Aug

Obama’s Speech: Soaring Rhetoric, Empty Promises

Posted by: Mike's America @ 9:33 pm in Uncategorized

Visited 590 times, 2 so far today

Enjoy your day in the sun Obama, it’s OUR turn next!

Liberal, Liberal

What do you get when you nominate Barack Obama, the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, and Joe Biden, the third most liberal member of the Senate, on the same ticket running for President and Vice President?

Answer: You get a ticket so far out of the American mainstream that they cannot be honest about what they would do if elected and still win.

And that’s the speech you heard Obama deliver in Denver Thursday night. Long on promises, short on specifics. Obama used the word “change” 15 times and the word “promise” 32 times. But not once did he say exactly how he would deliver on those promises and achieve that change.

Here’s a Wordle of the top 150 words he used in the speech. The larger the word in this image the more times it was used:

Notice Obama used the name “McCain” 21 times in attacks that undermine his message of new politics. He linked McCain to an “old, discredited Republican philosophy” and yet, all he offered was a repackaging of the tax and spend liberal programs that have proved to be such abominable failures in the past.

Saying “America, now is not the time for small plans” he listed nothing more ambitious than vague promises of tax cuts for people who don’t pay taxes and a promise to end our dependence on Middle East oil in ten years. Short on specifics and substance but long on carefully crafted soundbites. And the rest was nothing more than the usual laundry list of pet projects for liberal special interest groups.

Now he wants to debate McCain?

Twice Obama mentioned his eagerness to debate John McCain. “If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next commander in chief, that’s a debate I’m ready to have” Obama said. Oh really? How many times has McCain invited you to debate only to be met by your silence or a long string of “uhhhh”s?

Never fear Republicans! Payback begins at Noon EST Friday!

Print This Post

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 9:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Trackbacks

7 comments so far

Gregory Dittman

We’ll have to see if he was just preaching to the choir. Jimmy Carter preached hope and change in his 1976 primary acceptance speech. Obama preaches the classic pump and dump. If Obama is going to link McCain to Bush, McCain should link Obama with Carter. Carter’s only hope at being president was he was a Democrat promising hope and change that he never delivered. In fact some of the promises he made such as improving national security and taming inflation turned out to be just the opposite when put into practice.

August 28th, 2008 at 10:34 pm

Mike's America

That’s a good point Gregory. Be careful when wishing for change. It could be change for the worse.

August 28th, 2008 at 11:47 pm

SoCal Chris

[Never fear Republicans! Payback begins at Noon EST Friday!]

I started a little early, Mike. During Obama’s acceptance speech, I went out and put up my local Republican candidates yard signs in my front yard! I couldn’t stomach watching him and hearing empty rhetoric and warn out Bush-bashing, so did something constructive with my time instead.

August 29th, 2008 at 12:41 am

Scott Malensek

Obama’s speech….
THREE THINGS
1) I loved it
2) Cut entire parts (sometimes very deceitfully) from his 2004 DNC address
3) empty-the far left was wide-eyed and weepy, but I’ll be damned if they dare to open their minds (let alone their arms) the Iraq War issue. They will oppose it as long as GWB is President, and if President Obama continues the war for 8yrs, they’ll be silent or blame GWB. They will not unite in support of the mission in Iraq based on this speech. Time and again he called for unity, and I’m dying to see some KOSsack or HuffPo or Dem Underground fanatic say, “ok, America’s in Iraq, it’s important we’re careful getting the job done so we can get out, and I support the effort to get the job done well rather than just runaway.” Not gonna happen from just this speech.

Interesting thing happened AFTER the speech….

I was watching MSNBC w all their bias to see how the crowd and the different shades on the left reacted to the call for unity. They liked hearing it, but they liked the fire more. They liked the attacks on Sen McCain more than they liked the calls to find common ground. They missed the point.

I got it, Senator Obama. I got it.

He’s right you know. This election is not about him. It’s about US, the U.S. Should American seek to beat their chests on political issues and cry, “YES!” or “NO!” or “I was right!” or “You were wrong!” No. Not at all, but it will go on. Because his audience, the people he is most likely to move towards the center….well, I just don’t see Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews saying on Innauguration Day that they suddenly support the war in Iraq, or strikes on Iran, etc.

Then again, maybe they will. With GWB gone….their hate-target will be gone and we can get serious about things in this country again.

I just don’t know, but I didn’t see a lot of, “let’s go hug some neocon’s” sentiment in the crowd.

August 29th, 2008 at 4:54 am

Real American Patriot

One house one spouse!! It’s very Liberal…

August 29th, 2008 at 5:35 am

Mike's America

SoCal: Good for you! That’s the kind of reaction we need to that speech. Get our folks out there and working hard on the local level to defeat Obama and the entire ticket of Democrat LIBERALS.

Scott: I thought the line that it wasn’t about him was such a joke. If he seriously believes that he’s had too much of his own Kool Aid.

August 29th, 2008 at 7:53 am

Scott Malensek

Good points Mike, but I still think both campaigns would do better to focus on attracting the supporters of the other side, than repelling them. Open their arms and invite them in rather than ostracize them.

This Sarah Palin VP pick fits right in line with that. It opens the RNC arms to women, to disenfranchaised Hillary supporters. At the same time, it fires up the RNC base, and (sadly because of her non-political/non-professional aspects) it will attract those voters that don’t pay attention until the end; those last 2-4 wks. All those people will see is a black guy, 2 old guys, and a hot lady who hunts, fishes, knows machines, isn’t an annoying bitch (like Hillary could come off), and…oh yeah…she can kick most guys’ ass in hockey, dog sled racing, whatever.

At this point forward in the race, we’re going to see a lot more play for the sizzle than the steak (case in point, Obama’s magical mystery laundry list of promises that had everything but a chicken in every pot).

It’s about attracting supporters-not repelling. The bases are shored.

August 29th, 2008 at 8:20 am