Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Whether you were Black, Brown, White or Yellow, your eyes shed water when you saw 7-year old Sasha yell, "HI, DADDY!!!"

Today is the day that Barack Obama was officially nominated as the first African American of a major political party to be President of the United States.

But as proud as all of us know he must be feeling today, one can't help but wonder if he'll ever feel what he must have felt (and what every adult watching must have felt) when he came on screen after his wife Michelle had given a speech two nights ago and his 7-year old daughter Sasha (with a big and adoring smile) yelled, "Hi, Daddy!!!"

Okay...It's Democratic Convention week. Next week, it's Republican Convention week.

Barack Obama's speech tomorrow? I'll write an additional observation tomorrow night and that will be the conclusion of the blog for this week.

Same deal for next week's Republican Convention observations.

MICHELLE OBAMA's SPEECH!!

This was a classic "Getting to know ME!" speech. Translation: "I'm NOT the wild eyed radical that some talk show hosts are trying to make me out to be! I'm a hard working woman who got good grades in college, did well in the working world, fell in love, gave birth to two kids, am trying to raise them the right way and now I'm trying to help my husband become President of the United States."

Short Commentary: I thought she was very effective and I think her daughters are adorable.

HILLARY CLINTON's SPEECH!!

It didn't take long for viewers to know which direction this speech was going when (near the very beginning) she came up with the first of several memorable lines when she said, "No way, no how, NO McCAIN!!!

That was in direct response to a McCain campaign ad that seemed to imply her support for McCain instead of Obama. An ad that one assumes will never again see the light of day.

The rest of Hillary's speech? I agree with a long time friend of Hillary's who said, "Viewers have now seen what a major league fastball looks like!"

Love her or hate her, that was one hell of a speech!

BILL CLINTON's SPEECH!!

Whether you liked him while he was in the White House or not, most folks understood he was the best communicator since Ronald Reagan. I thought his speech was terrific, but I also wasn't surprised.

One quote from Bill Clinton that jumped out at me; "People all over the world have always been more impressed with the power of our EXAMPLE instead of the example of our POWER!"

When Bill Clinton walked off the stage, he had to feel that his mission had been accomplished.

JOE BIDEN's SPEECH!!

For those of you who have read my previous observations/commentaries, you know that I'm very biased when it comes to Joe Biden. Having said that, instead of a quote, here's what jumped out at me. The two families!!! I'm referring to the Biden and the Obama families!!! Salt of the earth families!!!

And I hope I'm not the only one who noticed this!

And here are two quotes from Biden that people in the audience repeated. In fact, there were enough examples leading up to both quotes, that I couldn't help but be reminded of how Howard Beale got his audiences going in the classic film, "Network".

Following several examples given by Biden of things McCain supports and believes in, Biden said (and the audience chanted with him), "That's not CHANGE, that's more of the SAME!!!"

Following several examples given by Biden of things McCain supported and Obama didn't support and vice versa, Biden said (and the audience chanted with him), "John McCain was WRONG and Barack Obama was RIGHT!!!"

And speaking of McCain...

Have you heard about a new commercial the Obama people have put out about McCain? It's a takeoff on an old Sam Cooke song, "Wonderful World". If memory serves, the first two lines in Cooke's song were/are,

"Don't know much about history,
Don't know much about geometry..."

The lines in the Obama supporters commercial about McCain, go like this;

"I'm not up on the economy,
Don't know much about industry..."

And here's something else. John McCain has a bad temper. He is known to have exploded at many U.S. Senators and staffers. Often! VERY often!!!

Most people who have been at the wrong end of McCain's explosions say that McCain usually apologizes, but most people also believe that McCain's famous temper is something that bothers them and would in fact scare them if he were to be elected President of the United States.

I tell you this because I'm told that there will be campaign ads and or talk on the campaign trail about McCain's famous temper and in questions posed to McCain in debates McCain has with Obama.

Translation? Don't be surprised if things get UGLY!!!

THE AL GORE THURSDAY SPEECH!!

Al Gore came out firing!! He wasted no time mentioning that if he had won the 2000 election, he would have gone after Osama bin Laden instead of going to Iraq.

He wasn't on stage long, but what he said was (I thought) effective. Like when he said, "Inconvenient truths must be acknowledged!"

BARACK OBAMA's ACCEPTANCE SPEECH!!

This was a speech that lasted 40-42 minutes. Before the speech began, we were told that in this speech, we would be told specifics about this change business Obama has constantly referred to.

In front of 75-80,000 people in Denver's Mile High Stadium and a national television audience, Barack Obama delivered on that promise and then some.

You can read the specifics in news stories online or in your favorite newspaper, but here come a few quotes that jumped out at me.

In no particular order, these shots at McCain: "What does it say about your judgment when you think George W. Bush has been right 90% of the time?"

"It's not because John McCain doesn't care, it's because he doesn't know."

"I've got news for you, John McCain! We ALL put our country FIRST!"

"If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the judgment and temperament to be Commander in Chief, I WELCOME that debate!"

That was a reference to what I mentioned 10 paragraphs ago about McCain's temper and Obama also gave examples of how he (Obama) would respond as Commander in Chief.

Two more quotes..."Let's not make a big election about SMALL things!"

Annnnd....To the audience, Obama said, "What the naysayers don't understand is that this election has NEVER been about ME! It's about YOU!!!"

Overall, I gave the speech an A+ and I now honestly feel (for the first time) we have two serious campaigns on our hands and I believe that Barack Obama is someone who might be a guy who could become a pretty good President of the United States.

Now let's see what happens at the Republican convention NEXT week!

McCAIN's VP ANNOUNCEMENT!!

One thing about politics. Announcements can be made at any time. And this VP announcement on Friday by the McCain people was/is (to say the least) a surprising announcement!

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin?!?

WOW!!!

An attractive mom of five with a syrupy personality?!? A working woman who gets things done?!?

And a woman who would make most guys wish she were single while not appearing to be a threat to other women?!?

GREAT choice, Senator McCain!

But is she qualified to be President of the United States?

Well, to me, if McCain gets elected, she can learn while she's on the job as VP and if there's one thing she seems to be, it's that she's a fast learner.

Just like Obama is!

GAME ON!!!

Now we have a REAL Presidential race!!!

And (hopefully) the BEST people will win!!!


THOUGHTS OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I write back to everyone.

THE NEXT BLOG? Unless something unexpected comes up, a week from today. As a rule, a new blog is posted every Wednesday afternoon (late) or (early) Wednesday evening.






1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

More than any news story in the past few months, John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin made me stop and say "WHAAAT??". I think it caught Palin herself almost equally by surprise. Her nomination is such a bizarre proposition on so many levels that one scarcely knows where to begin.

To me, the problems with Palin go beyond inexperience. Experience is in the eye of the beholder, and as the Republicans have demonstrated, beholders can spin.

But Palin isn't just inexperienced. She's almost completely unknown, and that's tough to spin. I have never felt comfortable with candidates for President or Vice President who came out of the blue, and no one in my lifetime has ever been plucked from that level of anonymity for a place on a national ticket.

If Palin shines in her speech to the convention, the comfort level she can achieve with this voter, at best, is what Obama accomplished with stellar oration four years ago. After that, it took several years for me to see enough of Obama to appreciate his qualifications, intelligence, and temperament as sufficient for the presidency.

At this point, regarding Palin, we have seen the most gifted campaigners produce the most lame and desperate justifications for her incredibly meager qualifications. Just to list a couple: Being from Alaska, which is the nearest state to Russia, gives her extraordinary experience in foreign relations. And having command of the Alaska National Guard fall within her job description for less than two years gives her the readiness to step up to Commander-in-Chief of a superpower.

Speaking of spinning, when a Republican spokesman told Wolf Blitzer that "if Sarah Palin can handle Ted Stevens, she sure can handle the Russians," Blitzer's jaw dropped like that of the Aflac duck exiting Yogi Berra's barber shop.

Besides Palin's professional qualifications, her spinning supporters very often compliment her on a personal level for "admirable", "tough" decisions made necessary (they fail to mention) only by repeated poor ones. For example, after conceiving a child at a very risky age, Palin learns that he has Down syndrome. Even if you applaud her decision to raise the child, given her supposed knowledge and wisdom, shouldn't she have long before considered the dangers of conceiving in her mid-40s?

Much the same can be said of the situation with her expectant daughter, who, as part of a prominent moral family, should have well understood the dangers implicit to "life happens"—much less conception—at her age. And isn't the spectacle that we are all about to witness—the child/father's introduction and hero's welcome at the national convention of staunch conservatives—simply absurd?

When the evening is over, I'm sure Republicans will insist that family matters are off-limits for the rest of the campaign. They'll keep Sarah off the Church Lady's hot seat. And when it comes to her vast experience, they'll spin like a New Orleans hurricane. Still, you have to wonder how low they'll stoop to make a desperate case for someone that, until Friday, none of us had ever heard of.

4:25 PM  

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