Knowing that I will get an absolute ton of grief for
saying this, I nevertheless pronounce that from a purely political
standpoint, Barack Obama was as close to pitch-perfect in his
speech last night as he possibly could have been.
Don’t have a cow, folks. Let me explain. This is not to
say that critics would be wrong to pick apart some of Obama’s
substance. It is not to say that his nod to former President Bush
was anything other than more style than substance, and barely
enough even of style. He should have credited Bush at least to a
certain extent for the “surge,” and should have acknowledged that
at least on a basic level the surge worked. This is also not to say
that his discussion of the economy was anything but gauzy in
substance, lacking any specificity or real thrust. And this is not
to say that I agree in the slightest with his worldview or his
overall assessment of what it is that constitutes U.S.
interests.
But it is to say that considering the political
position he is in, and considering his ideology, and considering
the fact that most Americans now are looking inward and are very
happy to stop thinking about wars abroad, I thought he threaded
every needle he could thread and was effective in saying what a
whole lot of less-than-political, less-than-ideological Americans
want to hear. He said the troops are coming home. He said we must
focus on our economy. He said that Iraqis and Afghanis must learn
to fend for themselves — a stance with which probably 80+ percent
of Americans believe. He credited our military personnel again and
again and sounded heartfelt in doing so. He sounded proud of
America and of its efforts. He sounded a bit more generous to his
predecessor than in substance he actually was. He never once
sounded peevish. He didn’t cast blame. He also didn’t sound
anywhere near as arrogant, self-referential, self-reverential, and
self-absorbed as he usually does. He didn’t sound flat. His
intonation was good. And his language had just the right mix of
understated eloquence with conversational
approachability.
What I am saying is that his poll ratings will indeed get
a little bump from this speech, and that the bump will not
evaporate in just a few days but, at worst (or at best from
conservative standpoints) might just slowly dissipate over a couple
of weeks — if it dissipates at all. More likely is a bump of a few
points — not a huge gain, but four points or so — that lasts
steadily through September.
I don’t think he deserves such a bump. I think Obama is
tremendously flawed and his vision for the United States is alien
to mine and to that of most of American history. But I think he
went as far as he could go tonight toward re-engaging the political
middle without saying anything that could get him in trouble with
the left. I also think that in what he did choose to say, he was
sincere — and certainly sounded as if he were.
In those senses, I think his speech was a political
success, although I wish it had been otherwise. I do not feel safe
with Obama as our commander in chief. But I think he made more
people feel safe, or at least accepting of him as C-in-C, than
there were before he spoke last night. He didn’t say what a
conservative would have said. But he said the best he could get
away with saying while being credible, and he sounded mostly good
in doing so.
