I am only going to briefly discuss Obama’s actual speech on the common tonight since it was kinda an amalgam of speeches he has given all year as all stump speeches are. I would say he had his B+ and not A game tonight, but his B+ game is better then every other presidential candidate in 08’s A game. Including republicans, I would say the only other candidate who is really good on the stump is Mitt Romney. The strongest parts of his speech where when he talked about attending an antiwar rally in 02 even when some of his advisors where against it and his use of an anecdote about his mother passing away from cancer and dealing with the insurance bureaucracy during that time. His weakest point was he talked about his accomplishments as a state senator. I sure he accomplished things as a state senator but when running for president that is like me saying I played a good centerfield in little league as a reason I should play in the outfield for the Red Sox. Now on to some other random thoughts about the night:
•The Common was freaking pact. With the number of people at the rally you would have thought that Papelbon was going to dance at the end of it or something.
•I got there later then I wanted to and was at a terrible place for pictures so I am not going to bother to post any.
•While waiting for Obama to come to the stage, I did hear one Lets Go Red Sox chant for about 30 seconds. You can’t have any large gathering of people in the Boston area without one.
•During the speech Obama congratulated the Red Sox, but stated he was still a White Sox fan and was not going to say he was a Sox fan because that’s what we wanted to hear. ( or something like that) This was a not so subtle dig at Hillary Clinton who claims to be both a Cubs and Yankees fan.
•Obama best laugh line of the night was when he said “his cousin Dick Cheney has been running the energy policy in the Bush Administration.”
•I noticed between speeches and before Patrick and Obama came on, Kanye West, Beyonce, and Alicia Keys where all played. The reason that is significant is because West, Beyonce, and Keys all successfully walk the race tight rope line in this country because they are popular with Caucasians and still respected in the African American community. Obama is trying his best to walk this same tight rope of race relations.
•Deval gave a good intro speech and during the Obama’s speech he occasional reference and talked directly to Deval with good effect.
•The night’s atmosphere added to the speech and the rally in general. The moon was out and there where occasional strong gusts of wind during the speech which at times almost seemed to be a special effect to Obama’s speech about change and a new direction.