Obama’s oratory seems faded in Clinton’s shadow

Clearly the Democrats love Barack Obama. They clapped, cheered, and screamed. MSNBC hosts gushed about his oratory and his “connection” to the people. Juan Williams thought the cadence was pitch perfect and the content inspiring.

I didn’t see the same speech they did.

Obama looked uncomfortable at times. He lacked energy. He went through the usual motions, but the experience seemed lifeless to me. It was Obama delivering his usual turns of phrase (“I didn’t promise the Journey would be easy!” “You inspire me!” “You did that!”) and knocking down his straw-man political adversaries, but it all sounded like echoes of previous speeches. He seemed like one of those bands from the ’80s that is still on tour but sick of singing their old hits.

Obama hit the Republicans for not offering up a specific agenda, then failed to offer a specific agenda of his own for the next 4 years.

It struck me that the energy from Bill Clinton that lingered from the night before made Obama’s speech seem smaller, tamer, less impressive. Combining that effect with his retread rhetoric, and I expect most Americans felt like they were watching a Hollywood produced sequel that held half the charm of the original.

Actually… I guess that WAS what they were watching….

P.S. Before you send me the comments of fury and say that I would have said it was a bad speech no matter what, please note that I while I would likely have disagreed with it due to our political differences, I have many times granted the effectiveness of political speeches with which I disagree (see the reference to Clinton above for example).

Final Note: The only part of the speech that I though was genuinely appealing, was the President’s gentle teasing of his daughters at the beginning. They are adorable and it highlighted what people like best about him.