Obama's Best Speech Yet

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/02/12/obama-s-best-speech-yet.aspx

Obama's Best Speech Yet


It's been a week or so since I've heard Obama's stump speech, so maybe this is old news. But -- wow -- he is really going after John McCain. And he's doing a damn fine job of it.

He started by honoring McCain's service, with all apparent sincerity, and then pivoted quickly to this line: "John McCain has the wrong priorities -- because they are bound to the policies of the past." He then promised "a clear choice," tying McCain to the Bush tax cuts and, in particular, the war in Iraq: "John McCain won't be able to say I ever supported this war in Iraq, because I opposed it from the start. Senator McCain said the other day we mght be mired for a hundred years in iraq. A hundred years -- which is reason enough not to give him four years in the White House."**

The rest of the speech was Obama at its best: Compared to his early speeches, he's far more deft at weaving policy into his promises of movement-building. As I said previously, where he used to talk about change for change's sake, now he talks about specific changes -- and how he intends to build a popular mandate for those changes.

He's also doing a nice job of mixing the old Clintonian theme of rights and responsibliity. Talking about his proposals for college tuition assistance, coupled with national service, he promsied, "We'll invest in you, you invest in your country, together we'll move forward, that's what we dream of."

Towards the end of the speech, he returned to his theme of "yes we can" -- but in a way different than I hard heard before. (Again, maybe he's been doing this lately and I just missed it.) He tied that theme to all the great movements in American history -- the revolutionaries who fought the British for independence, the abolitionists who crusaded against slavery, the Greatest Generation who served in World War II, the Civil Rights movement, and so on. Not only did this cloak his ideas in the mantle of patriotism, which is always a good thing, but linked them -- once again -- to tangible, pivotal changes in American life, which is precisely what his campaign needs to be promising.

more...

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/02/12/obama-s-best-speech-yet.aspx

[abluelady]

1. I Need Him To Say More

I think he's a terrific young man. But, I would like to hear more concrete talk from him. I guess I'm too much of a cynic to believe in hope and dreams. Hopefully, after he gets the nomination, I'll hear more nuts and bolts. Obviously, dream talk brings on the masses.

[babylonsister]

There's a couple of things that have impressed me about Obama,

besides thumbing his nose at money and working as a community activist in Chicago when he could have named his price after school. His constitutional law professor at Harvard claimed he was the smartest student the man has ever had. That impressed me. Then I found this old article from a policy geek; it talks about the junior senator and what he had or was trying to accomplish and how effective he was. It's a good read if you're interested:


http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2006/10/barack_obama.html

[caseycoon]

4. Great link!

Thanks so much for posting this. I feel better about him now.
Since DK dropped out & Edwards suspended I have supported Obama. but not wholeheartedly. This helps.
:)

[Adelante]

7. I love that site

I've been reading there only the past year, so I hadn't seen that excellent entry. Thanks, Sis :hi:

[rox63]

2. You should listen to last night's speech

A good mixture of both style and substance. And today, he's supposed to give an economic policy speech at a GM plant in Wisconsin.

[abluelady]

3. I Did Listen Last Night

I made a point of listening and listening and I didn't hear what I wanted. I like him in the debates. Actually, last night for the first time I understand why the "cult" word is all over DU. I didn't see it before last night. But Martin Luther King was a dreamer and there was change so maybe all the touchy-feely talk will work.

[Araxen]

5. Issues

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

[abluelady]

6. There is no doubt he has ideas!

Personally, I would prefer to hear that rather than hopes and dreams.

[mysteryman2]

8. It's all Talk

It's all talk and he has no track record to back it up. It's not based of evidence based practices. Clinton I expect to address his speeches soon.

Anyway there is this word going around called evidence based practices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence_based_practice

cut or paste that in your browser. Instead of selling me dreams I need evidence based practices. And the Clinton campaign is based off evidence based practices. Evidence based practices addresses policy that is known to work. To sum it up. What does the research and evidence say. There are several big websites on it now. Give me dreams and evidence based practices.

http://forums.doc.state.mn.us/ebp/default.aspx

http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/topic.asp?cat=19&subcat=0&dteSlct=0

I want to hear issues evidence based practices. Some issues I want to hear gas prices, bringing the dollar up. Unemployment, prison crowding, the sex offender registry and katrina. not just pretty talk. My girl hilary will address his lack of conversation on evidence based practices. As I understand her daughter(Clinton) is into research. She knows about evidence based practices.