Drunkblogging Obama's Historic Speech

 8:59PM I stand corrected: It was the speech about Bush McCain. But where was Barack Obama? I don’t know. The suit was empty.

8:58PM I’m sorry I didn’t practice my George Costanza, because this was the speech about nothing.

8:57PM “We can not turn back, we cannot walk alone…” and then he fumbled the next line, going into the big finish.

8:56.5PM Not that I will, mind you.

8:56PM The MLK reference is powerful. But at this point, I am so infuriated with this guy, that I’m tempted — for the first time ever, after years of drunkblogging — to call it quits before it’s over.

8:52PM “I haven’t spent my career in the halls of Washington” Now there is one fine reason to vote for Obama. The trouble is, what DID he spend his career doing? <crickets chirping>

8:51PM “If you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters.” Scary things like… tax cuts? I hear Count Floyd saying, “Ooooh, scarrry stuff, kids.”

8:49PM What does the 2nd Amendment have to do with keeping guns out of the hands of criminals?

8:48PM “We ALL put our country first.” Unless there’s an international institution whose permission we need, or allies we need to consult, or dictators we need to talk to, or domestic terrorists we need to help launch our political careers.

8:48PM If Colorado isn’t in play, I planned on voting for Bob Barr. But Obama is being so dishonest tonight that I’m tempted to vote for McCain out of spite.

8:47PM Obama just had the gaul to claim that he won’t challenge McCain’s character. It’s not HIS fault that McCain is evil.

8:45PM Tough, direct … diplomacy! I negotiate in your general direction!

8:44PM “…Strained our oldest alliances.” Like all those right wingers recently elected in France and Germany and Italy who see our side more and more?

8:42PM Did Obama REALLY just accuse McCain of being unwilling to pursue bin Laden? I don’t like McCain. I don’t (yet) plan to vote for McCain. But I would NOT go around impugning John McCain’s manhood.

8:41PM “If John McCain wants to have a debate…” Uh, dude, McCain wants to have like ten debates, and you winced at holding three of them.

8:40PM Streamline bureaucracy? He’s not just Clinton ’92, he’s also Gore ’93!

8:39PM Not that McCain is any better, but HOW is Obama going to protect Social Security? And “equal pay for equal work”? In 2008? REALLY?

8:38PM More Clintonesque requirements of people who get government help. That’s not a bad thing — but it’s not how he campaigned in the primaries. He’s not just running against one lame duck, he’s running as another.

8:37PM The longer this goes on, the more I remember why I suffered such Obama Fatigue during the primaries.

8:37PM Yeah, he just tried to buy Michigan with promises that he’ll retool Detroit. Honda and Toyota build cars here people actually like, so why not give them money, too?

8:35PM The first person who gives me an accurate count of the number of times Obama says “McCain,” I’ll send a crisp twenty dollar bill. That’s right, twenty dollars. But I’m not sure science can count that high.

8:34PM “I will cut taxes for 95% of all working families.”Half of working families pay little or no income tax at all. If he wants to cut payroll taxes, then is he going to cut the programs they fund, too?

8:33PM Change means … and then … more anti-McCain stuff.

8:32PM “…rules of the road.” Another distinctly Clintonian reference. Are his internal polls showing him that he still doesn’t have the PUMA vote?

8:31PM Well. Lots of reasons to vote against Bush McCain so far… but very little in the way of reasons to vote for Obama.

8:30PM Is Obama really spending this much time talking about the grandmother he threw under the bus in his big racism speech last spring?

8:28PM “…when Bill Clinton was President!” Suck up. This guy is too good to need to bask in Clinton’s faded glory.

8:27PM The “ownership society” means “you’re on your own?” Has anyone successfully sold class warfare in this country since LBJ forty-plus years ago?

8:25PM “I don’t think John McCain doesn’t care about what’s going on, I think he just doesn’t know.” Painting McCain as an elitist? If it works, it’ll be the neatest trick since two guys in Halloween costumes levitated the Denver Mint.

8:24PM What does a mini-recession, perhaps already over, have to do with the old “nation of whiners” line?

8:23PM And Obama is STILL tying McCain to Bush. Lame, I tell you. But the “ten percent chance on change” line? Gorgeous.

8:22PM “Eight is enough.” And we all have diff’rent stokes, too!

8:21PM “Tonight I say… enough! This moment! This moment! This election is our chance to keep in the 21st century the American promise alive.” Powerful rhetoric, and used to paint McCain’s first term as Bush’s third. And I’ll tell you what: When you’re running against an a lame duck … that’s pretty lame.

8:21PM He just flubbed a line so badly, I found it hard to follow. That’s not good when you’re setting up an anecdote.

8:20PM “These challenges are not all the government’s making …” That’s a positively Clinton ’92 line.

8:18PM Still hitting the humble beginnings note, with the “brief union” line. With divorce so prevalent, that line probably goes a long way to cementing his common man cred.

8:17PM A plug for Amtrack? Really? Then recognition of Michelle and the girls… and it’s hard to pick out which of the three is the prettiest.

8:16PM Big nice note to Hillary, and the camera moved right to … where she might have been sitting, had she stuck around for the big speech.

8:15PM “With great humility I accept.” I don’t buy that for one second but it was perfectly delivered.

8:14PM Michelle’s smile she’s kept hidden the last two nights? The one I said could light up the entire Pepsi Center? It’s on full display right now.

8:13PM This is a rock star performance. Or maybe just a rock star crowd. Whatever, it’s electrifying — and I say this as someone who would rather step on his own tongue than vote for someone with Obama’s record and worldview.

8:12PM Is the set over the top? Yes. But I’m wondering how else you fill all that space in a stadium.

8:11PM And away we go …

8:09PM And of course that was the goal.

8:08PM If the goal of Obama’s video hagiography is to make him seem like a down home, heartland guy, then: Mission Accomplished.

7:58PM (All times a mile high) What does Obama need to do tonight? Connect. He can seem aloof at times, and the setting at Mile High doesn’t help with that. Does he need to get specific? The talking heads think so, but I’m not so sure. Tonight is his night — his last before the general election — and so I think he ought to stick to what he does best. This is an acceptance speech, not a State of the Union address.