Yesterday in our editorial board meeting to discuss the parameters of what we were going to write about Obama's speech, I said that this speech needed to be a turning point for Obama. He needed to draw from his soaring rhetoric of the past, which has thrilled so many people, but start grounding it in more substantive policies. I conceded that it was a difficult balance to strike. And in the event, it seems to me that Obama failed to do this -- and he failed to do it in a revealing way. That speech was in most ways Democratic boilerplate. Obama promises change, but to judge from the substance of the speech, "change" means little more than "throw the Republicans out."
Fine, I get that. The Republicans deserve to be thrown out, given how badly they've governed. I can't see myself voting for John McCain this fall (and I'm not voting for Obama). I understand why people would vote for Obama, and I understand why people on the other side can be disgusted with the GOP, but still feel compelled to vote for McCain, given the alternative. That's not the point. This is: packaging the same old Democratic message in a new box is the equivalent of sticking a "New! Improved!" label on the same old box of laundry detergent. Hearing Obama's speech last night prompted the vulgar thought, "Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining."
If you care, take a look at John Kerry's 2004 convention acceptance speech, and Al Gore's 2000 acceptance speech. Compare to Barack Obama's acceptance speech.
I've cut-and-pasted parts from all three Democratic convention acceptance speeches -- Obama's, Kerry's and Gore's -- below. Anything sound familiar? As you read below, keep in mind the point I'm trying to make is not that any specific policy or position endorsed by any of these Democratic presidential candidates is wrong per se; it's that there is a sameness to them. Which is not surprising; these are all standard Democratic talking points. But lest you think Obama stands for anything substantively new, all it takes is comparing these three speeches to see how his basic platform is really no different from what Democrats have been offering at least over the last two election cycles. Mind you, I don't think McCain's going to offer anything really new from what Bush and the GOP offered in 2000 and 2004. But then again, McCain's not claiming to be a politician from the future, come to deliver us from the corrupt ancien regime. Read on.
They say this is the best economy we've ever had. And they say that anyone who thinks otherwise is a pessimist. Well, here is our answer: There is nothing more pessimistic than saying America can't do better. We can do better and we will. We're the optimists. For us, this is a country of the future. We're the can do people. [Kerry]
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This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores. Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend. [Obama]
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Together, let's make sure that our prosperity enriches not just the few, but all working families. Let's invest in health care, education, a secure retirement, and middle class tax cuts. [Gore]
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... the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class. [Obama]
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So let me say straight out what I will do as President: I will cut middle class taxes. [Kerry]
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But my focus is on working families - people trying to make house payments and car payments, working overtime to save for college and do right by their kids... Whether you're in a suburb, or an inner-city... Whether you raise crops or drive hogs and cattle on a farm, drive a big rig on the Interstate, or drive e-commerce on the Internet... Whether you're starting out to raise your own family, or getting ready to retire after a lifetime of hard work. So often, powerful forces and powerful interests stand in your way, and the odds seemed stacked against you -- even as you do what's right for you and your family. [Gore]
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We value jobs that pay you more not less than you earned before. We value jobs where, when you put in a week's work, you can actually pay your bills, provide for your children, and lift up the quality of your life. We value an America where the middle class is not being squeezed, but doing better. [Kerry]
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...that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. ... We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work. [Obama]
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I want you to know: I believe we must challenge a culture with too much meanness, and not enough meaning. And as President, I will stand with you for a goal that we share: to give more power back to the parents, to choose what your own children are exposed to, so you can pass on your family's basic lessons of responsibility and decency. The power should be in your hands. The future should belong to everyone in this land. [Gore]
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And, Democrats, Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our intellectual and moral strength. ... But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents, that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework, that fathers must take more responsibility to provide love and guidance to their children. [Obama]
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Laws and programs by themselves will never be enough. All of us, and especially all parents need to take more responsibility. We need to change our hearts -- and make a commitment to our children and to one another. [Gore]
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You know, education may be a local responsibility. But I believe it also has to be our number-one national priority. We can't stop until every school in America is a good place to get a good education.
...For revolutionary improvements in our schools. For higher standards and more accountability. To put a fully-qualified teacher in every classroom, test all new teachers, and give teachers the training and professional development they deserve. It's time to treat and reward teachers like the professionals they are.
It's not just about more money. It's about higher standards, accountability -- new ideas. But we can't do it without new resources. And that's why I will invest far more in our schools - in the long-run, a second-class education always costs more than a first-class education. [Gore]
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Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. ...
I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries, and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. [Obama]
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Let others try to restore the old guard. We come to this convention as the change we wish to see in America. [Gore]
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Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.
America, this is one of those moments. I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming. [Obama]
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At a time of almost unimaginable medical breakthroughs, we will fight for affordable health care for all - so patients and ordinary people are not left powerless and broke. We will move toward universal health coverage, step by step, starting with all children. [Gore]
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Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. [Obama]
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And tonight, we have an important message for those who question the patriotism of Americans who offer a better direction for our country. Before wrapping themselves in the flag and shutting their eyes and ears to the truth, they should remember what America is really all about. ... That flag doesn't belong to any president. It doesn't belong to any ideology and it doesn't belong to any political party. It belongs to all the American people. [Kerry]
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(K) Maybe some just see us divided into red states and blue states, but I see us as one America - red, white, and blue. [Kerry]
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So let us agree that patriotism has no party. ... The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together, and bled together, and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a red America or a blue America; they have served the United States of America. [Obama]
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Third, close the tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping our jobs overseas. Instead, we will reward companies that create and keep good paying jobs where they belong - in the good old U.S.A. We value an America that exports products, not jobs - and we believe American workers should never have to subsidize the loss of their own job. [Kerry]
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We're a better country than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment that he's worked on for 20 years and watch as it's shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news. [Obama]
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What does it mean in America today when Dave McCune, a steel worker I met in Canton, Ohio, saw his job sent overseas and the equipment in his factory literally unbolted, crated up, and shipped thousands of miles away along with that job? What does it mean when workers I've met had to train their foreign replacements? [Kerry]
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I will stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America. [Obama]
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America can do better. [Kerry]
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We are a better country than this. [Obama]
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We value an America that controls its own destiny because it's finally and forever independent of Mideast oil. What does it mean for our economy and our national security when we only have three percent of the world's oil reserves, yet we rely on foreign countries for fifty-three percent of what we consume? [Kerry]
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In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East. [Obama]
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Now -- now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care -- if you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. [Obama]
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The story of people struggling for health care is the story of so many Americans. But you know what, it's not the story of senators and members of Congress. Because we give ourselves great health care and you get the bill. Well, I'm here to say, your family's health care is just as important as any politician's in Washington, D.C. [Kerry]
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As commander-in-chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. [Obama]
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And on my first day in office, I will send a message to every man and woman in our armed forces: You will never be asked to fight a war without a plan to win the peace. [Kerry]
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The -- the reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. [Obama]
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I believe in the right of sportsmen and hunters and law-abiding citizens to own firearms. But I want mandatory background checks to keep guns away from criminals, and mandatory child safety locks to protect our children. [Gore]
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I know my own imperfections. I know that sometimes people say I'm too serious, that I talk too much substance and policy. [Gore]
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I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. [Obama]
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Which is to say, the Democrats stand for something. Probably we will hear some familiar statements from the GOP too, about terrorism, tax cuts, and abortion. But we won't hear anything like this:
"This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.
Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.
That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot."
Nor did we hear it from Gore or Kerry, nor was this passage quoted above by Rod. The "unseen thing" is the essence of the spiritual idealism of the 19th century Transcendentalists, recast for the 21st century.
Perhaps it is too intellectual, or perhaps it is one of the great passages of the Bible, and will resonate with voters. ("While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.")
Time will tell. But don't try to tell me that speech was the same old thing. Kerry and Gore meant well, and hit a few of the same Democratic notes. But they can't carry that tune.
"The "unseen thing" is the essence of the spiritual idealism of the 19th century Transcendentalists, recast for the 21st century."
And it is just as wrong and dangerous now as it was then.
"... He has that power in him that is making us all wanna be better and do better with our lives. "
Wow. This demonstrates how for liberals, politics is a secular religion much better than I ever could.
I want you to know: I believe we must challenge a culture with too much meanness, and not enough meaning. And as President, I will stand with you for a goal that we share: to give more power back to the parents, to choose what your own children are exposed to, so you can pass on your family's basic lessons of responsibility and decency. The power should be in your hands. The future should belong to everyone in this land. [Gore]
--
And, Democrats, Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our intellectual and moral strength. ... But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents, that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework, that fathers must take more responsibility to provide love and guidance to their children. [Obama]
These are actually opposite positions. Gore is defending the V-Chip, I believe. Obama is saying government "can't turn off the television", which is kind of what the V-chip does.
Actually, there is a common denominator.
A parent paying attention to the idea that not everything on tv is good for kids to watch, and caring about it.
Just different ways to address the problem.
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