Joe Klein has been hitting some high notes in the last few weeks, calling out McCain's douchebaggery and this take down about Jerome Corsi's work of fiction.
Joe Klein has been hitting some high notes in the last few weeks, calling out McCain's douchebaggery and this take down about Jerome Corsi's work of fiction.
And today he absolutely NAILS Obama's speech last night.
Barack Obama's acceptance speech tonight wasn't what people have come to expect from a Barack Obama speech. It wasn't filled with lofty rhetoric or grand cadences. It did not induce tears or euphoria. It didn't have the forced, kitschy call and response tropes — "and that's the change we need!" — that defaced nearly every other major speech at this convention. At 43 minutes, nailing his dismount at 10:53 pm, it wasn't even very long. It was lean, efficient, practical and very very tough.
He saw what we saw last night. A tough, focused, take no prisoners Obama that directly confronted McCain and DARED him to question his or his supporters patriotism. He threw down a gauntlet. And who knew the speech lasted 43 minutes? It seemed like mere seconds to me.
He goes on to "get" what Obama was aiming for with this speech in one of the most memorable parts of the speech last night.
"I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.
You make a big election about small things.
And you know what — it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.
I get it."
Joe Klein: He delivered that, "I get it," perfectly, conversationally: It said, "I know what you guys are thinking." And the rest of the speech — every sentence, every paragraph — reflected that knowledge. His mission was to win over a doubtful nation, to convince us that he was a pragmatist, not a dreamer. Indeed, he used the word "dream" only once or twice. He didn't even talk about the "American Dream." He called it the "American Promise." He didn't tell us that he was different from Martin Luther King and the civil rights generation of black leadership; he showed us.
And as for Obama's attacks on McCain?
Obama went bluntly up into McCain's grill, time and time again — challenging him on the sort of campaign he was running, and especially on the sleazy tactic of questioning Obama's patriotism:
LOVE IT!!!!