Should it be Palin / McCain?
John McCain's acceptance speech didn't come close to matching Sarah Palin's performance from last night. He touched on all the right topics; he recited the usual litany of Republican talking points, and he did it in a completely competent and workmanlike manner. In other words, he sounded a lot like George W. Bush. Adequate, but not overwhelming.

Sarah Palin rocked the house. John McCain preached to the choir.

Instapundit said he outdid Tom Ridge. Yeah. On a bad day, so could half of America. Did we really nominate this guy for president?

I watched the speech with my friend Susy who is a die-hard Obama booster. We both agreed that McCain didn't break any new ground and he didn't talk about any specifics. (Incidentally, Susy acknowledged the impressiveness of Palin's speech; she gave Palin kudos for delivering a powerful, well presented, and coherent message.)

Our joint observations went something like this. What is up with the roll call of disaffected Americans? Sure some people are down and out. But, presidents are not supposed to be mired in minutia. It's designed to be "folksy"; telling the story of a single mother's struggles against adversity but it just comes out hollow and insincere.

John McCain has been in Washington since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. His whole "change" and "I'm going to shake up Washington" schtick doesn't ring true; he's been there and he hasn't exactly lit the town on fire. Coming from Palin it made sense since she really is an outsider; hearing McCain echo her talking points sounds like he's criticizing himself.

Where were the specifics? He listed criticisms of Obama's proposals, but only offered platitudes in response. Susy kept saying "how" after each of his "we will do ...." assertions. Whether I agree with Obama or not on implementation, he did offer up a roadmap for putting his ideas into action. McCain's only specific proposal involved job training and enhanced community college programs. Susy remarked that he was "going for the loser vote"; as in only "losers" go to community colleges. There's that liberal, Harvard Law Review bourgeoisie mentality in all its finery. Only small town rubes attend community college. Sheesh.

McCain did get in one good line -- "All you ever asked of government is to stand on your side, not in your way." There's a fine distillation of Reaganism. He needs to emphasize more points like that if he's going to inspire the electorate.

Posted at 00:12 by Chris   [/election]   | | | Email | del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble It! | Reddit | Link