I’m basking in the afterglow of the historic acceptance speech of Barack Obama at Invesco field last week. I’m writing this the morning after so I still do not know McCain’s running mate and I still haven’t heard the counterattacks that are sure to follow.
Obama’s speech was good but unfortunately, the state of our sound bite lifestyles kept him from talking straight to the world and our country. He had to spend three-quarters of the convention and his speech explaining that he is a hard-working, close-to-the-ground, in-touch American success story. That’s all true. He has a uniquely American story. He has a fabulous wife and beautiful kids. He’s patriotic and his family has military and public service history.
The other quarter of the convention and his speech were spent pointing out that John McCain – though a great hero – is full of it and out of touch and yes, older than the hills and the trees. As I close in on 50, I am starting to get pretty sensitive about age discrimination. I’ve seen plenty of 72-year-olds that are smarter and quicker than a spelling bee champion.
But Obama’s speech was successful as painting him as a great American story with the potential to become a new political superhero surfing on the crisp wave of a convulsion of the world.
It is a little sad that so much effort had to be spent convincing people that McCain’s Paris Hilton ad was patently ridiculous or that Obama is not a Muslim or a radical celebrity.
I was listening for something to be said about the environment. Obama said exactly two words about what is supposed to be the biggest emergency ever to face mankind. The future leader of the free world mentioned the words “climate change” as part of sentence that was a long list of stuff we need to deal with. That was it! Probably not because he doesn’t think it’s an important issue. More likely that if he talked about it he would get drilled by the Straight Talk Express.
Obama blasted away at business as usual in Washington. Hooray! But people are going to need to change, too, right? Is it the government’s fault that we are addicted to foreign oil, that we often live in oversized houses, full of expensive toys, with three guzzlers in the garage, even though we can’t afford it? Is it the government’s fault that we are addicted to plastic junk made by Chinese children at gunpoint for 50 cents a week? Should the government rescue us the second someone starts to whine that life’s unfair and they are entitled to continue down the wrong path while dragging the rest of us down with them?
All those “Change” signs out in the audience should have had mirrors on the other side. Obama spent some time talking of freeing ourselves from dependence on foreign oil but never called for an end to the addiction to oil itself. It’s the internal combustion engine that is causing all the trouble here so why not say it? Instead there was a reference to reducing the pain at the pump. He even mentioned nukes as part of his energy mix which was met with what might have been the most silent moment in the stadium that night.
All this points to the fact that you cannot tell the truth and get elected, which makes it tempting to cling to guns and religion and whine, whine, whine. Neither candidate is calling for sacrifice and change from their constituents.
Maybe Obama is waiting to get into office before he confronts the bloated, energy-hogging USA with the message that we will have to make some dramatic changes about the way we live, the way we drive and the way we cooperate.
Obama is a great orator and the freshest face on the stage. He will improve our standing with other countries just on his diplomatic skills alone. He’ll stanch the bleeding of Americans in Iraq by pulling out. He’ll make progress with race relations and gives the young and working poor some hope. That’s certainly better than business as usual. But I dream of a world of transparency and honesty beyond the sound bites and consumer-tested generalities.
Steve Skinner believes the ship is turning in the right direction, but acknowledges that supertankers are slow to shift. Reach him at nigel@sopris.net.
Comments
doubtfull
Well keep dreaming...