Word: speeches
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...There were a few admirable ideas in the speech - an emphasis on school choice and limiting the power of the teachers unions; offering a form of wage insurance for those who lose high-paying factory jobs and have to take low-paying service jobs - but there weren't any new ones. McCain's energy plan sounded just like Obama's, without the closing of loopholes and tax breaks for big oil companies that Obama (and apparently Sarah Palin, who passed a windfall-profits tax) favors. But he failed to disarm Obama's most potent criticism: that he essentially favors...
...strongest aspect of the speech may have been the awkwardness of the delivery. What we saw tonight was the real John McCain. But his offering was thin for a country in a heap of trouble. Given the admitted failure of his party, he didn't present anything more than his own integrity as an action plan. And given the anger and vitriol of his campaign - given the scurrilous, sarcastic speeches he allowed to be delivered on Wednesday night; given the embarrassing antics and media conspiracies spouted by his staff - McCain's reputation for integrity has been badly damaged...
...McCain's presence in our public life has been, on balance, a valuable thing. His speech tonight gave intimations of why that has been so, but it lacked the drive and creativity of a true presidential acceptance. He is the standard bearer of a failed ideology - ironically, a belief in "me first" before country - and tonight the leap between what McCain really cares about, and what his party really believes, proved too great a chasm for an old warrior to bridge. (See photos of John McCain's Tumultuous Week here...
...wisdom and longevity against the newcomer Obama. And as Clinton did, McCain discovered that many Americans are sick of experience if it means an M.B.A. in business-as-usual. So, again like Clinton, McCain shifted to the "fighter" theme: "I fight for Americans," he declared in his acceptance speech. "I fight for you." And he returned to the theme in the rousing finish of an otherwise subdued speech: "Fight with me! Fight with me!" he cried. "Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight!" (See photos of McCain's tumultuous convention week here...
Palin's tough tone allowed McCain to deliver the speech he wanted to make, the one holding himself above the bitter business of partisanship. She got that out of the way. She rallied the party while he tried to transcend it. If you were to boil the past two eventful weeks down to their essence, you would have the Democrats wrapping McCain in the dead arms of the Bush presidency, and McCain trying to wriggle free. You'd have Democrats lasering in on the GOP of Rumsfeld, DeLay and Abramoff, and McCain reaching back to remind America of "the party...