Rossputin.com Rational Thinking About Our World

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the Obama speech because you've probably heard too much about it already.

As I was driving down the interstate this morning, a friend asked me what I expected from the speech. I said "I think it will be a great speech in terms of presentation, but that it's more likely to keep the issue of race open than to close the issue, and I think it will be a net neutral, at best, for Obama".

Now that I've seen and read the speech, I think I was right.

The speech sounded like a sermon, flowery and charismatic, but not necessarily full of very important content.

Particularly troubling were Obama's continued pseudo-distancing from Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his repeated racist, anti-American rhetoric and his admission that he'd heard some of these statements in person whereas he had denied that in prior explanations.

Mitt Romney tried to explain his religion in a "major speech", which I believe did not do much to calm the worries of people who were uncomfortable with Mormonism (regardless of whether you think their discomfort was rational or acceptable.)

This speech was Obama's analogue...but far more important...because race is a much deeper source of tension in our country than religious difference is.

After about 25 minutes of the speech, I found it hard to keep paying attention. I felt like I was hearing a recital of a particular musical instrument, in this case Obama's voice, where all I could hear was the sound of the notes at the moment they were played rather than having any appreciation for the overall work of music. At least for me, Obama's rhetorical style, while admittedly better than either of the two other leading candidate's, is wearing thin.

Obama's speech was the type of thing that would appeal to Hollywood and Manhattan liberals. But I doubt it will move the needle much in Pittsburgh, PA or central Indiana. And those are the places where he most needs to regain his rock-star status. My guess is that he's permanently tarnished, even if still a brighter light than most other Democratic politicians.