by Dan Tynan
Our
little burg has been a hotbed of political activity over the past 36
hours. Sunday night I had the privilege of watching Hillary Clinton
deliver her stump speech on a glorious spring evening against the
backdrop of a purple sky and the USS North Carolina. Monday afternoon I
got to watch the Obama traveling medicine show along with 5,000 adoring
fans at UNCW's Trask Auditorium.
Two liberal/moderate Democratic candidates, two speeches nearly identical in substance and light years apart in style.
I'd
guess roughly 2000 people gathered to hear Hillary on the Federal
courthouse steps, next to the Cape Fear River. We spent 45 minutes in a
line that snaked along Front Street and down Market, slowly working our
way to the security checkpoint. Overall, it felt like a well
choreographed event, even though it was scheduled at the last possible
moment and Hillary started 30 minutes late.
She
was not the cold, cut-throat bitch she often appears to be on
television. Hillary was surprisingly warm and personable, and had done
her homework – peppering the speech with references to Wilmington and
the local economy for the first five minutes.
Then
she turned into a policy wonk – going into specifics about her plans
for providing universal health care, giving tax breaks to lower income
people, making it easier to pay for college, etc. Textbook Democratic
speech-making, handing out a little treat to each constituency.
Interestingly, she seemed to be running on her husband's record –
hearkening back to the economic boom times of the 1990s – while
skipping over things like hubby's championing of NAFTA, welfare reform,
and other things that probably wouldn't sit well with her base.
It
was a polished, professional speech filled with predictable applause
lines (Iraq, the price of gas, saving the environment, anything to do
with “the two oilmen in the White House”) but rarely personal and never
truly passionate. The response was enthusiastic but not overwhelming
(except for the woman next to me, who kept shrieking directly into my
ear – it's still ringing).
The
next day was Obama's turn. Possibly because it was held on a college
campus, but most attendees seemed at least a decade younger on average.
(And Obama's volunteers were much, much hotter.) Predictably the crowd
was also more racially mixed, though I'd guess it was still at least
two-thirds white.
Hillary is a
savvy, skilled politician, but Obama is a Rock Star. Maybe because it
was indoors and the crowd was larger, maybe because you had to scramble
to get a ticket (this was a total pain in the ass – I tried three times
and came away empty, only to have two land in my lap that morning), but
the excitement in the room was visceral. The stomping, whistling,
clapping, cheering crowd exploded when Obama arrived on the dot at 1 pm.
Impossibly
thin, wearing a baggy white shirt and gray slacks, sleeves rolled up
and tie carelessly knotted, he was the antithesis of Hillary packed
into her prim and spotless pale blue suit.
On policy, Obama's speech hardly differed from Clinton's. (You can hear a recording of it here.)
You could have swapped parts of hers out for his and never known the
difference. But when it comes to delivery, they're from different
planets.
Obama has developed a
terrific rhetorical style where he starts out quietly, strolling across
the stage, talking about the problems you and I share like he's in your
living room, just plain folks chatting. Then gradually he builds. The
volume rises, the phrasing gets crisper and more repetitive. He stops
strolling and pauses, tensed in the center of the stage, punctuating
the staccato rhythms of his speech with his hands.
“...and
so when I decided to run it was in part because I believed that the
size of our challenges had outstripped the capacity of a broken
politics to solve. And I was convinced that the American people wanted
something different, they wanted something new. That they were tired of
a politics that was all about tearing each other down, they wanted a
politics that was all about lifting the country up. I was convinced of
that. I was convinced the American people didn't want spin and PR. They
wanted straight talk, truthfulness and honesty from their leadership.
And I was convinced that the American people no longer wanted to be
divided. They didn't want to be divided by race, they didn't want to be
divided by religion, they didn't want to be divided by region, they
wanted to come together to solve the problems of the United States of America.”
The
crowd explodes in a standing O. Then he'd wait for it to die down and
do it all over again. Only now it would be about health care. Or
college loans. No Child Left Behind. The housing crunch. The price of
oil and global warming. The war in Iraq. Build and release, build and
release.
Most of the seats
directly in front of the stage were occupied by African Americans
dressed for church. They were intimately familiar with this kind of
rhythm and bobbed to it in call and response like they were sitting in
the pew. Amen, brother. Say it, Obama. Yes We Can.
“Lately
my opponents have been trying to make this election about me instead of
about you. They've been trying to say, well, you know we don't know him
that well, we don't know what he believes, we don't know about his
values. Despite the fact I wrote two books – it's all there, what I
believe, think, what my story is. I try to explain to them ... how I've
seen this country open up opportunity for people who are willing to
work hard. They don't expect government to solve all their problems.
All they hope is there's a handle there, they can get a handle on
moving up. That if they work hard, they're going be able to find a job
that pays a living wage. If they work hard, they'll be able to send
their child to a good school. If they work hard, they're going to be
able to get health care. If they work hard they're going to be able to
retire with some dignity and respect. That's why I love this country.
That's the change I've seen in my life. That's what every American
deserves. That's what America is all about. That's what we're fighting
for in this campaign. That's why you're here today. And if you vote for
me... if you stand up with me, I promise you we will not just win this
nomination, we will win this general election and you and I together
will change this country and change the world.”
And
that's where it should have ended. But Obama stuck around to answer
questions, and the energy waned. He droned a bit in some of his
answers, dragging in points he'd forgotten to make in his speech. An
elderly woman came to his rescue, going on about clean water and clean
politics, garnering huge roars from the crowd and setting up Obama for
his best line of the afternoon.
“I'd like to answer your question, but first I have a question for you,” he said. “Will you be my running mate?”
Hillary
and Obama both talked about those of us victimized by the last eight
years of blinding stupidity, corruption, and ineptitude, but Obama also
talked about the parties who've benefited from the Bush era -- the oil
companies, the pharmaceutical firms, the car makers, the financiers. He
boasted how he went to Detroit to tell them they had to make more fuel
efficient cars and to Wall Street to tell them they needed to tamp down
their raging greed -- and how his audiences there didn't give him any
standing O's. He made a clear distinction between candidates who were
in the pocket of Corporate America and those, like himself, who
allegedly are not.
McCain has made
a deal with the devil. Hillary's big plan is to turn down the
thermostat in Hell a few degrees and serve ice cream on Sundays. Obama
is saying that, if we pull together, we can take on the forces of Satan
and defeat them.
If elected, he
will probably get smacked down. Evil has been with us a long long time.
The devil has too many friends in Washington and they're on both sides
of the aisle. But after hearing him speak yesterday I know at least
he's going to try. And that, for me, makes all the difference.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Following
However, officials for the RNC defended the expenditures
as an "important stimulus package" for sectors of the U. S. economy that needed
it most -- the couture and cosmetic counters at some of our nation's toniest
department stores. 
