I was going to post an incisively trenchant blog today about The Speech, but in the end, what could I say? It rocked, obviously, but after a bit of reflection, I realized it was basically just a spiffed-up stump speech, similar to what we might've heard a year ago in Iowa or New Hampshire, with policy particulars updated to reflect the changes in the political landscape since then. It had the same uplifting tone, the same eloquence of phrase, and the same balancing of themes---government as unifier coupled with the caveat of personal responsibility.
But what was most impactful, I thought, was the speech's unabashedly (dare I say?) partisan tone---for if the last 30 days have taught Obama anything, it's the fact that the art of electioneering doesn't lose its relevance once the election is over and one is sworn into office. Down-and-dirty trench warfare to win the war of public opinion is an integral, everyday part of the process of getting legislation passed, not merely an electoral ritual that happens every four years; in that sense, a President's re-election campaign begins the very moment he's sworn into office. The big difference, for now, is in the respective parties' aims and outreaches---for while Republicans seem to be largely campaigning for the hearts and minds of the Washington newsmedia and their talk-show auxiliaries, Obama is going directly over the heads of the Chatterers-at-Large and straight to the voters. At that, he has become a master of form over the past 12 months, and last night's address was his best, and perhaps most transformative, stumper yet. A lot of the usual wingdings are freaking out over it today, and all I can say is, life is good.
However, I'd be remiss if I didn't call Obama to task on "We do not torture." If this is to be established beyond any degree of uncertainty, he needs to prove the point conclusively; one, by shutting down Bagram, and two, by seeing to it that some people at Gitmo are hauled up before a court of military justice. Eric Holder may not have seen any prisoner abuse when he was there, but frankly, that doesn't mean squat anymore. If there is any lesson to be learned from the last seven years, it's that places like Gitmo and Bagram were intentionally created as sadist funhouses for angry young men to kick Arab ass. Shut them down now. Not next week or next month---now. If we have any evidence connecting detainees to terror plots, put them on the next C-130 and house them in any brig that's got empty cells until they can be transferred to the custody of the Justice Department. If not, let them go. By now, it's really that simple.
That said, it was a form of slow torture having to watch the guy who came on the TV after Obama, wasn't it?
---Vitelius
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