It’s worth watching. For serious.
One thing to realize – I was in Chicago when this was happening and pretty much froze my nose off being outside for a few minutes. Something like 15,000 people stood out in that cold for hours just to hear what he had to say. I think that really says something.
It isn’t the best speech I’ve ever heard, but it’s certainly one of the most inspiring and exciting presidential campaign announcements. The thing that interests me the most about it is the gravity and richness of his approach. It just feels out of place in a business that often seems to thrive on the least-common-denominator. To be fair it definitely was big on grand themes without much in the way of details, which is a constant complaint about Obama.
Still, I’ve always found those concerns to be somewhat misguided. It’s still a year until the primaries and there’s plenty of time for turning a tide of excitement into particular policy objectives. And I have to say that one of my only complaints about The Audacity of Hope was that there was a little too much on details and the middle dragged a bit. He has a lot of stuff for the wonks, but his strength is his ability to inspire and that’s what this speech needed to be about. And I have to say, I’m inspired.
Someone asked me this weekend “why am I not dropping everything to go work for Obama?” and I have to wonder the same thing sometimes. One way or another, it’s an exciting time for politics in America. If only we didn’t have almost two years of the Bush administration left.
On the other hand, how completely insane was the Pelosi plane-gate over the last week? Combine that with the endless coverage of Anna Nicole Smith, and you can’t help but feel that while there’s a lot to be hopeful about, the fact that such absurdity could dominate the media for any length of time is sort of depressing.
I’ll Fly Away – O Brother Where Art Thou?