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Last Updated: Sep 5, 2008 - 11:31:38 AM |
Apparently the leadership of the Republican Party thinks voters are
turned off by specifics, and so Sen. John McCain's acceptance speech as
its presidential nominee last night was a hodgepodge of generalities,
musings on courage, reminiscence about his years as a POW in Vietnam,
and rabble-rousing calls for change.
But what would that change entail -- what new programs or policies or
ideas? That was left to the audience's imagination. On CNN, Jeffrey
Toobin called McCain's address one of the worst convention speeches
he'd ever heard. Yet even he had to admit that it was kind of exciting
to watch. Maybe McCain understands television better than people think.
He used the word "change" at least 10 times in his bombastic speech --
the convention's emotional climax -- but since the Republicans have
controlled the White House for the past eight years, what does McCain
want to change from? And to? It really is an audacious ploy, to tell
people that the country's got to correct the mistakes made by a
political party when that's the very party you represent.
It's like staging a revolution against yourself -- saying that the
Republicans have got to go so the Republicans can move in and clean up
the mess.
"John McCain was re-branding his party as the party of change," one CNN
commentator said after the speech. "Re-branding" is a very popular term
these days, but what does it mean? Perhaps that you can make something
true just by saying it's true.
George W. Bush, who happens to be president now -- and one of the least
popular in history -- was not mentioned by name during the speech; he
has been largely a nonentity in the world created by the convention
organizers and participating speakers. McCain alluded to the fact that
"some Republicans" gave in to "temptations" in recent times, but like
much of the speech, this was vague and evasive.
Ronald Reagan was cited and quoted infinitely more often than Bush, and
Reagan is not only out of office, but also dead.
As has been widely noted, McCain is not particularly comfortable
speaking to large crowds or using the prompting devices that are
standard fixtures at such occasions. By a hair McCain surpassed the low
expectations, though he stumbled over one line and had to say it over
-- and frequently repeated phrases because he thought crowd noise had
drowned them out. But it hadn't, so his repetitions came across as
befuddled.
The Republicans were in a happy, happy -- borderline hysterical --
mood, and enthusiastically cheered even Cindy McCain's awkwardly
delivered introduction of her husband, as if she were giving one of the
great speeches of all time. The candidate's speech was preceded also by
a short film that told, for the umpteenth time, the story of his
heroism when serving with the military in Vietnam. Heroism it certainly
was, but it doesn't really constitute a platform on which to run for
president.
Then again, maybe it does. Because McCain himself revisited the war yet
again in his speech, although in terms that were sometimes movingly
self-effacing and seemingly humble. "I was blessed with misfortune," he
told the crowd, because his experiences as a prisoner, and his
comradeship with other Americans held by the North Vietnamese, brought
about a life-changing epiphany.
Before this ordeal, "I didn't think there was a cause more important
than me," McCain said, but he learned in the filthy prison cells in
which he was kept and tortured that (as John Donne said in slightly
different words many years ago) "no man can stand alone," i.e., no man
is an island. "My country saved me," McCain said, "and I will fight for
her as long as I draw breath, so help me God."
At this point, the director should have cut to a reaction shot of Sarah
Palin, the vice presidential nominee who statistically would stand a
chance of becoming president should the ticket be victorious in
November.
A few protesters began shouting unintelligibly during the early
portions of McCain's speech, suggesting deplorable security operations
at the convention. The crowd drowned out the screams of the
demonstrators by chanting "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" As the ruckus died down,
McCain ad-libbed: "Americans want us to stop yelling at each other,
okay?" The speech, which Anderson Cooper of CNN characterized as "back
to the future," ended with McCain stirring up the crowd with a refrain
of "Stand up, stand up and fight!" as the cheers grew louder, louder
and finally deafening. What were they cheering? Some nice thoughts
about patriotism and a pledge to bring "change" to Washington from a
man who's been serving in Washington for decades.
No, it didn't make sense, but darned if it didn't make for good TV.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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