President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
Peter Robinson ·
September 7, 2012 at 6:52am
Oh, all right, I'll confess. I missed it. It's been one of those days. And as one of that odd group that makes a living by spouting political opinions, I suppose that sometime over the weekend I'll have to watch the whole darned thing. But in the meantime could my fellow Ricochetti do me a favor? Could you compose a crib sheet for me?
Two questions:
1. What's the very, very best that could be said about President Obama's convention speech in Charlotte tonight? Force yourself.
2. Now relax. What did you really think?
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Comments:
Apr '12
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
It seems like the speechwriters wrote the speech for the 20,000 lunatics in the building and not the 20 million voters who watched it on the television. It was recycled drivel. I am suprised there was not more of a "pseudo" pivot.
May '11
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
John Postley: 1) An impassioned rendition of Obama's greatest hits, tweaked to appear newish for an audience that will applaud anything he does.
A one trick pony. · 7 hours ago
Yes. And it seems there were two hits: GM (accomplished by brute force stripping bondholders of their rights) and OBL (gee, that was a tough call.)
Jan '12
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
Astonishing: Like one of those over-the-counter energy drinks.
Canned excitement. Zero nutritional value.
Essential Ingredients, by now familiar, in somewhat arbitrary proportions: class warfare; group rights; good daddy government; invest; spread the wealth; a little "USA USA USA" lest any question patriotism; ginseng; foam; vitamin B; reconstituted cow dung; all organic; 100 percent glutten-free; hope but no change.
The buzz gets shorter every time and wears off before morning. Then the Dems will go right back to being tired and grumpy.
Please dispose of the empty can properly. · 7 hours ago
Edited 7 hours ago
Brilliant analogy!
Jun '10
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
What matters is whether or not the performance was good enough for a bump in the polls. I think it probably was if you believe that a fair slice of the electorate is moved by emotion rather than reason. But there's a few things I'd like to know:
1. How many people actually tuned in? And of those people, how many are committed members of his base vs. undecided voters?
2. How many voters are really undecided at this point? Rasmussen says 5%. That's a number I question based on the fact that only 9% of polling contacts actually respond. I suspect the Bradley effect (or the Walker effect if you prefer) has made a reappearance.
3. Given the limited attention span of most Americans, I think political advertising will have a larger impact on the election than convention speeches.
We'll see what Rasmussen has to say on Monday, but I doubt we've reached an inflection point. At least not one discernible by polling.
May '10
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
Lucy Pevensie: 1. I didn't watch it. On the East Coast all this late night stuff two weeks in a row has begun to get to me.
2. My Facebook feed, otherwise known as my window into the minds of the Left, shows not one single comment extolling the president's speech. This contrasts with Michelle Obama's and President Clinton's speeches, both of which a few people loved enough to write about. And all of it also contrasts with the Sandra Fluke nonsense, which led to torrents of FB posts. · 2 hours ago
Me too! It's uncanny... and heartening.
May '10
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
Maybe this is the problem with the speech. I bet it was designed to affect 80000 people. It wouldn't have needed to sound so grand with that image on television. It would have been much more demoralizing if it did as well.
Instead, we got a much more intimate gathering, but the same distant Obama.
Apr '11
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
Aug jobs #: 96k jobs added, 368k left workforce, rate 8.1% (from 8.3%), June & July # revised down.
At this rate of workforce participation attrition, we'll be at your 7.7% by election day. Isn't that great!?!?
Jun '11
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
Western Chauvinist
Inquiring minds want to know, were there balloons?
Explosive confetti I believe. :)
Apr '11
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
1) - The best part is that it's over. It's not like we haven't heard it all before anyway.
2) - Listening to Obama is like listening to a vocalist practice the scales. Me-Me-Me-Me-Me.
Mar '11
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
I watched my first political speech in 1952 - Democratic National Convention. I attribute my lack of mental acuity to the effluent I've listened to lo these 60 years.
Almost all of the speeches I've heard were written for the drama critics - the ones who pan Casablanca because because there were no car crashes.
I can spot a great speech in the first five minutes or so. You sense that a story is to be told, an interesting story. Like a great story or a great symphony there is a rhythm and a theme - pianissimo, fortissimo, crescendo, denouement.
The great ones don't come along very often. The good ones are a refreshment. The bad ones are punk rock. The RNC had some good ones. The DNC? Cacophony.
Edited on September 7, 2012 at 3:43pmJun '10
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
So true. I've been saying it since the first campaign. Televangelist, used car salesman, recruiter, (oh yeah - politician) any position where smooth talking persuasion is more valuable than the product or result.
As much as I cringed when W spoke (like armrest assisting the pilot during a rough landing) I still thought he was pretty good "decider". After a W speech I would be exhausted and relieved and probably no more informed than before but I still believed in humanity. These Obama speeches are like those boxed candies which are delicious looking chocolate on the outside and some kind of horrendous synthetic goop on the inside.
Apr '11
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
I think he will get a bump in the polls because they have surely polled the first 1500 people coming out of the convention and 2 Republicans they found on the street.
Dec '11
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
My Facebook feed is also decidedly quiet about the speech and many of my "friends" are employed by Cornell.
Sep '10
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
Peter listen for the strange cadence of:
Hope. Me. Hope. Me. Hope. Me.
"I believe in you; I have faith in you; that if you have hope, you can elect me."
Jul '10
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
Real Clear Politics is showing a clear negative bump on their poll-tracking page. Apparently birth control and abortion are not the top issues among the under employed.
Who knew?
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
It was novocaine, to numb the pain from the collectivist root canal he's giving the country.
Jun '11
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
This morning we see that another 368,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force in August. The U6 rate is at 14.7% and if the labor participation rate was where it was when Obama took office the headline unemployment number would be 11.7% (not 8.1%). Nearly 26 Million Americans unemployed or underemployed.
Speech? When I see Obama's face on the TV I hit mute before I inadvertently hear him speak. I sure won't tune in a speech of his. I have way too many friends and family thrown out of work since he became president-- he makes my skin crawl.
Jun '10
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
Dave - it was Barackocaine for those in the audience. However, if you no longer (or never did) respond to Barackocaine, the root canal remains anesthesia-free.
It was shocking that he couldn't get any energy up for the speech. I guess it's "I've told you this a dozen times before - why aren't you listening?"
He also didn't create any openings such as policy critiques of Republican positions. For instance, he didn't say anything substantive about R positions on Obamacare and just joked "take two tax-cuts and call me in the morning". Weak sauce
Sep '10
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
Summary of the speech:
This is the what the Office of the President of the United States acts like if it has the tenure system of an Ivy League University for a selection process. And since the United States is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, ergo...
Aug '12
Re: President Obama's Acceptance Speech: Well?
1.) He has a gift delivering scripted speeches.
2.) Was this the same speech from 4 years ago? What is he going to do to improve our economic situation? All I heard was we need to stay the course which has led to +40 months of +8% unemployment (including August).