. We are a better country than this.”

“We love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight.”

“What does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right 90 percent of the time?”

Obama no longer Biden his time

Barack Obama is a liberal centrist — always has been. In fact, the Democratic primary featured just two candidates who could not be characterized in that way — the progressive Ohio Congressman, Dennis Kucinich, and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, who cannot be categorized.

So the short list of vice-presidential candidates — and the eventual choice of Joe Biden — fits within the world view of Barack Obama.

Biden offers several pluses on the electoral front, as all the pundits point out: He is willing to go on the attack and he has long experience in foreign affairs, Obama’s weakest area (experience-wise).

And there are negatives — speaking his mind sometimes means speaking to much.

(TPM Election Central has the most interesting take on the Biden pick.)

What I find interesting, however, is the impact that Biden could have on governing. He offers Obama someone who is respected in the Senate, who has a history of working across party lines (with arch-conservative Jesse Helms, for instance), but who is not afraid to tangle with the GOP, to battle for what he believes in.

In the end, however, Obama’s choice will matter little. The election will not hinge on the choice of Biden — orMcCain’s eventual choice — but on the candidates at the top of the ticket.