History is Happening Now

I have little to add to the flurry of blogospheric chatter surrounding Obama’s nomination speech.  My favorite flourish in the speech is this bit:

For over two decades — for over two decades, he’s subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy: Give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.

In Washington, they call this the “Ownership Society,” but what it really means is that you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck, you’re on your own. No health care? The market will fix it. You’re on your own. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, even if you don’t have boots. You are on your own.

This is a clear rebuke to those who follow the Reaganite cant that “government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.”

My least favorite bit of the speech is this:

And, Democrats, Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America’s promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our intellectual and moral strength.

Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient.

Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can’t replace parents, that government can’t turn off the television and make a child do her homework, that fathers must take more responsibility to provide love and guidance to their children.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility, that’s the essence of America’s promise. And just as we keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America’s promise abroad.

I mean, are there Democrats, Democrats who refuse to “admit” that homes and businesses should become more efficient, that government programs alone will not solve all our problems, that fathers should take responsibility?  The implicit claim that Democrats deny any of these sane and sensible propositions gives undue credence to Republican talking points, I think.  Obama isn’t running for president of our civil society; he’s running to lead the executive branch of our government.

Overall, an excellent speech, which should help Obama sustain the bounce he has reportedly already received from the convention.  The main strategic question, from the Democratic perspective, is whether or not the Republican politics of personal character destruction–the inevitable flurry of smears, innuendos, attacks on patriotism, and mudslinging–to come can negate these positive developments.  And, if they can arrest Obama’s momentum, how to fight back effectively.

The fair and balanced AP of course, unlike pretty much everyone else who has commented on the speech, contra even most supporters of McCain, has this to say in its analysis of Obama’s speech:

Barack Obama, whose campaign theme is “change we can believe in,” promised Thursday to “spell out exactly what that change would mean.”

But instead of dwelling on specifics, he laced the crowning speech of his long campaign with the type of rhetorical flourishes that Republicans mock and the attacks on John McCain that Democrats cheer. The country saw a candidate confident in his existing campaign formula: tie McCain tightly to President Bush, and remind voters why they are unhappy with the incumbent.