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Michelle Obama
MICHELLE OBAMA....I'll confess that I find it almost impossible to judge political speeches. My attention usually wanders a bit because I've heard all (or most) of it before, I'm hyper-aware that it's all heavily staged and that every word is designed for a particular purpose, etc. etc. Because of this, to me personally, political speeches seem like specimens, not things that I myself have any genuine connection to.
So instead, I just try to guess how they're going to go over with other people. Unfortunately, I have no idea. And frankly, I don't think any of the talking heads on TV have any idea either. So they just follow each others' leads.
That said, my initial reaction to Michelle Obama's speech was that it was fine, but a little artificial sounding. But everyone else seems to think it was a home run. Do they really know? Are they just saying that out of partisan loyalty? Are they saying it because everyone else is saying it? Or was it genuinely a home run?
I dunno. I'm afraid I'm autistic on this particular wavelength. What did you all think?
I thought the speech was a home run--- the Mighty OZ bit with Obama on the TV was a bad, bad call.
Basically all she had to do was make the same speech that any other potential first lady would make, without sounding like the stereotypical Angry Black Woman that talk radio had primed us for. Of course it was boilerplate stuff. That's fine. She delivered. The stuff at the end with Obama on the screen was hokey, but this is all theater anyway.
I am completely unqualified to pass any judgment but since you asked.
She was very eloquent and made no mistakes.
And good looking too.
It was very very good.
Kevin is exactly right (and the honesty shows why he is such a good commentator). The speech was fine. She is very attractive, articulate and graceful. The kids are beautiful. I'm sure Obama is a great dad. And it will all have no effect on the election.
The assessment of speeches is a highly subjective and partisan activity. The TV people are almost always kind to spouses of politicians. Otherwise, with the exception of Kristol and a few others, the media assessments mostly follow the reviewer's political bias.
I am an Obama fan so I thought she was great. My wife isn't as interested in politics. She had tears. The speech connected with her. Since my wife's opinion is better than mine I have to guess Michelle hit a homer.
I think it could have an effect if enough people saw it, but I suspect ratings are low except among core Dems. There are many people (I know some of them) who think Obama is not like the rest of us. Michelle made it clear that they are as American as apple pie. Good speech--it did exactly what it was intended to do (if it reached the audience).
Barack and Michelle. Two peas in a pod. Two. Two. Two frauds for the price of one.
I thought it was great, and I loved the girls at the end, especially when Sasha repeated "Hi, Daddy!"
Of course, I'm a mom and I'm a big softie. Hearing Ted Kennedy pound the podium for universal health care brought me to tears, so this was just more emotionality (is that a word?).
I liked the message I took away from the evening--these are ALL American stories. America is an idea as much as a place, and it's lost its meaning a little bit, but we can bring it back. For our children, if not for us.
I'm pretty tough but it made me tear up a little and I TIVO'd through Teddy. I think it will go over great with women and the stuff with the little girls will generate a lot of buzz tomorrow on the morning shows. He'll, even that tool Halperin called them "adorable."
I'll second Ron Byers' thoughts almost exactly. My wife was also teary eyed after Michelle's speech, and she is usually not moved by political theater.
if it was pure partisan loyalty, then you'd expect similar reactions to pelosi's horrible speech. if the reactions to these two speeches are significantly different (when controlling for the partisan identification of the reactor) then i would say it's not pure partisan loyalty. you're a stats guy...get on it.
The speech was well-written and she was pretty good, but she was so prepared that it did sound artificial at times. I got the sense she had memorized a large portion of it.
I thought the speech was very good, and played well with its intended audience. But everyone knows that when plants close in the inner city, it is because black people are lazy. I also wonder how much her dad raked in on disability all those years. Probably kept a few white guys from getting good jobs in the process.
My secret confession is that I didn't get that much out of Obama's 2004 keynote either. I thought it was fine, but in the end it was an appeal to an emotional side of politics that I just don't partake of.
I do think he's a great candidate, not to mention the last best hope of saving the Republic from takeover by theocratic authoritarians. I'm glad he's inspirational even if I'm immune to being inspired.
If the voters pick McCain over him I think I'm pretty much done with the U.S.A., and will be in the market for a different homeland.
I am trying to reach Kevin Drum
with an urgent story lead - please read this and pass it along the chain of command so that it gets looked and nit suppressed. This is urgent:
Hi Jenxxx, and other seasoned journalists in the US and abroad:
This is a professional inquiry. I just found this article in the daily online
newspaper Israeli-Insider and it is VERY disturbing. There are all kinds of
implications here. Ask your senior editor to have someone from the
Seattle PI look into this more closely. This article does not appear in
USA media outlets, which I also find suspicious. I think the pro Obama
media here in the states is trying to squelch the story. The future
of our country is at stake here and this should not be taken lightly.
Here it is:
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/13075.htm
Chase Hunter, a pen name
What does it mean to be autistic on a wavelength?
I think it was very useful. The perception of Michelle has been mostly sound-bite and the contrast, if you will, of a potential black 1st lady. A lot for Republicans to overcome. They don't like African Americans first but they sure don't like accomplished women.
If any of you are so inclined to be such, PLEZE, don't vote. You aren't worthy.
GREAT
jeez kev maybe a little therapy is in order
Hey, Chase - did you check the kerning? I understand that's very important.
Maybe you're dead inside, Kevin? :)
I spent the entire night making fun of just about everyone and everything that happened at the convention.
Pelosi was abysmal and sounded like she was speaking to a class of retarded five year olds (five year olds of normal intelligence would have found her speech lame and condescending). Not three sentences in to her speech I was thankful I'm an Independent. Halfway through her speech I started to miss my days as a Republican party. Had she droned on for even another minute I fear I would have risked fleeting thoughts that George Bush 'wasn't all THAT bad'.
In comparison to his father, Jessie Jackson's son wasn't as bad of a disappointment as George Herbert Walker's son. I'll leave it at that.
Incredibly, Tom Harkin found a way to be even more boring than his usual self: mime!
They had a woman who was inspired by Obama to go back to college at age 39. It might have been compelling if she had picked herself up from a more humble past only to be accepted by a prestigious university. But for all we know she hasn't even applied anywhere. For all we know she'll never actually get around to going, or could end up someplace like the local city disco college. Wake me when they find a crack baby that Obama rescued from the jaws of wild dogs who grew up to be an astronaut and saved the planet from an asteroid. Actually, I'd settle for someone with even passable speaking skills.
Although I really like Claire McCaskill, she came off like Hillary's good-twin at an ether party. Her 'children of the corn' kids appeared pleasant enough and well-trained, though only one of the poor dears was blessed with the power of speech. Awww.
Ted Kennedy was at best mediocre, which only makes it all the more sad that the man with a brain tumor was still one of the best orators of the night.
But Michelle Obama!?!? She gave an exceptional speech. I think she's a better speaker than her husband (I wouldn't be surprised if he got it from her). Only Bill Clinton is likely to overshadow her performance, but even that's not a sure thing given that Bill's heart is probably more set on a 2012 second run for Hillary than an Obama victory.
She accomplished what she needed to accomplished: she looked normal and as if people could rebate to her but classy, smart, and dignified. She looked like an acceptable First Lady. All speeches are a bit, well, just like you described, but she was unknown to a lot of the public, and she came across very well. It was a success, at the very least because of that.
I watched it more closely and was less impressed. It was a speech written by the politicos with all the talking points that she read pretty well. Unfortunately, she actually believes the country is "downright mean" and this is the first time she has been proud of her country.
But I thought Obama was fine at the end in talking to his family (except for the fact he thought he was in St. Louis instead of Kansas City - could you imagine if McCain did that?)
Isn't there an inconsistency between her moaning about the need for change and opportunity in our country and her own and Obama's story of how the country has provided them with such great opportunities?
Well, I'm playing it now. It did no harm. "This is why I love my country so much" may be an antidote to "for the first time I'm really proud of my country."
Cindy McCain will push other buttons for the Republicans. Neither woman will move votes, which is really as it should be.
Fifteen years from now, Michelle Obama may run on her own ticket (I believe there's now a precedent for this sort of thing). With any luck, we'll get to judge her in her own right.
I feel about political conventions the way you feel about political speeches, Kevin. Can someone just give me the executive summary? Really, four nights of this stuff followed by four more from the repugs? Yikes! Fortunately I have a life.
Just an FYI, she wrote most the speech herself over the last month.
Definitely with ya; I have a tough time judging them, since there's really nothing particularly novel in any of the speeches. Every word fits in with the prior campaign outlines. Every McCain item released, for instance, contains the phrases "world-celebrity" and "not ready to lead" in reference to Obama. There's no new military technology so to speak in any of these events.
Any chance Cindy McCain will do as well as Michelle? Not so much.
Punditbot
I can't wait for Cindy Lou McCain's touching story of how she achieved her success. "When I inherited my father's Mafia-connected beer distribution fortune, it was hard. Hard!"
I took away the impression that the "Obama Family Performance" in its entirety, including Michelle's delivery of her speech, was bit too stagey and contrived looking and sounding for believeable authenticity. Particularly, the skit in the end with the kids and daddy on the big screen was awkward -- perhaps even somewhat tone-deaf, since it is not PC to use the candidate's small children so overtly as political pawns. And, this is especially true for Obama as he has previously and famously made an issue of the fact that his family is "out of bounds." So, my guess is that McCain's people will find rich pickings for their anti-Obama adds in this so obviously staged performance.
I can now already plainly read the writing on the wall; come November, the Democrats will have to console themselves with winning large gains in the House and Senate. The White House will be McCain's. However, think! If the Democrats can pull off winning enough seats on the Hill to become veto-proof, the trade off is not a bad one at all.
If the Democrats can pull off winning enough seats on the Hill to become veto-proof, the trade off is not a bad one at all.
that's far too sanguine for me. SCOTUS appts., for starters.
It was good and served its purpose. It was a bit canned but most of the rest of them were worse. She came off as mostly sincere, if boringly boilerplate, family, God, country.
The conservative commentators I saw were Fred Barnes, who said it was a good speech, and Bill Kristol who said he couldn't comment, didn't know what to say. At least Barnes had the balls to admit it was good.
Juan Williams was crying he was so moved.
Isn't there an inconsistency between her moaning about the need for change and opportunity in our country and her own and Obama's story of how the country has provided them with such great opportunities?
No.
Some people can have the right combination of family support, good fortune, etc., to succeed despite not being particularly wealthy growing up, without there being good general opportunity. And it takes some character for people who have had that fortune to recognize it as such rather than thinking, "well, I made it, so everyone else can, too, and if they don't, it must be because they are lazy."
I watched Michelle's speech. It was a written speech delivered to an audience, so it did come off a bit artificial at times. So what? That is how most prepared speeches.
The important part is the content of the speech. What Michelle told us about her family is for real. Michelle showed us that she was a normal middle class child who worked hard and managed to succeed at the American dream without any help from rich/influential relatives.
HOME RUN, end of story.
Is it just me or are there even more concern trolls here at MJ than at WM?
Since most Americans didn't watch it and will pick up their impressions from TeeVee sound-bites and punditry, the fact that she did well might not matter too much, but I thought she did a lot better than I'd expect someone who's not a professional politician to do.
I believe there are some voters who are a bit skittish about Barack Obama, not quite sure if he's Huey Newton and Michelle Obama is Angela Davis. I think Michelle's speech might reassure skittish voters that she's a loving mom who cares about ordinary things like the safety, education, and health of her children, and that she and Barack don't have some weird scheme to institute some Black Panther-like radical vision for America.
In parallel with this, Jesse Jackson Jr. said something about how Dr. King would be pleased, and you thought he was going to say something about an African-American winning a major party nomination, but instead he spoke about the mountaintop. I thought that was a great speech too.
Perhaps you found the speech artificial because you haven't walked the road they have walked.
I'm a child of immigrants who came to this country with nothing. I totally identify with the hardscrabble experience that inform their values. I was moved to tears by her story. And the tears in the audience? I think those are tears of identification with their struggle.
So, yeah, I think she hit it out of the ballpark.
You people are nuts.
It was a superb speech.
If McCain's wife is scheduled to speak, she ought to cancel.
I've only followed the campaign in the papers and haven't heard much from the candidates except the sound bites on the news (I did watch the Obama-Biden speeches on Saturday). I've never heard Michelle speak and really didn't know much about her.
I was blown away. She's a very impressive person and an exceptional speaker. From a policy standpoint, I agree with a lot Obama has said, but I don't have a feeling for him personally. I think I have a much better sense of Obama by listening to his wife talk about him and their family. He's a very lucky guy.
Michelle Obama had to overcome the image of an angry black woman who hates America, and not only did she deliver, but she gave a hell of a speech.
All that is required of Cindy McCain is that she smile pleasantly and keep on her feet.
Seems fair.
The speech was a good nights work but I could do without the po' mouth. Both Obama's grew up in comfortable middle class homes.
"Both Obama's grew up in comfortable middle class homes."
Obviously, someone has been paying attention to only right-wing pundits. The facts say otherwise.
Anyone notice that she'd changed her hair?
I was sitting on the couch watching with my 12 year old while he did his math homework. I eventually got up and took a shower. I wasn't that impressed with her speech.
On the other hand, I did like her brother's intro to her speech quite a lot. He kept me engaged.
But I have to say the best speech I've seen in a long long time was Obama's on race. I just happened to tune into it that Tuesday morning and it was riveting. He hit all the notes and took us further as a nation into confronting the truths of our past and then accepting each other as we are. That's really something.
You sound like you are looking foward to this. Dempcrats already control both houses with a Republican in the White House, and look where it got us. Attitude such as yours explain why Dems lose.
My comment above was in response to Erika S.
Well, I'm playing it now. It did no harm. "This is why I love my country so much" may be an antidote to "for the first time I'm really proud of my country."
That's exactly what the entire speech was designed to do. And it was a decently written, if occasionally stagily delivered, speech. (She really needs to work on timing. And I'm pretty sure she will.)
A lot of people who've never seen much of her before--which includes most of the MSM morons opining on her allegedly insufficient love of country and supposed "anger"--will come away liking her, which is what's important. Those of us who already thought she was fine weren't the audience for this.
Perhaps you found the speech artificial because you haven't walked the road they have walked.
I think it's important to distinguish between artificiality of message and a slightly plastic delivery. The only ones accusing her of the former are winger trolls or disgruntled Clintonites.
Cindy McCain is going to really, really suck at this.
Some people can have the right combination of family support, good fortune, etc., to succeed despite not being particularly wealthy growing up, without there being good general opportunity. And it takes some character for people who have had that fortune to recognize it as such rather than thinking, "well, I made it, so everyone else can, too, and if they don't, it must be because they are lazy."
Succinctly spot on.
Those of us who already thought she was fine weren't the audience for this.
Exactly. And that is the context in which her speech should be evaluated. The comments above like "home run" I suspect come from true believers -- like myself.
I sure hope this was a one-night thing and it doesn't signal that she will become a major part of his campaign. His campaign has to be about attacking. And she can't attack without becoming the "angry black woman."
I continue to have major doubts about her impact on his chances. Among voters who would never vote for a black man, I mean, who cares. But among those who Obama really has a chance to win over -- folks who may have a tinge of racism in their hearts, but try desperately not to discriminate -- I'm not so sure.
I still believe, as one pundit declared, that she could lose the White House for him with one poorly phrased statement. The speech, excellent as it was, will not save her or him if she says the wron thing again.
Speech was excellent, humanized and personalized her and Barack.
However, MSM is lying about the convntion that Dems were not critical enough of John McCain and did not define him! I don't know what Convention they saw, but I watched C-Span starting at about 4:00 p.m., and speaker after speaker was very critical of John McCain and took every opportunity to compare McCain to Bush. Nancy Pelosi, Rep., Jessie Jackson, Jr., and a host of others. There was even a mini town hall meeting where those who answered the questions were very critical of John McCain! They were great.
Can these people ever tell the truth? Or are they all a bunch of liars. This is unreal that our media has decayed this much.
And Joe Scarborough is Imploding with Rage and Jealousy!
The comments above like "home run" I suspect come from true believers -- like myself.
Well, I'm a little surprised to see you count yourself as a true believer, Econobuzz, given the number of times you've bought into and promulgated the "Michelle Obama is too angry!" meme yourself. But all's well that ends well, I guess.