I watched a good part of John McCain's speech on CNN, and have also read the text. I think that, after the electrifying speech by Palin the other night -- a speech which was, in retrospect, quite unrestrained in its negativity towards Obama -- McCain's speech was much more in character for someone who wants to be President (and more in McCain's character).
However, Democrats will be reassured, after that speech, that McCain has very likely lost his last opportunity to really sprint past Obama. The speech was somewhat dull and uninspiring and rather full of recent Republican cliches -- too me-oriented, in an increasingly stale kind of way, for a candidate who claims to want to put his country first.
It was, moreover, revisionist and even "cunning" in its (and RNC's) attempt to pull a hero-as-leader rabbit out of his (McCain's) POW experience in Viet Nam so many years ago now. Isn't it a stretch to label (and to condone the labelling of) a POW, in a war that was in fact lost, as a national "hero"? If you did not know better, you would think that McCain had somehow levitated to the ranks of McArthur, Patton, Eisenhower, Westmoreland or even Powell -- or that he was allowing all and sundry to so elevate him!
P.S. Here is a video of McCain's acceptance speech.
And here are some reactions to the speech.
Here is another reaction.
And yet another reaction.
Here's a more recent one.
Showing posts with label Republican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Republican. Show all posts
Friday, September 05, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Barack Obama's INVESCO Field Acceptance Speech
Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech, as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, in front of some 84,000 supporters yesterday evening at INVESCO Field, in Denver. Here's Part 1 of the video, and here's Part 2 of the more than 40-minute speech. Here's the [prepared text of the speech] distributed ahead of time by his campaign team. I watched it live with my wife -- just couldn't miss it.
One prominent commentator, David Gergen, described the speech as "a political masterpiece." Another, Rebecca Sinderbrand, described it as "the August equivalent of the Super Bowl -- a massive event that sucked up most of the media oxygen, complete with fireworks, a capacity crowd, and celebrity acts that would have been at home at any halftime show."
One prominent commentator, David Gergen, described the speech as "a political masterpiece." Another, Rebecca Sinderbrand, described it as "the August equivalent of the Super Bowl -- a massive event that sucked up most of the media oxygen, complete with fireworks, a capacity crowd, and celebrity acts that would have been at home at any halftime show."
Not coincidentally delivered on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's historic "I have a dream" speech, Obama's acceptance speech risked comparisons with the MLK speech, which was clearly of a different genre. The fear that it might not measure up (even though he was not supposed to try too hard), or that he had to be seen to bring his as close to the level of the "dream" as possible (even though his must, of necessity, be "workmanlike"), became a part of the drama and suspense of this eventful and, in the end, awesome week. Opponents and supporters, both, anticipated a delivery that was at once different and the same! Opponents hoped, of course, that somehow (despite past performances) there would be failure this time -- a failure to meet lofty expectations. Many supporters, on the other hand, feared a turn of fortune that they dared not speak -- a "less than satisfactory" verdict by media pundits. But they hoped for the best -- which, it is clear now, is what they got.
I think it was a great speech, a different speech -- a speech for the ages. It was a great moment. We will look back on it for years. And we will continue to wonder how he was able to deliver a nearly flawless, six sigma, speech for that long.
I saw tears in the field, among the delegates. But there had been a tear here and there throughout the convention. People shed tears for different reasons, but it is the same tears they shed.
Obama looked and sounded very presidential -- and as combative as a President ought to publicly be when dealing with forces that cause his followers ire.
I don't see what McCain and the Republicans can do to deny him the Presidency now, with elements of his party having closed ranks with as much finality and finesse as we witnessed -- and as is possible in such symbolic and public rituals of common purpose and comradeship.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Barack Obama: Presumptive Presidential Nominee of the Democratic Party
Yesterday, 3rd June 2008, was a truly historic day on many accounts in the United States -- and in Kenya. Dare I add Africa and the world at large? Circumspection, alone, holds me back -- but not my [My! My! My!] exclamation! Since we are hours ahead of America here in Kenya, that moment of glory, when Obama reached and then passed the pivotal total of 2118 pledged delegates and superdelegates, a moment which will be etched indelibly (dare I say for eons?) in the annals of at least two great countries, actually occurred very early this morning -- June 4th. A son of Kenya (for that he is) -- alright, a son of America and Kenya both -- had won a presidential marathon in that same America in which Kenyan runners are so used to winning marathons; and in which Americans are so used to seeing, and cheering, them! Cheers, America! And cheers Jatelo!
While in neighbouring Tanzania on that momentous night, Jesse Jackson aptly noted on CNN (I believe I heard him correctly) that Obama's veins flow with the blood of two continents! And I think he thinks -- as Obama and millions of Democrats and Independents and even some Republicans think -- that the time has, this time, come; come for the dream deferred to be at last lived.
Here in Kenya, where the average political leader is a crook of one kind or another (and/or ring-fenced by crooks with a till to loot), where party primaries (if they are held at all)are typically "won" by those who pay the largest monetary tribute to the leader (under the guise of the party), and where local and national elections are habitually rigged(stress habit), with impunity, in favour of those who have thus won the party leader's favour, is it any wonder that millions of us have been so enthralled by, so suspensefully glued to, Obama's indomitable quest -- first as an underdog and then as the much-maligned front-runner -- and are now so thrilled by his present victory, and the victory which (we see) is to come?
To Kenyans, the most important lesson of Obama's primary victory is this: you can be a successful politician without being a crook. Conversely, crookedness is not at all "genetically" (inescapably) programmed into political forms of life. Nor is mean-spiritedness. And self-centeredness, which invariably breeds self-aggrandizement, should not be a feature, let alone the defining feature, of political ambitions or public life generally.
Crookedness may be the way things are, concretely, here and now in Kenya (and elsewhere); but it is not the way things must be. Nor the only way these things can be. It is not that politicians cannot help themselves, but must lie, cheat and steal. All too often, what is read -- indeed, misread -- as typical is only that which we have refused or failed to check, and have instead irrationally accepted as rational; that is, rationalized. Impunity thrives on such rationalization, even as it sucks out all the creative energies in our field of play.
If Obama should win in November, I think certain politicians, with an attitude and bad habits, here in Kenya (and let me say elsewhere in Africa) will begin to notice that the unrequited public attention and adulation which they have for long enjoyed will begin rapidly to wane. You see, there will be another (more electrifying) standard and standard-bearer to be measured against. There will be another Jatelo whose wholesomeness of character will put a glaring spotlight on the blemishes in these other characters. May he win, then, in November! And may he never deviate from the promise that he has become; the promise that his electorate, and we here, have come to see in him!
Last night Hillary refused to concede, but that's OK. She will, still. What would be obscene, and utterly unacceptable, would be to trade (or to seek to trade) her concession for the Vice Presidency. I have remarked upon her unsuitability in another blog. What transpired last night only reinforces that view.
I know, though, that a trade of that kind(widely hailed as the only escape from civil war) occurred right here in Kenya just a few months ago, following a disputed presidential election which degenerated into widespread inter-ethnic violence. Many observers believe that the violence was in part instigated or encouraged by political leaders, too used to double-speak for our own good, who doubled up as underground warlords. In the latest issue of The East African, a weekly newspaper, there is, instructively, a chilling account of serious arms-smuggling, as late as last March (which was after the February signing of the peace accord between PNU and ODM) from Somalia into Kenya (and into the hands of an unnamed militia group here). AU (Ugandan) peace-keeping forces in Somalia are, disappointingly, implicated in this smuggling. The point here is that this is the very antithesis of Obama's brand of politics, to which the world is now going to have to pay attention. But does Hillary want to emulate Kenyan politicians, having recently made reference to Mugabe's bad ways?
While in neighbouring Tanzania on that momentous night, Jesse Jackson aptly noted on CNN (I believe I heard him correctly) that Obama's veins flow with the blood of two continents! And I think he thinks -- as Obama and millions of Democrats and Independents and even some Republicans think -- that the time has, this time, come; come for the dream deferred to be at last lived.
Here in Kenya, where the average political leader is a crook of one kind or another (and/or ring-fenced by crooks with a till to loot), where party primaries (if they are held at all)are typically "won" by those who pay the largest monetary tribute to the leader (under the guise of the party), and where local and national elections are habitually rigged(stress habit), with impunity, in favour of those who have thus won the party leader's favour, is it any wonder that millions of us have been so enthralled by, so suspensefully glued to, Obama's indomitable quest -- first as an underdog and then as the much-maligned front-runner -- and are now so thrilled by his present victory, and the victory which (we see) is to come?
To Kenyans, the most important lesson of Obama's primary victory is this: you can be a successful politician without being a crook. Conversely, crookedness is not at all "genetically" (inescapably) programmed into political forms of life. Nor is mean-spiritedness. And self-centeredness, which invariably breeds self-aggrandizement, should not be a feature, let alone the defining feature, of political ambitions or public life generally.
Crookedness may be the way things are, concretely, here and now in Kenya (and elsewhere); but it is not the way things must be. Nor the only way these things can be. It is not that politicians cannot help themselves, but must lie, cheat and steal. All too often, what is read -- indeed, misread -- as typical is only that which we have refused or failed to check, and have instead irrationally accepted as rational; that is, rationalized. Impunity thrives on such rationalization, even as it sucks out all the creative energies in our field of play.
If Obama should win in November, I think certain politicians, with an attitude and bad habits, here in Kenya (and let me say elsewhere in Africa) will begin to notice that the unrequited public attention and adulation which they have for long enjoyed will begin rapidly to wane. You see, there will be another (more electrifying) standard and standard-bearer to be measured against. There will be another Jatelo whose wholesomeness of character will put a glaring spotlight on the blemishes in these other characters. May he win, then, in November! And may he never deviate from the promise that he has become; the promise that his electorate, and we here, have come to see in him!
Last night Hillary refused to concede, but that's OK. She will, still. What would be obscene, and utterly unacceptable, would be to trade (or to seek to trade) her concession for the Vice Presidency. I have remarked upon her unsuitability in another blog. What transpired last night only reinforces that view.
I know, though, that a trade of that kind(widely hailed as the only escape from civil war) occurred right here in Kenya just a few months ago, following a disputed presidential election which degenerated into widespread inter-ethnic violence. Many observers believe that the violence was in part instigated or encouraged by political leaders, too used to double-speak for our own good, who doubled up as underground warlords. In the latest issue of The East African, a weekly newspaper, there is, instructively, a chilling account of serious arms-smuggling, as late as last March (which was after the February signing of the peace accord between PNU and ODM) from Somalia into Kenya (and into the hands of an unnamed militia group here). AU (Ugandan) peace-keeping forces in Somalia are, disappointingly, implicated in this smuggling. The point here is that this is the very antithesis of Obama's brand of politics, to which the world is now going to have to pay attention. But does Hillary want to emulate Kenyan politicians, having recently made reference to Mugabe's bad ways?
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