A Night of Speeches
Last night, listening to John McCain’s speech before Hillary decided “not to make any decisions,” and Obama claimed the nomination, I kept thinking about how awful it would be to have to hear McCain talk for four (or, god forbid, eight years) as our president. Not only is the man a god-awful orator, but he’s also the opposite of what they so-often call him – the opposite of that “straight shooter.”
In fact, I think I would leave the country if the man got nominated to office. When he talks, it feels like he thinks he’s back in his ‘football days’ in high school; like he thinks the American people are the stupid cheerleader he’s trying to woo with his “suave” smile, convincing her, years later (and one divorce later), to get the plastic surgery that will make her look like a Steppford wife, rather than a first lady. While Obama makes us think, and enriches us with vocabulary of worth and weight, McCain talks down to us and smiles that strange, canned, and twisted smile. Truth is -- the man freaks me out.
As for Hillary. The way I feel about Hillary is almost how I feel about Sex & the City. It’s a strange combination of contradictions. Powerful women that, instead of empowering us, make us look bad, for instance. There are so many paradoxes in Hillary, it’s hard to know where to start.
Last night, listening to Hillary’s speech – at the beginning of it – I regained all my lost admiration for the woman. She seemed to be that feisty woman I had once liked, speaking with sincerity. She seemed to be addressing issues, no matter what – you have to admire that kind of perseverance. But, and this is a big but – the fact that she did not “make any decisions,” that she didn’t gracefully bow out, makes me feel like she’s waiting and waiting in order to gain some kind of deal-making leverage. It’s depressing and ungracious, and selfish, and not in the best interest of the democratic party, or the country…and it’s almost as bad as her biggest gaff: “well, we all know that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June…” What?!!
While McCain thinks his pseudo-charming smile and “straight-talk” -- which is really just arrogant “down-talk” -- fails to seduce us; Hillary “struggles” through her words -- angry at times, bitter at others, but always “working” so evidently and obviously hard. Isn’t the trick to make us think it’s easy? Isn’t the trick, to make us feel, as Americans, that we aren’t going to have to “struggle” anymore when you’re president? Listening to Hillary makes me feel like four (or eight) years with her would be uphill, yes, but it would be, as is everything with her, an intense uphill battle.
Meanwhile, Obama makes it seem so easy. We know it’s not. We know that no matter what it will be hard to reverse the years of damage created by the Bush Administration(s). But, it feels possible with him; it feels like less of a struggle. And, mind you, this coming from a black man in America who just became the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Point is, he doesn’t, to use one of his words, bludgeon us with his “struggle,” he tells how to use it and learn from it, and what we will do with that struggle to make a better tomorrow. For me, that tomorrow is today, already. This is such a historic event that the Goosebumps from last night still haven’t left me.
And with that, I leave my computer, to say a little prayer for my country. That she is blessed with good judgment, so that the world, just like John McCain, might stop viewing the American People as a group of spoiled children.
Last night, listening to John McCain’s speech before Hillary decided “not to make any decisions,” and Obama claimed the nomination, I kept thinking about how awful it would be to have to hear McCain talk for four (or, god forbid, eight years) as our president. Not only is the man a god-awful orator, but he’s also the opposite of what they so-often call him – the opposite of that “straight shooter.”
In fact, I think I would leave the country if the man got nominated to office. When he talks, it feels like he thinks he’s back in his ‘football days’ in high school; like he thinks the American people are the stupid cheerleader he’s trying to woo with his “suave” smile, convincing her, years later (and one divorce later), to get the plastic surgery that will make her look like a Steppford wife, rather than a first lady. While Obama makes us think, and enriches us with vocabulary of worth and weight, McCain talks down to us and smiles that strange, canned, and twisted smile. Truth is -- the man freaks me out.
As for Hillary. The way I feel about Hillary is almost how I feel about Sex & the City. It’s a strange combination of contradictions. Powerful women that, instead of empowering us, make us look bad, for instance. There are so many paradoxes in Hillary, it’s hard to know where to start.
Last night, listening to Hillary’s speech – at the beginning of it – I regained all my lost admiration for the woman. She seemed to be that feisty woman I had once liked, speaking with sincerity. She seemed to be addressing issues, no matter what – you have to admire that kind of perseverance. But, and this is a big but – the fact that she did not “make any decisions,” that she didn’t gracefully bow out, makes me feel like she’s waiting and waiting in order to gain some kind of deal-making leverage. It’s depressing and ungracious, and selfish, and not in the best interest of the democratic party, or the country…and it’s almost as bad as her biggest gaff: “well, we all know that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June…” What?!!
While McCain thinks his pseudo-charming smile and “straight-talk” -- which is really just arrogant “down-talk” -- fails to seduce us; Hillary “struggles” through her words -- angry at times, bitter at others, but always “working” so evidently and obviously hard. Isn’t the trick to make us think it’s easy? Isn’t the trick, to make us feel, as Americans, that we aren’t going to have to “struggle” anymore when you’re president? Listening to Hillary makes me feel like four (or eight) years with her would be uphill, yes, but it would be, as is everything with her, an intense uphill battle.
Meanwhile, Obama makes it seem so easy. We know it’s not. We know that no matter what it will be hard to reverse the years of damage created by the Bush Administration(s). But, it feels possible with him; it feels like less of a struggle. And, mind you, this coming from a black man in America who just became the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Point is, he doesn’t, to use one of his words, bludgeon us with his “struggle,” he tells how to use it and learn from it, and what we will do with that struggle to make a better tomorrow. For me, that tomorrow is today, already. This is such a historic event that the Goosebumps from last night still haven’t left me.
And with that, I leave my computer, to say a little prayer for my country. That she is blessed with good judgment, so that the world, just like John McCain, might stop viewing the American People as a group of spoiled children.
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