Tom Tangney
Join Tom Tangney and the rest of the Seattle Morning News crew every weekday morning at 5am on KIRO Radio.
By day, you can hear Tom on Seattle's Morning News, and by night, he sits in the dark, making snide comments about what he sees on the silver screen.
Bonneville Seattle is raising funds for the construction of a second Fisher House at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma and we need your help.Obama may have lost the 'magic,' but he's gained something else
on September 7, 2012 @ 4:48 am (Updated: 12:57 pm - 9/7/12 )
 Obama may have lost that "magic" he was so praised for when he first ran for office four years ago but he can now replace that with experience. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) |
Obama's speech was fine but not an especially overwhelming speech.
Maybe after two conventions worth of these things, I'm suffering from speech overload, maybe a little bit of Obama-speak overload, but much of what I heard from the president Thursday night sounded awfully familiar. At least until the end, there wasn't a lot of the soaring rhetoric that he's so famous for.
Maybe that was the president's point. He may have lost that "magic" he was so praised for when he first ran for office four years ago but he can now replace that with experience. The president cast himself as the voice of experience.
After listing what he considers his foreign policy successes, from getting out of Iraq to the killing of Osama Bin Laden, he then chided Mitt Romney.
"Now we have a choice. My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy, but from all that we've seen and heard they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly. After all, you don't call Russia our number one enemy - not al Qaeda, Russia - unless you're still stuck in a Cold War mind-warp."
But with experience also comes humility.
"I'm no longer just a candidate, I'm the president," said Obama. "And that means I know what it means to send young Americans into battle, because I've held in my arms mothers and fathers of those who didn't return. I've shared the pain of families who've lost their homes and the frustration of workers who've lost their jobs, and while I'm very proud of what we've achieved together, I'm far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what Lincoln meant when he said, 'I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.'"
This was effective because it not only suggests that prayer is deeply personal for him but it also addresses a criticism from Republicans - that he's arrogant.
And to make sure he didn't drag us all down with his speech, he at least ended it with the classic uplift we expect from him.
"America, I never said this journey would be easy, and I won't promise that now. Yes, our path is harder - but it leads to a better place. Yes our road is longer - but we travel it together. We don't turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up. We draw strength from our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that providence is with us, and that we are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on earth."
Read full transcript of Obama's speech
By TOM TANGNEY, 97.3 KIRO FM host
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Tom Tangney is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle's Morning News and resident enthusiast of...everything. He loves books, movies, TV, art, pop culture, politic, sports, and Husky football.
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Zagnut wrote...Here is a commentary on Obama's great accomplishment of killing Bin Laden that I found interesting.September 7, 2012 5:17 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }- Reply
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Kief Sloberman wrote...What the????..."Providence is with us"...."greatest nation on earth"???September 7, 2012 5:26 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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ron prevost wrote...Are you better off than you were 28 years ago? Or even 8?September 7, 2012 5:26 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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ron prevost wrote...Correction - give the devil his do - 96,000 jobs.September 7, 2012 5:57 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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Oly80 wrote...you must not have paid attention these last few weeks...September 7, 2012 6:30 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }- Reply
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ron prevost wrote...Oly - those figures are for for the Augusts before first term elections. Bureau of Labor Statistics.September 7, 2012 6:44 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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Kief Sloberman wrote...Obama knows what it means to send young Americans into battleSeptember 7, 2012 5:29 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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Oly80 wrote...really?September 7, 2012 6:31 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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calapete wrote...great speech!September 7, 2012 5:34 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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Kief Sloberman wrote...The Obamas can't wait to get back to what they do bestSeptember 7, 2012 5:36 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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Oly80 wrote...again?September 7, 2012 6:32 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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SickofSeattleite wrote...good ridanceSeptember 7, 2012 5:47 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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sportsguru wrote...Great SpeechSeptember 7, 2012 5:49 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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Seattle is a cesspool wrote...No swearing today bro?September 7, 2012 6:29 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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doubleogordo wrote...The Audience Shots Told the Whole StorySeptember 7, 2012 6:17 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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vanderleun wrote...Nope they're slack-jawedSeptember 7, 2012 7:19 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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Oly80 wrote...no, you're right...September 7, 2012 9:37 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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rational wrote...After all, you don't call Russia our number one enemy - not al Qaeda, Russia - unless you're still stuck in a Cold War mind-warp."September 7, 2012 6:27 am{ "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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