OBAMA AT OMAHA BEACH - AT 10:54 P.M. ET:  President Obama spoke at Omaha Beach today, commemorating the 65th anniversary of D-Day.  The text of the speech is here.  It was okay, no better, and somewhat below his usual standard.  A careful reading suggests that it was written by someone else, and not too carefully polished. 

We never expected Obama to equal the beautiful speech given by Ronald Reagan on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, in 1984.  Reagan was a part of the World War II generation.  He felt it.  Obama was going through the motions.  He didn't seem to feel much of anything.  Reagan's speech is here.

But there is a difference between the two men that goes beyond the difference in generations.  Ronald Reagan understood the importance of D-Day because he understood history.  He understood the implications of what men do, or fail to do.  Barack Obama is a lesser man, not fully formed, with, apparently, little interest in history beyond the minimum facts, or non-facts, needed for a speech.  He appears unable to speak beyond his own experience. 

Ronald Reagan never spoke about himself.  Barack Obama always seems to be speaking about himself.  Reagan may have been the actor, but it's Obama who places himself in every scene. 

For Obama, the human story is a classroom exercise or a series of intellectualized propositions.  Reagan could feel the flesh and the bone.

Read the two speeches.  Draw your own conclusions.

June 6, 2009