urbanmennonite.com

Prelude:

It’s a riot watching the PBS team.  They seriously sound like they are all about 80 years old (maybe because they are?), talking about the young people looking good dancing; cracking old people jokes about Biden’s orthodontist; loving them some Stevie Wonder.  It’s kinda funny (and a nice break from the MSNBC bickering despite my Rachel Maddow love)

Interesting historical tidbits: FDR and JFK did open-air, large crowd nomination speeches.  Geez, does Obama know how to pick his historical precedents or what.

Best non-Obama line of the evening: “You need a President that puts Barney Smith before Smith Barney.”  Whoever wrote that line should get a raise because that was freaking brilliant.

People were worried about the Greek columns for no reason.  It looks fine on TV, very presidential, and I have to say that the full stadium is pretty damn impressive during the sweeping camera shots.  That’s a whole lot of people there.

The Speech:

“This moment, this election, is our chance to keep the American promise alive.”   He’s toning down the lofty rhetoric and grounding it nicely in 1) policies he wants to pursue and 2) McCain as a continuation of Bush’s tenure. He did say it was going to be “workmanlike” and it appears to be achieving that.

Phil Gramm is never going to live down the whiners comment.

For someone who’s specialty is not attack, Obama is doing a pretty good job of attacking.

It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it.

Sweet turnaround on the celebrity meme.

I don’t know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election

What is that American promise?  Here comes some of the lofty speechifying.  Well, maybe not.  Here’s the policy list again.  I guess it’s all part of defining what “change” actually means.

Guess that determines where Democrats stand on offshore drilling … but everyone understands that clean-coal is a freaking myth, right? It’s like the land behind the rainbow in that it only exists in our minds, people.  Resist the urge.  Just like you should resist the ethanol urge (of which there is also no mention tonight).

Equal pay for equal work.  It’s depressing that we even still need this phrase.  But nice shout-out to women and that line about your daughters having the same opportunities as your sons … that was nice.

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day’s work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.

Well, there was some red meat.  That was excellent.

John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives.

Ideas of the past.  Definitely reminds people of McCain’s age and his long time service in the Senate — inside Beltway stuff.

I think he’s hitting pretty hard on foreign policy.  He’s essentially calling McCain out.

Nice touchback to his 2004 speech on the soldiers not serving a red or a blue America.  There was great passion in his voice.

So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America.

Ugh.  Why bring up the abortion thing?  Why?  Ah… because this is the big-tent part of the speech. Abortion, gun control, gay marriage, immigration … did he leave any out?  Stem cells.  He didn’t talk about the stem cells.  Maybe there aren’t any Democrats that disagree with stem cell research?

Here comes the end.  When he says “you” he keeps looking straight into the camera so it looks like he’s actually looking at me.  It’s freaky. And really, really effective.

Damn, he is so good.  A little history, a little biblical language, a little poetry, he’s in the zone, a little more bible, calling us to our best selves.  I wouldn’t say that the whole speech rocked but this was a great ending.

This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that’s not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that’s not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that’s not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It’s a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln’s Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could’ve heard many things. They could’ve heard words of anger and discord. They could’ve been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead - people of every creed and color, from every walk of life - is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one.

“We cannot walk alone,” the preacher cried. “And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise - that American promise - and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Wrap-up:

Is that Steve Earle playing?  Do I have that song?

Tom Brokaw liked it.  So did the old people at PBS.  Al Hunt can’t find words, he’s so caught up in the moment.  Except for that young buck David Brooks. Who is clearly wack; there is a moment of dead silence when he says that he didn’t think it was very good. He said it was too long — but don’t think for a minute that Obama didn’t plan it to the minute.  That means that there was no chance, none at all, for network TV to do any talking head stuff that might detract from the moment.  It was all Obama, all the time, for a solid hour.  That’s some good theatre.

The visuals looked great.  I mean really good — the fireworks, the weather, the sweeping panoramic camera shots.  Did I mention I love my HD TV.

My guess is that tomorrow is going to bring lots and lots of love from the blogs and MSM.  McCain is going to announce his VP pick and there will be some buzz over that but it’s the start of a 3-day weekend so, eh.

And I don’t know how McCain is going to beqt this.  Can he even get 70,000 84,000 Republicans in one place?  It will be interesting to see him try next week.