The Time Is Now

I’ve been watching a little bit of the Democratic National Convention this week. It’s not all that interesting really; many of the not-ready-for-prime-time speakers just list off a bunch of talking points with all the excitement of Ben Stein. The prime time speakers that I’ve seen snippets of have been good, but not great in their speeches. They seem afraid to really go out there, and really try to fire up the crowd, instead playing it safe, like they don’t want to get cast in the next Republican commercial (except for Dennis Kucinich who decided to go all-out).

When things are so carefully scripted, when everyone works so hard to tow the company line, then no one is actually selling anything but pabulum. When you hear people complain that there isn’t much of a difference between the two parties, it’s because of events like this that never seem to convince you of any reason to vote for anyone. The message is always we are better than the other guy, but we don’t want to go out on a limb to show you why.

Many years ago, I supported John McCain in the Republican Primaries in 2000. The man was more of a moderate, seemed to be less fire and brimstone, more fiscally conservative and socially liberal, and he wasn’t George W. Bush. W. was our state governor and except for Ann Richards I can’t think of a single governor of Texas that I would like to see as President. McCain was beaten soundly by the lies and attacks of the Karl Rove machine that eventually brought W to the White House.

The McCain of 2000 is not the McCain of 2008. The ego of John McCain is so driven to become president that he’s left his principals, his stances, and is morals at home, and embraced the Karl Rove smear at all costs style of campaigning. It’s sad when blind ambition really takes over a man, and he’s not the man he once was. I just think he sold his soul to the devil. I see the Log Cabin Republicans say, “oh, he’s just doing this to get elected” but it’s more than that. When you sell out, you then have bills to pay, and promises to keep if you do make it into office. Unlike our more hopeful gay Republicans, I don’t think John McCain would go back to who he was. Heck, he has to run again in four years.

So it’s interesting when the Democrats have been selling themselves more as “not John McCain” than as leaders themselves. You think there would be a lot to sell about Barack Obama, but the message I was seeing from Hillary is that we need to vote for the Democrat, who happens to be Barack Obama. With all you have going for you this year, why is it so hard to sell the Democratic Ticket?

I like Barack Obama, but after the primaries, my enthusiasm has waned. I’d like to see more specifics. Sure, they are there on the website, but saying that is like calling customer service and they refer you to the pamphlet. Can you really articulate just how you are going to make healthcare insurance available for all; can you tell us how you really would withdraw the troops? We get bits and pieces, but it’s still vague.

When you leave your plans vague, it allows your opponent to do the same. McCain said he wants to win the war in Iraq. Would someone please hold him accountable to two things, what is victory, and what strategies will you implement to achieve victory? We’ve gone so long without anyone getting an answer from the Bush Administration on these questions; I guess we forget to hold the guy running for his spot to the fire.

The McCain campaign seems to be solely focused on trying to paint Obama as the outsider and a celebrity, which are really two messages that are at odds with each other. The McCain camp has decided that the election will be about whether or not you like Obama, rather than trying to promote McCain’s policies. The whole thing seems to be saying that McCain would have a hard time running on his policies, and the record of his party, so as the Republicans have done for the last few years, the object is to make the other guy look out of touch, extreme, unlike the average American and unelectable.

It worked with John Kerry and it seems to be working against Barack Obama. It’s easy to make someone different when they are different from the norm, so you really need to sell yourself as something better, a man of action, and man with plans. Sadly, when it seems like it would be easy to fight back, I feel like the fight as been very weak. This week has seemed to be the McCain strategy from the other side, vote for us because we are not them.

Tonight is a big night. Will Barack Obama actually be able to draw clear differences between his policies and McCain’s? Will he be able to address his policies and give everyone a real reason to vote for him as a choice, not just a vote against the other guy? Will he really be able to deliver his vision for the country and actually tell us how he hopes to reach that vision? Tonight’s the best opportunity to sell himself to the American people, but he has to do it differently than he did in the primaries. Change is fine, but now it’s time to start defining the changes you want to bring about, and how you plan to reach those goals.

I’m all for trying to shoot down the other brand, but I want to come out of this election cycle wanting to vote for my candidate, not just to vote against the other guys. I did that with John Kerry, never liking him, but disliking the other guy more. I like Obama, but he’s definitely left me wanting a bit after defeating Hillary. When I see him sinking in the polls, it’s making me mad as I can’t fathom that people don’t see through McCain and his strategy.

I’m mad that people can’t understand the damage the last several years of Republican policies have done to this country. Then I hear people who are unsure of Obama. For some it’s belief in the emails and smears and whispered rumors about his heritage and his past, but when it comes down to it, I think many people would give him the benefit of the doubt if they could feel confident in what they were voting for. It’s different since it isn’t the choice we’ve always had between two older, white men. There is a difference this time, so there’s uncertainty. It’s time for us to know why we should vote for Barack Obama, not some vague feeling or fear, but why he himself makes the difference.

I know who I’m voting for, and I like the man, but I want to be confident about the leader, and so do many other Americans. Tonight is his best chance to get his message out, to get beyond the vagaries and the buzz words and really sell us that he’s the man. I know there will be a lot of talk about the past, and how it led up to now, and that’s fine, but I want to know about the future. Let’s talk about how Barack can lead us into the next decade. We know McCain can’t do that, it’s all about the mindset of the past, but now we need to know, how Barack will make our future.

Sell me on it.


EDIT: Not wanting to gush, but I think he nailed it tonight. Looks like he was just waiting until now to throw the hard punch. Rope-a-Dope it is.