Obama's Speech: Style AND Substance

Barack Obama’s acceptance speech tonight showed me why he is electable–and actually got me excited enough to stay up late and blog about it.

As rhetoric, it was superbly crafted:

  • Attacking the Bush/McCain policies (and their tendency to attack those who disagree) while honoring McCain’s patriotism and sincerity–never trashing the man, only his politics and policies; positioning him as out of touch and unqualified to lead, of having a vision of America’s greatness that was incompatible with the majority of Americans, and contrasting his own vision of America’s greatness, as a champion of the poor and oppressed, as a catalyst for improving the lives of others, and as a country ready to reclaim its fallen standing–and he said, once again, that the campign was “not about me. It’s about you.”
  • Unifying Democrats who did or didn’t vote for him, by paying tribute very early to the others who sought the nomination, and especially Hillary Clinton
  • Bringing in the ghosts of major Democratic Party heroes like Kennedy, Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Also honoring the working people of this country: teachers, soldiers, veterans, factory workers
  • Using some of the most effective rhetorical devices honed by oratorical sharpshooters from Ronald Reagan to Jesse Jackson (an area where McCain, a remarkably insipid speaker, can’t touch him)
  • Showing the failure of Bush’s policies around the war, foreign policy in general, and the dismal response to Katrina, among other areas, and linking McCain to these failures
  • Building on the months-long campaign talking points of hope and change and unity–but adding at least a few specifics, especially on energy, terrorism, and education
  • On those specifics–I endorsed Obama last winter (after Kucinich dropped out), and I found myself agreeing with about 80 percent. I have issues with his energy policy, which relies too heavily on big, scary technologies such as nuclear and coal–but I thoroughly applaud his commitment to get us off imported oil within ten years (something that should have started in the Carter administration, or even the Nixon). I have issues with his foreign policy, which strikes me as unnecessarily hawkish, though light-years ahead of McCain’s. But I commend him for consistently opposing the Iraq debacle at the beginning and putting forth a timetable, even a slow one, for withdrawal.

    And the last time there was a major-party nominee who more-or-less agreed with me on 80 percent of his positions was George McGovern in 1972–when I wasn’t old enough to vote. The one before that was probably Henry Wallace in 1948, when I wasn’t even born. The one before that might have been Thomas Jefferson.

    So Obama is real progress. Not anywhere near as far as I’d like, but that may actually be to his advantage–because I think when the American people listen, they will find a genuinely likable and sincere individual who is of the people, despite the GOP’s absurdist attempts to paint him as an elitist or as a dangerous radical. He’s not very radical at all, and he comes from a broken home, worked as a community organizer, and talked quite a bit tonight about the economic hardships he faced, and how they reinforce his commitment to make sure every American can afford a college education and decent health care. In language that the typical red state voter (if not blinded by racism) can see and hear.

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    A lifelong activist, profitability and marketing specialist Shel Horowitz’s mission is to fix crises like hunger, poverty, racism, war, and catastrophic climate change—by showing the business world how fixing them can make a profit. An author, international speaker, and TEDx Talker, his award-winning 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, lays out a blueprint for creating and MARKETING those profitable change-making products and services. He is happy to help you craft your messaging and develop profit strategies. Learn more (and download excerpts from the book) at http://goingbeyondsustainability.com