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TO OUR READERS:  Thank you for all your e-mails this week.  Each one is read and absorbed.  As you know, I try to answer all e-mails personally, but the sheer volume in the last three or four days, especially today, is putting me behind.  Please don't feel offended if you don't get a reply immediately.  I'll try, I'll try.

SATURDAY,  AUGUST 30,  2008

UPDATE AT 11:56 P.M. ET:  We're calling this an update rather than a bulletin because I have questions about the methodology, and it's a report from Zogby, which has an unsteady history.  Zogby is reporting at this hour that John McCain's naming of Sarah Palin has shattered the bump that Obama received from his convention.  Zogby has McCain/Palin ahead of Obama/Biden, 47-45.  Let us hope it's true, or at least that we're heading in the right direction.  Still, a tough fight ahead.

BULLETIN AT 10:15 P.M. ET:  We take absolutely no credit for this, despite our recommendation in the update below.  It's a coincidence:  From AP, eight minutes ago:  ST. PAUL, Minn. - Likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, are traveling to Mississippi on Sunday to check on people getting prepared for Hurricane Gustav.  Their trip comes just as delegates are preparing for the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday.

 
UPDATE AT 9:24 P.M. ET:  From the Washington Post:  ST. PAUL -- Republicans grimly monitored the progress of Hurricane Gustav today, with presumptive GOP nominee John McCain himself raising the prospect of some kind of alternative plan for the Republican convention if it appears the storm is landing early next week with the kind of force Hurricane Katrina had when it smashed into the Gulf Coast three years ago.

In an interview to air on "FOX News Sunday," McCain said that holding the convention while Gulf Coast residents suffer would be insensitive.

COMMENT:  The McCain people are on the ball.  I hope McCain sends Sarah Palin to Louisiana to render assistance.  He might consider going himself.  Louisiana has a great governor in Bobby Jindal.  This won't be Katrina...unless the press makes it into Katraina to help its candidate. 

THE EXPERIENCE FACTOR

Posted at 6:45 p.m. ET

The "experience" factor has come to the fore again with John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin to be his running mate.  There is anguish.  There is regret.  There are predictions of a backlash.  That childish woman in our White House.

Even The Politico, liberal but usually restrained, ran a hit piece quoting "scholars" as saying that Palin has fewer qualifications than any major-party candidate, maybe in all of human history.

Reality check:  No one doubts there are legitimate questions about Palin's experience, but I'm surprised that no one is examining the role that experience plays in voters' decisions.  In fact, it often plays a very small role.

In 1932, incumbent and vastly experienced Herbert Hoover was defeated by one-term Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, because of the depression.

In 1952, politically experienced Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois was defeated by war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower, who'd never held political office. 

In 1960, former congressman, senator, and incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, running on the slogan, "Experience counts," was defeated by the much-less-experienced John F. Kennedy.

In 1976, heavily experienced and incumbent President Gerald R. Ford was defeated by former Georgia Governor Jimmah Carter, who'd never held federal office.

In 1980, incumbent President Carter was defeated by former California Governor Ronald Reagan, who'd never held federal office. 

In 1992, the resumé president, George H.W. Bush, one of the most experienced men ever to hold the presidency, was defeated by Bill Clinton, governor of a small state, who'd never held federal office.

In 2000, Vice President and former Senator Al Gore was defeated by the less experienced George W. Bush, who'd never held federal office.

And, need we point out, that 2008 has the vastly experienced John S. McCain running against Chicago machine product Barack Obama, a man whose experience can fit on the thin edge of a falsified voter-registration card.  Let's hope that this time the voters choose the more experienced presidential candidate.

August 30, 2008.      Permalink          

THE OTHER WOMAN

Posted at 2:24 p.m. ET

HEADLINE OF THE DAY, FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  'HILL' HATH NO FURY LIKE A WOMAN SCORNED.

And the story:

DENVER - Hillary's got to be seething.

Picking political unknown Sarah Palin for the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket is opening old wounds for Barack Obama and the Democrats, a top adviser for Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday.

"There is much we don't know about Governor Palin," former Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said.

"But at least in the short term, it will shake up the race, and leave some asking why Senator Obama didn't pick Senator Clinton to be his veep."

Open those wounds, open those wounds!

Clinton's reaction was congratulatory - if perfunctory.

"We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain," she said in a statement. "While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate."

Former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to garner the nomination - as a Democrat - came out in support of Palin.

"Without Hillary being the nominee, it's really quite equally as important," Ferraro, a disgruntled supporter of Clinton during the Democratic primary, wrote on a Fox News blog yesterday.

"There are a lot of women who are disaffected by how Hillary was treated by the media, by how she was treated by the Obama campaign . . . not speaking up when sexism raised its ugly head in the media."

First reaction to Palin by voters appears to be very positive, despite the legitimate "experience" question.  It's a gamble, but it may well pay off, especially if Palin does brilliantly at the convention.

August 30, 2008.      Permalink          

TRACKERS

Posted at 1:28 p.m ET

Both trackers for the day are now out, and both show no change from yesterday.  That is not good news for Senator Obama.  Theoretically, at least, his bounce from the convention should still be building.

As reported earlier, Rasmussen has Obama up four.

Gallup has him up eight. 

Did Sarah Palin stop the Obama bounce?  Both tracking polls included results from last night, after McCain announced his choice of Palin.  With caution, it appears there was an effect.  However, we'll get a far better idea of her impact as the Republican convention unfolds this week.

If this is the maximum bounce, it must be disappointing to the Obama side.  Averaging the two polls, Obama gets a six-point boost.  He needed double digits to do some real damage to McCain.

This will be a close, exciting, and critical election.

August 30, 2008.      Permalink          

BULLETIN AT 9:32 A.M. ET:  First tracker of the day is out.  Rasmussen shows no change from yesterday, with Obama up four points.  That's not much of a bounce.  Obviously,  we will have to await the Gallup tracker this afternoon, and other new polls.

Just as significant, Rasmussen reports that Sarah Palin has made a strong first impression, with 53 percent of those polled viewing her favorably.  By contrast, 48 percent view Joe Biden favorably.  Not bad for one day.  Not bad at all.

EYES AND EARS OF THEMSELVES

Journalists love to boast that they're the "eyes and ears" of the public.  They are not, as I found out in my years in the business.  They are the eyes and ears of themselves.  No one elected them.  They were not appointed by a body of our representatives to extend our eyes and ears.  The questions they ask are not ours, but theirs.  Their views, as a profession, decidedly do not reflect the divisions in public opinion.

Lawrence Spivak, who co-founded "Meet the Press," used to caution viewers that the questions asked by reporters on the show did not necessarily reflect their point of view, but was "their way of getting a story for you."  Such cautions are rare today, and in too many cases would probably be laughable. 

So it's not surprising to see the mainstream media go to work on Sarah Palin.  Consider this, from the reliably liberal Jonathan Alter of Newsweek:

Reporters are already winging their way to Alaska to probe what Alaskans call "Wootengate," the story of the dismissal of former Public Safety commissioner Walt Monegan, who says he was pressured to dismiss state trooper Mike Wooten. Wooten was engaged in a nasty custody fight with his ex-wife, who is Palin's sister. As soon as Palin was selected, the Web was already buzzing with Monegan's claims that Palin is lying about her role in the personnel matter. And the beautifully named Steve Branchflower, the special counsel appointed by the state legislature to probe the mess, has opened a tip line for Alaskans who might know if the governor and possible vice president of the United States abused her power.

What strikes me is the obvious enthusiasm here.  The same mainstream media that ignored for months, or years, serious questions about Barack Obama, cannot wait to jump on Sarah Palin.  And when Joe Biden was selected as Obama's vice-presidential choice last week, did you see a single probing report on his foreign-policy judgment in his 36 years in the Senate?  We were told he was a foreign-policy expert, and it was left at that. In fact, many of Biden's judgments are open to the most serious questions, but those questions are not being asked.  Indeed, if Biden's advice had been followed, the Cold War would still be raging and Saddam Hussein would be running Kuwait.

Or consider this, from today's editorial in The New York Times:

Governor Palin’s lack of experience, especially in national security and foreign affairs, raises immediate questions about how prepared she is to potentially succeed to the presidency. That really is the only criteria for judging a candidate for vice president.

Is that a serious statement?  Has The Times raised the same question about the top of the Democratic ticket, one Barack Obama?  His experience consists of some trips and some offhand remarks, such as declaring Iran a small country, or pledging to end missile defense.  And he won't have to "succeed" to the presidency.  If elected, he'll be there.  Further, he's surrounded himself with some of the worst foreign-policy retreads we've seen in decades.  Comment from The Times, please?  (Oh, and by the way, New York Times, the word is "criterion" when a singular is called for, not "criteria."  To avoid confusion, use "standard.")

We've expressed our fear here that the media can elect Barack Obama by the way it filters the news.  We're seeing more proof of that threat in the initial response to Sarah Palin.

August 30, 2008.      Permalink          

THE REFORMER

Posted at 8:41 a.m. ET

Ed Lasky of American Thinker alerts us to a Wall Street Journal piece outlining the reform background of Sarah Palin.  She reinforces the reform image that McCain seeks for his campaign, and she's an antidote to Joe six-Senate-terms Biden, the consummate Washington hand: 

If any doubt remained that former fighter pilot John McCain loves to take unconventional risks, he put them to bed Friday by picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Introduced in Dayton by Mr. McCain, Governor Palin swung the bat pretty well. We'll now see if she can hit curve balls.

It's a daring pick because Mrs. Palin has never faced national scrutiny and hasn't had to deal with foreign policy. Most VP choices are designed to do no harm, and we tend to agree with the maxim. Democrats are already saying they can't wait for Mrs. Palin's debate against "statesman" Joe Biden. On the other hand, the record shows that Sarah Palin's political career is a case study in taking on the big boys. We suspect her record of fighting the status quo was uppermost in John McCain's decision.

And...

Sarah Palin's reform resume would be remarkable in any political career. She entered politics at 28, winning a seat on the Wasilla city council as an opponent of tax increases. After she defeated Wasilla's three-term incumbent mayor four years later, she swept the mayor's cronies out of the bureaucracy.

In 2003, Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski appointed her to the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Bear in mind that Mr. Murkowski had already served as junior U.S. Senator from Alaska for 22 years. Mr. Murkowski was junior senator for so long because Senator Ted Stevens (who was recently indicted for corruption) had lifetime tenure in the senior post.

Shortly after joining the oil and gas commission, Mrs. Palin commenced an ethics probe of the state's Republican party chairman, Randy Ruedrich, involving conflicts of interest with oil companies. The probe resulted in a $12,000 fine for the party chair.

She crossed party lines in 2004 to join a Democratic representative's ethics complaint over an international trade deal against the Republican Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who had ties to the Murkowski machine. Mr. Renkes resigned.

Do not get on the wrong side of this woman.  There are health hazards.

Experience?

For starters, we'd say Governor Palin's credentials as an agent of reform exceed Barack Obama's. Mr. Obama rose through the Chicago Democratic machine without a peep of push-back. Alaska's politics are deeply inbred and backed by energy-industry money. Mr. Obama slid past the kind of forces that Mrs. Palin took head on. This is one reason her selection -- despite its campaign risks -- seems to have been so well received by Republicans yesterday. They are looking for a new generation of leaders.

Don't expect this remarkable personal Palin narrative to get an Obama-like break from the national media. Their main focus will be her lack of experience, claiming it undercuts Mr. McCain's criticism of Barack Obama. One mispronounced foreign leader's name, and she's going to be hammered.

Finally...

Senator Obama's acceptance speech made it clear that his campaign strategy is pegged to linking Mr. McCain to the Beltway Republicans and the struggling economy. It's a powerful argument, and John McCain needs an answer to Mr. Obama's list of Democratic bromides. The vulnerability in the Obama plan is there's little in it that is new. He'd mostly replace one status quo with an earlier status quo of government spending schemes. Joe Biden is no help on that.

Mr. McCain's instinct clearly is to offer himself to voters as a reformer. With Sarah Palin, a genuine reformer, Mr. McCain may have found the right idea and the right person to make his run.

She'll have to steel herself against attacks by the press, which will become increasingly strident if she catches on.  But she strikes us as strong and gutsy, and she has a chance to emerge as an American hero.

August 30, 2008.      Permalink          

FRIDAY,  AUGUST 29,  2008

10:41 P.M. ET - MORE ON BIAS:  From Investors Business Daily:  The biggest surprise of the Democratic convention? The spectacle of journalists applauding Barack Obama's acceptance speech. OK, maybe not the biggest surprise. But certainly one of the biggest disgraces.  Andy Barr reported on The Hill's blog that "several members of the media were seen cheering and clapping for" Obama as he accepted the Democratic nomination Thursday.

10:32 P.M. - IN RECORD TIME:  Well, let's see.  Governor Palin has been John McCain's announced choice for v.p. for, oh, ten hours, and already the Washington Post is out with a story quoting some guy who has an ethics complaint against her.  Do you recall how long it took the media to "discover" Barack Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr?  Do you remember how long it took "leading journalists" to report the circumstances of Obama's strange real-estate deal with a Chicago criminal?  Months?  Years?  But Sarah Palin?  They're out with a story in ten hours.   No bias here, they tell us.  Nothing to see, nothing to see.

UPDATE AT 9:01 P.M. ET:  I've been monitoring the cable news programs, and it seems to me that the Dems have taken a body blow with McCain's selection of Sarah Palin.  Their responses are either too harsh or anemic.  They don't know how to handle this.  They didn't know there are women in the Republican Party.  They don't know about this Alaska place - nowhere near Manhattan or Beverly Hills.  Someone should explain to them that there's snow in Alaska, just like the snow in Aspen, or at the Swiss resorts. 

Some Dem analysts point out Palin's experience level - which only calls attention to the experience deficit at the top of their own ticket.  At least Sarah is a governor.  She runs something besides her mouth.

Karl Rove thinks the GOP will have a great five days ahead because of this pick.  I agree. 

BARACK WHO?

Posted at 7:34 p.m. ET

Do you remember Barack Obama?  You know, from last night?  B.S?  (That means, before Sarah.)  He's out there, and, as often happens, it's the British press that has the sharpest comments on him.  For example, there's Gerald Warner in London's Telegraph:

"This election has never been about me - it's about you!" Shucks, and there were we thinking maybe it was about the guy stepping out through the Pearl & Dean Corinthian gate to stand in front of a mock-up of the West Wing. But no, this multi-million-dollar razzmatazz is not about Barack Obama, it's about li'l ole Joe Public. Or so he will have persuaded that section of the American electorate that is in the market to buy the Brooklyn Bridge or watermelon mines in Argentina.

Wonderful.

Obama knew that he could not get away with just a rehash of his all too familiar Story, another dollop of sub-Kennedy rhetoric and an appeal to Democrat core prejudices last night. This time he had to go into policy specifics. By November 4 or earlier he may wish he had not. The specifics were actually strikingly non-specific, except for one thing: the mind-boggling expense of even the most minimalist construction that could be put upon the wish list he passed off as a programme.

In 10 minutes he spent $250bn. He plans to end US dependence on Middle East oil in 10 years. Sceptics will note that target is two years after the latest date at which he could constitutionally end his putative term of office. Over that same decade he will invest $150bn in "renewables" ("Y'all stock up on candles, now, Gran'ma"...), the modish, non-substitutes for effective energy with which we have already fiddled unproductively in this country. And he is into biofuels in a big way, which means more rumbling bellies in the Third World.

I detect that this man has doubts.  May they be shared by more than half the American electorate.

As always with Obama, the rhetoric was smoothly delivered. It will be surprising if the impressionist images on television do not give him a significant poll bounce.

Already happening.  We hope that the Palin selection will blunt Obama's rise.

Western pseudo-democracy is fuelled by politicians' speeches: the cynical manipulation of public emotion through the confection of ever more meaningless patterns of words. It is the few relatively factual passages that may now scupper Obama. But he will not mind because, as he said, this election is not about him.

The British writers get right to the point. 

And I like the point Gerald Warner got to.

August 29, 2008.      Permalink          

MORE DAMAGE, AT 6:31 P.M. ET:  Leave it to Barbara Boxer, Democratic leftist firebrand from California, not to get the message.  Despite Obama's attempt to soften the harsh attacks on Sarah Palin from his own people, Boxer goes at it:  "The vice president is a heartbeat away from becoming president, so to choose someone with not one hour’s worth of experience on national issues is a dangerous choice."

In contrast to Barack Obama, her party's candidate for president, whose experience can fit on the head of a pin.  Thanks for calling attention to it, Barbara. 

DAMAGE CONTROL, AT 6:06 P.M. ET:  Apparently, Obama now realizes that his campaign's reaction to Sarah Palin - see next story down titled NOT SMART - was damaging to him:  "'I think that, uh, you know, campaigns start getting these, uh, hair triggers and, uh, the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments,' he said, according to the pool report, apparently criticizing his staff for going overboard, as he did occasionally in the primary."

Blame the staff, Barack.  After all, a saint is infallible.

NOT SMART

Posted at 6:03 p.m. ET

The Obama campaign's first reaction to Sarah Palin reveals an absence of thought, to put it mildly:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign on Friday blasted his Republican rival's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a running-mate, highlighting her "zero" foreign policy experience.

"Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.

Burton also criticized Palin as a vice presidential pick for her support of oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness and her anti-abortion stance, referring to the 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the United States.

"Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies. That's not the change we need, it's just more of the same," he said.

Let's see.  In one announcement the Obama crowd insulted 1) small-town American, 2) the accomplishments of a woman and 3) their own presidential candidate, who has zero foreign-policy experience. 

You'd think, after what they did to Hillary Clinton, that they'd be sensitive about the choice of a woman, and offer gracious congratulations.  Bottom line, these guys are coarse Chicago politicians, and that's all they'll ever be.

August 29, 2008.      Permalink          

TRACKERS

Posted at 1:14 p.m. ET

Both trackers are now out for Friday.  They were taken through last night, and do not reflect today's dramatic choice of Sarah Palin as GOP vice-presidential candidate.

The trackers show the expected.  As reported earlier here, Rasmussen has Obama up four points.

Gallup has Obama up eight. 

Please note that Ras measures likely voters, Gallup registered voters.

The trackers out tomorrow will reflect polling done Wednesday, Thursday and today.  The first two days should provide a further boost for Obama.  Today's result may or may not show the impact of the Palin pick, depending on when the polling is done.

As I wrote below, I was very impressed with Palin's first time out today.  She has that "terrific" quality about her.  I think it will play.  It has certainly shaken up the race. 

August 29, 2008.      Permalink          

FIRST IMPRESSION:  Governor Palin has just spoken for the first time as vice-presidential candidate of the Republican Party.  Home run.  She is just terrific.  She's articulate, firm, clear-thinking, and seems to have the instincts of a first-class candidate.  I was very impressed.

Obviously, we'll have more comments later as more is known.  But I rarely have seen a candidate give so good a first impression.  By the way, she paid tribute to Geraldine Ferraro, who was vice-presidential choice on the Democratic ticket in 1984, and to Hillary Clinton.  Palin knows what she's doing, and she knows exactly what voters she's targeting.

Some concerns have been expressed over how she'll do in a debate with Joe Biden.  Don't worry about that.  Biden, in debate, tends to get very aggressive and demeaning.  Palin gave me the impression that she prepares well, will know the material cold, and be able to handle Biden.

So far, very, very good.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS:  CNN is already on the attack against Sarah Palin, joyously bringing out all her negatives.  (There aren't many.)  What else is new?

UPDATE AT 10:54 A.M. ET:  Fox reports official confirmation from the McCain campaign that Sarah Palin of Alaska is the choice.

UPDATE AT 10:37 A.M. ET:  McCain and Palin will apparently appear publicly very soon, earlier than the time we'd anticipated. 

UPDATE AT 10:29 A.M. ET:  Unless we're in for a shock, it appears almost certain that Governor Sarah Palin will be the Republican candidate for vice president.  By the way, in the early eighties she was first runner-up in the Miss Alaska contest.  That is a trap for Democrats.  If they bring it up, they'll be accused of demeaning her.  Indeed, they've got to be very careful now, considering what was done to Hillary.

Clearly, McCain is going for the disaffected Hillary    Not a bad idea.

UPDATE AT 10:12 A.M. ET:  Increasing signs that McCain's v.p. choice will be Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.  CNN reports that a plane from Alaska arrived earlier today at an airport near Dayton, where McCain plans to announce his choice.  An airport official, according to CNN, said that a woman and two teenagers left the plane and were whisked into a waiting van.

POLL ALERT, AT 9:52 A.M. ET:  First tracker of the day is out.  Rasmussen has Obama up four.  This is the expected bounce, and will probably grow somewhat.  Not to worry.  McCain hasn't been to bat.


BULLETIN, AT 9:14 A.M. ET:   Speculation swirls, but remember that it's only speculation.  The name popping up is Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.  I have no idea.  I'm just passing it on.  Apparently, there's a lot of misinformation being given out to keep the secret.

It won't be Hillary. 
 

BULLETIN, AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota has just said that he will not be the Republican candidate for vice president.

LAST NIGHT AMONG THE FAITHFUL

Is it over?  Can we go out and play again?

The Democrats are leaving Denver after what, thanks to the political shrewdness of the Clintons, was a successful convention.  Hillary didn't cause any trouble, and Bill minded his tongue and his manners.  They thus got what the actress Joan Crawford used to call "the big okay," the blessing of their industry - politics - to continue.  The Clintons are well placed to knock on Democratic doors again if Obama should lose in November.  And no one wants him to lose more than the Clintons.  As Hillary stood amongst the New York delegates, throwing her support to Obama, you just knew that she wanted the scene recorded by every camera ever manufactured.  If she runs again, that photo will be prominently displayed.  "Team player" is still a compliment.

Barack Obama spoke well last night.  He is an outstanding speaker.  Notice that I didn't say that he's an outstanding speechmaker.  An outstanding speechmaker has to have an outstanding speech, and that speech, once examined, was far less than outstanding.  It was a well-polished Democratic laundry list, the same list we've heard year after year, including those years when Democrats controlled both the White House and Congress.  Strange, but items never seem to disappear from that list and go into the "accomplished" column.  I guess the list has sentimental value.

I always stress foreign affairs because, as a young person involved in politics, I was taught that you can absorb four years of a bad domestic policy, but that four years of a bad foreign policy can be fatal.  For the life of me, I could not figure out Barack Obama's foreign policy from that elegantly delivered address last night.  He will be tougher on Iran than the GOP, but how?  He will repair our alliances, but never told us how he'll get "allies" to do what they clearly don't want to do.  He won't "go it alone."  You mean, never?  What if England had decided not to "go it alone" in 1940?  He'll restore our prestige, but never explained that anti-Americanism is a constant in this world, especially in Europe.  You'd think, listening to Obama, that everyone once loved us, but started hating us as soon as we entered Iraq.  That is the view of a child or a political snake-oil salesman.  It is not the view of a knowledgeable leader.

Obama will get a bounce from the convention.  I would not be shocked if he was up ten to twelve points over the weekend.  That will settle back, but the degree of settling will depend on how well John McCain and his running mate do next week.  McCain must take Obama/Biden on directly and vigorously.  He must expose the Democratic ticket as the hollow road show that it is.  He must raise doubts, and more doubts.  And he must provide his own optimistic, Reaganesque view of the future.

It can be done, but this won't be easy.  The Democrats have nominated a superb speaker adored by the press.  McCain must, as Reagan did, speak over the heads of the middlemen and directly to the American people.

August 29, 2008.       Permalink          

NAILING IT

Posted at 8:43 a.m. ET

Charles Krauthammer, among the American commentators, has probably done the best job of nailing Obama's speech.  His critique is devastating and brilliant.  But, alas, I doubt that it will have any effect on the media love fest.  However, for our side, it's a joy to read:

Barack Obama is an immensely talented man whose talents have been largely devoted to crafting, and chronicling, his own life. Not things. Not ideas. Not institutions. But himself.

Nothing wrong or even terribly odd about that, except that he is laying claim to the job of crafting the coming history of the United States. A leap of such audacity is odd. The air of unease at the Democratic convention this week was not just a result of the Clinton psychodrama. The deeper anxiety was that the party was nominating a man of many gifts but precious few accomplishments -- bearing even fewer witnesses.

Truth, truth, truth.

Eerily missing at the Democratic convention this year were people of stature who were seriously involved at some point in Obama's life standing up to say: I know Barack Obama. I've been with Barack Obama. We've toiled/endured together. You can trust him. I do.

And...

Who was there to speak about the real Barack Obama? His wife. She could tell you about Barack the father, the husband, the family man in a winning and perfectly sincere way. But that takes you only so far. It doesn't take you to the public man, the national leader.

Who is to testify to that? Hillary's husband on night three did aver that Obama is "ready to lead." However, he offered not a shred of evidence, let alone personal experience with Obama. And although he pulled it off charmingly, everyone knew that, having been suggesting precisely the opposite for months, he meant not a word of it.

Joe Biden weighed in, deceptively:

Obama's vice presidential selection, Joe Biden, naturally advertised his patron's virtues, such as the fact that he had "reached across party lines to . . . keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists." But securing loose nukes is as bipartisan as motherhood and as uncontroversial as apple pie. The measure was so minimal that it passed by voice vote and received near zero media coverage.

That last paragraph shows what a little research can do.  But a generation taught to respect only "feelings" has little interest in research.

So where are the colleagues? The buddies? The political or spiritual soul mates? His most important spiritual adviser and mentor was Jeremiah Wright. But he's out. Then there's William Ayers, with whom he served on a board. He's out. Where are the others?

The oddity of this convention is that its central figure is the ultimate self-made man, a dazzling mysterious Gatsby. The palpable apprehension is that the anointed is a stranger -- a deeply engaging, elegant, brilliant stranger with whom the Democrats had a torrid affair. Having slowly woken up, they see the ring and wonder who exactly they married last night.

But they won't care, as long as he wins, as long as he restores the illusions of the sixties.  Obama is a man, not of the future, but of the past.  He nurtures the adolescence that has taken over the Democratic Party.  What we saw last night was a rock concert, a "happening."  It was intentional.

August 29, 2008.      Permalink          

"What you see is news.  What you know is background.  What you feel is opinion."
    - Lester Markel, late Sunday editor
      of The New York Times.

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