Contrasting Speeches

If you listened to the speeches delivered by the Presidential candidates last night, maybe you noticed something that struck me.

First, as predicted, Mike Huckabee saw the writing on the toteboard and gracefully exited the stage. Good for him. He, and Obama, has a gift for delivering a good speech. He, and Obama, are not ready for prime time.

Senator McCain gave an inspiring speech, full of gratitude and love of service to country. This is what set his speech apart from the two Democrats. McCain has a history, much to the heartburn of many conservative Republicans, of working with both sides of the aisle and encouraged Independents and Reagan Democrats to join with Republicans to take him to the White House. He rightly pointed out that Obama, Mr. Change/bringing everyone together, took a pass when opportunities arose for him to join in with bi-partisian working groups.

McCain walks the walk.

The stars aligned for Hillary and she can be congratulated for handily winning Texas and Ohio, besides Rhode Island. She can claim the ability to win the big states, particularly if she goes on to win Pennsylvania as it comes up.

Throught out the day, the Obama camp made claims of ballot shortages and the need for extended voting hours in cherry picked areas where they thought support would be on their side. Change? Same old politics, Senator. Tones of 'he wuz robbed' came to mind.

I think Obama got a little too cocky riding the hoping for change train and the voters took a second, more intense look. He may well continue on the path to the victory of the nomination but you can be sure the days of the free ride are over for him. The swooning press now does some homework and begins to question the candidate of change. A different narrative emerges and the public support waned. His phony pandering to the Ohio voters on the economy and the lies of the meeting with the Canadian came forward. The trial of Tony Rezko begins with jury selection and he has to answer questions, even from the Chicago press who have been shut out until now. Did you know he will only take written questions from them? And, that the campaign doesn't specify who is doing the answers to the questions? Change? Or just another politician in the machine of the south side of Chicago?

Read Rick Moran and his excellent explanations of the history of Obama in Chicago. Rick, brother of ABC's Terry Moran, is a blogger/writer out of Chicago.

Obama's speech was not his best by any means. It was empty. His trying to say Hillary and McCain are the same is simply amateurish. And, since he didn't have a vote on Iraq and did compliment the Bush administration in 2004 on the war and did vote to fund the war after that, well, he may want to rethink his pieous stance. And, rest assured, his cherry picking of only part of McCain's line that the U.S. will be in Iraq for 100 years will be a fine political ad, using the entire quote that Americans will surely support.

And, whining that the press wanted answers to questions on his relationship with Rezko that, "come on guys, I've answered, like, eight questions", then leaving the reporters? Well, that was silly. Like, totally.

Last night his speech included the slap at America: when today's young people have the opportunity to travel the world, they will "once again" be proud to say they are Americans when he is in the White House. I think most Americans, except to the far left, are still quite proud to be Americans, thank you. Flyover country doesn't like that sort of barb. He's all about changing "the world" yet preaching isolationism at home. Doesn't wash.

Hillary was all about thanking Ohio and saying more than once, that the next President has to be able to win Ohio. True enough. It just looked cheap as she delivered the lines. Her line that she will "end the war in Iraq and win the war in Afghanistan" was a rookie mistake. Americans expect victory, especially with the continued success of the ground operations and the political developments there. Yes, everyone is war weary but she and Obama shouldn't mistake that for American voters desiring to act as losers and defeatists.

And, finally, at NewsBusters today is an article about the Obama campaign demanding that the web site Politico change a headline on a report about the Obama vote. Change? Or just another politician?

The differences in the speeches of the two party candidates was stark. Huckabee and McCain appealed to citizens of a great country. Obama and Clinton were just all about them.

Change?

"The contest begins tonight", said McCain in Dallas after securing the nomination. Hillary was in Columbus, Ohio and Obama in San Antonio. Maybe they realized too late that the Hispanic vote was loyal to Hillary. Turns out the woman telling the tale last Saturday morning to our group was right.

Pat Caudell, Democrat strategist and former Presidential campaign manager for Jimma Carter and George McGovern, was a guest on the Bill Bennett radio program this morning. He feels the Democrat party has left him as it insists on continuing to lurch to the far left. He knows the 60's are over, yet as with every kind of cycle, the far left is demanding control of the party. Those like Obama and now Clinton pandering to the MoveOn and Kos Kids are running for office. Caudell spoke to "American exceptionalism" and the lack of acknowledgement from those on the far left.

The contrast between the two parties is stark this time around. It won't be boring.