Tom Lehrer got it right (in his introduction to “the folk song army” song): it takes guts to stand up, like Obama, in a crowded hall and say that you’re FOR all those things everybody in the audience just HATES–like peace, and prosperity, and giving milk to babies, and so on.

This of course is not only Obama’s problem, but that of most politicians–McCain included. They fear to alienate voters; the point of such speeches, after all, is not to win anybody over, but merely to not lose any previous supporters by taking a stand about something. But I do believe Obama’s even more extreme on the empty rhetoric side than most.