Joe Biden was tremendous last night, I thought. I must have stood and applauded at least 10 times. What a tremendous grand slam of a speech. He was on point. He was funny. He was hard hitting. He was inspiring. It was just wonderful to listen to. My favorite moments from Biden's acceptance speech, and there are a lot of them, which you can easily view here: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/08/28/sot.dnc.biden.entire.cnn
* the opening praise of his son. "You know you've become a success when your son or daughter turns out better than you are. I'm a success. I'm a hell of a success". You can definitely see the love, the respect, he has for his family. No matter what you think of the ticket, and I'm still unsold ... at least we've got two decent, honorable parents who geniunely love their kids on it.
* the praise of his family, and his upbringing. In stark contrast to Barry, who seems to be doing everything possible to avoid talking about his upbringing, including throwing grandma under the bus as a racist in the primaries. But especially the praise and honor towards his mom. Just wonderful to see. I love seeing public figures genuinely showing respect to their true mentors, the 'rents. I loved the line about how "I used to stutter, and mom just said Joey, its because you're so bright you can't get the words out quickly enough". You could tell there's a lot of love, of respect, of geniune bond, in the Biden family. Very enjoyable to witness.
* "failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable". As someone that has experienced his fair share of failure, granted mostly self inflicted but still ... those words ring very true with me.
* the "freudian slip" referencing the election of George ... I mean, John McCain.
* "we do not have to accept the situation, we have the power to change it". Amen Senator. Amen.
* the praise for McCain. I can't hit on this enough. You can have strong disagreements with someone in their politics and still be friends, still have tremendous respect and admiration for someone. You can honor someone for their service, and yet disagree with their stand on the issues. John McCain is a true American hero. Noone can dispute this. If you do dispute it, you should live in the Hanoi Hilton for 5 years of torture, of pure hell on earth. But McCain is wrong on certain issues. Again, good for Senator Biden to stress this difference. Too bad Republicans couldn't do this 4 years ago when another American hero was seeking the White House.
* "any country that outteaches us today, will out compete us tomorrow". Great perspective.
* hitting home the lack of progress in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and against al Quada. Its ridiculous that we're almost 7 years after 9/11 and haven't found and killed bin Ladin.
* "our greatest Presidents ... all challenged us to embrace change."
* "Millions of Americans have been knocked down. This is the time we get up, together!" Yes, a good number of us have been knocked down this year. And the only way to get back up is to rise together.
Like I said, I loved Biden's speech last night. He came across as a guy you'd love to have a beer with, shoot the sh*t with at the local bar down the street. One of us. The total opposite of the package we are being sold of Barry.
Which brings me to tonight. And the problem Obama's got.
Which is that he's not Biden.
I think Obama is in the same spot right now, that Gore was in in 2000. He has two major tasks he has to accomplish tonight. The same two tasks Gore had to pull off 8 years ago.
First, he has to deliver an unquestioned grand slam speech. He has to lay out exactly what the change he is seeking is. Details to go with the lofty ideals. He has to provide some substance. Anyone can promise change. We need to hear what the change he seeks is. We need to know what current policies he'd overhaul, what current procedures he'd tear up and start over with. There must be substance, I cannot stress that enough. I am still an "undecided" voter. His speech tonight has to be addressed to the 10% of the electorate that fall into my category.
He's not going to change Republican's minds tonight. Write them off. You're not winning the conservative base. He also isn't going to change any Democrat's minds tonight. Write them off. The liberal base isn't going to abandon you. He has to move solidly, strongly, into the middle tonight, and leave no doubt about where he stands on the pertinent issues of the day.
Gore did this better than any candidate I've ever seen in 2000. Barry has to match Gore's 2000 speech tonight, in terms of providing details, substance, actual policy items.
But the real challenge Barack faces tonight, is connecting with his audience. To set aside the Messiah image, the "I am your salvation" message, and simply be "one of us". Because that's who Americans tend to elect. "One of us".
Someone who doesn't appear power hungry. Someone who you know is doing this, is running, because he wants to, not because he thinks its his destiny. Someone who won't lose any sleep over losing.
This is where Gore failed in 2000.
Gore, of course, everyone thought was too wooden, too rehearsed, too driven. Too boring. He overcame that (somewhat) with the kiss of Tipper on stage, with his fiery, on point, energized acceptance speech. But he never completely overcame it. Think "lockbox". Ultimately, it probably helped cost him the election. And the persistent recount certainly didn't help his view among people, it only confirmed their view of him.
We re-elected Bush because, let's face it, Kerry is a stuck up liberal who thinks he's better and smarter than everyone else in the room. He couldn't, and can't, connect with middle America. Ditto his arrogant running mate, "the Breck Girl", John Edwards. Bush, on the other hand, he is "one of us". He is a guy you'd have a beer with. He is a guy who has "experienced life". He's not perfect. He's f*cked up, he's admitted it, and used his past to make his life into something amazing. Its admirable actually. Americans connect with that. We've always connected with that.
Just like with Clinton in 1992. Bush Senior? Not gonna do it. Not gonna connect. Washington insider through and through. Clinton? One of us. He'd definitely have a beer with us at the local bar, and probably try to take the cute blonde on the barstool next to him home for a night of fun. Just like we do. Its why most of America still embraces him, despite the far right's attempt to turn Lewinsky giving him oral sex into a moral outrage. Because most of America not only doesn't care, we kind of think its cool to have an intern on call to pleasure you when you feel like it. And America still embraces Bill, despite all the baggage. As you witnessed last night. Because we all have baggage. We've all f*cked up, learned from it, and tried to get better. Just like Clinton. Its why he won twice. Its why he'd be running for a 5th term right now if there weren't term limits.
Reagan? Talk about "one of us". I never understood why the commentators couldn't grasp why the entire nation mourned his passing. Reagan WAS average America. I am anything but a conservative, but I took the day of his funeral off just to watch the coverage, to in some small way pay my respect, my regards, to the man that WAS America. He looked into the face of evil in our time and told it to "tear down this wall". He didn't dwell on the negatives that we all know exist, he instead chose to focus on the potential for greatness we all have. Reagan was "us". He was the embodiment of all that is great and wonderful and inspiring about this country.
Tonight, Obama has to connect with middle America. He has to come off the high horse, drop the rhetoric, and just be Barry. Don't lawyer up the speech, don't attempt to speak to a book club in San Francisco. Speak to me. Little ol' Steve, sitting on his couch, enjoying a Coors Light. Speak as if you were sitting next to me, trying to spark up a friendship. That's what America wants to hear, I think. Barack Obama, average joe.
I hope he not only delivers a great speech, but does connect with America on a personal level tonight. This country needs, desperately needs, two decent options for President. We need to know, for the first time in a long time, that there is no really "wrong" choice. McCain, I'm comfortable with, as most people are. We know, at worst, we get the status quo with John McCain. And we know he won't do anything to make us regret our choice. He's not going to throw his country under the bus for political gain. Obama? Still not sure about. Tonight, he has to begin to put the doubts to rest.
I wish him well. I'll be watching, "on the couch, enjoying a Coors Light". Here's hoping Barry's speech makes it seem like he'll be dropping by to shoot the sh*t over a frosty cold one when he's done.
(And yes, this means I am missing a Chiefs home game for the first time in a long time. Some things are more important than meaningless preseason football. Like electing a President ...)
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