O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag, as Mr. Eliot
would say. It's so elegant, so intelligent. Or
at least it makes us seem so. And seeming so is so much easier than actually
having to think things through, let alone do them.
Who would have thought it? A rhetor walks among us. His speech should have
been in Latin. And was it just a trick of the lighting, or was that an aura
that shone about his head? A head that belongs on an ancient coin, or rather
a smoothly polished replica of one that you can buy in the better museum
shops.
What a handsome young man, and what a fine sound he made as the sunlit eve
faded into brilliant night under the lights. How well he played his
instrument of 80,000 there in Denver and many, many more within instant
reach of his mellifluous voice. Yes, not a doubt about it for those keeping
score: An A-plus for delivery.
As for content, was there any beyond the smooth Dynaflow Delivery? Any sign
of gritty reality? Barack Obama did warn that Our Work Will Not Be Easy,
that it will demand sacrifice, though he was not so indiscreet as to specify
any. Unless you count lower taxes, new cars, a world without war, free
medical care . . . and so comfortably on.
But to point out these petty details, this or that contradiction in an airy
litany of promises, is to miss the point of the evening, the music of the
night.
"We are the party of Roosevelt," Barack Obama proclaimed, lest anyone doubt
his prowess in war as well as peace, warning the enemy: "I will end this war
in Iraq responsibly . . . ." Not quite FDR's insistence on Unconditional
Surrender, is it? Or that commander-in-chief's solemn vow:
"With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbending determination of
our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God." --
Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941.
But such is not today's style. Maybe I wasn't listening closely enough, but
did anybody hear the forbidden word in Barack Obama's speech Thursday night,
the word Victory? There was a time when one was permitted to say it.
Not that Barack Obama was unwilling to face the darkest possibilities.
Listening to his picture of the American economy, you might think we were
back in the Great Depression. One could almost see the soup lines. But he
spoke on a day when it was reported that the nation's economy had grown an
encouraging 3.3 percent last quarter.
Then the words faded and it was over. The multitudes drifted away. Outside
the stadium, away from the crowd, after the television sets were turned off,
a certain cognitive dissonance began to set in as the magic ebbed. In the
merciless light of day, it occurred that our young crusader is running
against an old man of real experience, while his experience essentially
consists of the sum of his speeches.