One of the most amusing aspects of Obama’s speech was the build-up regarding the “Greek columns.” AP did a story yesterday - is this going to make Obama look presumptuous? What about the fact it was going to be held in a stadium? Nuremburg!
But as Obama spoke, we didn’t even see the columns. What we did see was Obama - forceful, resonant. I thought the speech went a little long; I get tired of the laundry lists of what politicians are going to do. But he, actually, went after McCain more than I though the would - and he invoked the failure upon failure of the Bush administration, particularly with the line about this being an ownership society - and Republicans, now, need to own up to what they’ve done these past seven-plus years.
They won’t, of course, and the mere suggestion that they who have been in power could somehow be responsible for the problems of the country will set them to bristling - that’s the subject for this week’s print edition. But it’s the partisans on the right who will bristle; to the moderates, to the independents, yes, the failures of these past years have been great - and they indeed know who is to blame for them.
That the case was made last night so articulately - and really, after seven-plus years of “The Decider,” isn’t that alone a joy? - and forcefully was impressive to watch. And I keep coming back to that word, forcefully. Obama spent less time on foreign affairs last night than I’m sure some would have liked - and we know the McCain convention is going to focus on just that. These are perilous times. But what the nation needs now is a leadership capable of making sound decisions, decisions not based solely upon precedent or alarmism or that “gut feeling” which has guided so many of our recent decisions. We need strength - but we also need wisdom, a clear headedness. That is what has been lacking these past seven-plus years. Obama made a convincing case why he, rather than McCain, is the complete package.
And indicative of Obama’s strength - and really, the resurgent strength of the party as a whole - was the manner in which they took back the flag this week. It goes again to what Bill Clinton said - the world has admired this country not for the example of our power, but the power of our example; military might alone is most emphatically not what has made America what it is. Our ideals are; and Democrats articulated, very forcefully, why this is indeed their country too, gave voice to the bitter resentment that has festered inside so many on this side of the fence toward the right - how dare you try to steal my country from me? Last night in particular came the articulation of why you can’t have it, why the flag belongs not merely to those who rush to display the pins on their lapel for political purpose, but who believe in the things the flag is supposed to represent. That is the strength of this country - and how uplifting to hear Obama, the party’s standard-bearer, come out and lay it down.
Finally, the one thing that struck me last night - as it struck me throughout the convention - was the degree to which the delegates at the Democratic National Convention looked like America. You go to the mall or walk the streets of the downtown and you see a variety of faces - white and black and Latino and Asian, people of varied heritage and means. It doesn’t always work, those differences have long caused friction in our society; and racial/ethnic friction has been the cause of some of the deadliest wars, worldwide, that humankind has ever seen.
But that, too, has been the promise of America - that here, perhaps as in no other country, all can come and all can believe in the dream. It is a big tent. It doesn’t always work. But that for the most part it has is one of the best things about this country.
