Quick hits on the McCain speech
A few quick thoughts on John McCain’s speech: One the whole, it was a pretty flat speech — not nearly as crisp as Palin’s from last night. McCain stepped on some of his lines, and whenever I thought he was building some momentum, the energy stalled out. At times, towards the end, with the call ...
A few quick thoughts on John McCain's speech: One the whole, it was a pretty flat speech -- not nearly as crisp as Palin's from last night. McCain stepped on some of his lines, and whenever I thought he was building some momentum, the energy stalled out. At times, towards the end, with the call for service, he seemed more like the grandfather who's allowed to prattle on at Thanksgiving dinner than a major-party candidate. The reach out to Obama and his supporters seemed both graceful and savvy. It also raised an interesting point. Judging from the convention speeches, there's a surprising amount of overlap between the two: striving for energy independence, focusing on education, using the best ideas from both parties, reaching out across the aisle, emphasizing public service... does Barack Obama disagree with any of this? The mention of David Petraeus was a bit odd. Mona Charen thinks it's telling that McCain mentioned him but none of the Democrats did. I always thought that active military commanders shouldn't be mentioned at political conventions, period. Readers, feel free to point out if I'm inventing a norm here. I was grateful for the "Washington changed us" rhetoric, and a pledge to cut government spending. Um... which government programs? My favorite part of the speech was McCain's take on coping with the global economy. It contained his only concrete proposal (reforming unemployment insurance) while also emphasizing their different takes on the global economy (Obama: protect old industries; McCain: prepare citizens for new industries). If my vote was based only on foreign economic policy, I'd be voting for McCain and it wouldn't be a close call. Here's a semi-deep thought. McCain spent plenty of time bashing politicians and his opponents for acting in their self-interest, while he works for the national interest. Here's the thing: he knows that the market economy largely operates according to the former principle and not the latter principle, right? Fire away!! UPDATE: One last thought. One of the interesting questions coming out of the convention is whether the GOP has brilliantly juggled contrasting themes or exposed some obvious contadictions in their fall campaign. On the one hand, maybe Sarah Palin can energize the base while John McCain can reach out to the median voter. On the other hand, it's kind of odd for Palin, Romney, Giuliani, et al to bash Barack Obama for being a community organizer right before John McCain's call for service.
A few quick thoughts on John McCain’s speech:
- One the whole, it was a pretty flat speech — not nearly as crisp as Palin’s from last night. McCain stepped on some of his lines, and whenever I thought he was building some momentum, the energy stalled out. At times, towards the end, with the call for service, he seemed more like the grandfather who’s allowed to prattle on at Thanksgiving dinner than a major-party candidate.
- The reach out to Obama and his supporters seemed both graceful and savvy. It also raised an interesting point. Judging from the convention speeches, there’s a surprising amount of overlap between the two: striving for energy independence, focusing on education, using the best ideas from both parties, reaching out across the aisle, emphasizing public service… does Barack Obama disagree with any of this?
- The mention of David Petraeus was a bit odd. Mona Charen thinks it’s telling that McCain mentioned him but none of the Democrats did. I always thought that active military commanders shouldn’t be mentioned at political conventions, period. Readers, feel free to point out if I’m inventing a norm here.
- I was grateful for the “Washington changed us” rhetoric, and a pledge to cut government spending. Um… which government programs?
- My favorite part of the speech was McCain’s take on coping with the global economy. It contained his only concrete proposal (reforming unemployment insurance) while also emphasizing their different takes on the global economy (Obama: protect old industries; McCain: prepare citizens for new industries). If my vote was based only on foreign economic policy, I’d be voting for McCain and it wouldn’t be a close call.
- Here’s a semi-deep thought. McCain spent plenty of time bashing politicians and his opponents for acting in their self-interest, while he works for the national interest. Here’s the thing: he knows that the market economy largely operates according to the former principle and not the latter principle, right?
Fire away!! UPDATE: One last thought. One of the interesting questions coming out of the convention is whether the GOP has brilliantly juggled contrasting themes or exposed some obvious contadictions in their fall campaign. On the one hand, maybe Sarah Palin can energize the base while John McCain can reach out to the median voter. On the other hand, it’s kind of odd for Palin, Romney, Giuliani, et al to bash Barack Obama for being a community organizer right before John McCain’s call for service.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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