The Speech

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 29, 2008 9:59 AM

DENVER, Aug. 29--Barack Obama may have delivered his speech at Mile High Stadium, but, until the end, his rhetoric was far more down to earth.

Perhaps half the address was devoted to policy detail--capital gains taxes, renewable energy, teacher pay, bankruptcy law--in a way that no one could accuse him of offering airy calls for change without specifics. And he weaved throughout the address references to mother and grandmother and daughters in a way that grounded the rhetoric in real concerns.

It wasn't until the final section of the speech that Obama returned to some of the loftier themes of the primaries: casting off "worn-out ideas" and the "politics of the past." He sought common ground on hot-button issues--abortion, gun control, same-sex marriage, immigration--rather than throwing red meat to the Democratic base. And it wasn't until the finale that Obama referred to the 45th anniversary of the "I have a dream" speech, referring to a preacher from Georgia but not mentioning Martin Luther King Jr. by name.

At one point, perhaps worried about sounding like a big-government liberal, Obama promised to scrub the budget and "eliminate programs that no longer work." Right. The man's been campaigning for 18 months. If he's vowed to eliminate a single program, I've missed it.

He took some hard shots at John McCain: Bush's third term, doesn't get it, wrong on Iraq and Afghanistan, even questioning his foreign policy "temperament." I'm sure McCain will respond forcefully in St. Paul.

Obama had so much to accomplish in that football stadium. It's too soon to know how much he achieved. It's beyond question that he knows how to give a speech. In purely oratorical terms, McCain has a tough act to follow.

One interesting bellwether: Several conservative TV pundits gave Obama high marks, as the campaign was quick to note. "Genuinely outstanding," said Pat Buchanan. "Awfully impressive . . . eloquently explained America's promise," said Bill Kristol.

Some MSM analyses, starting with the NYT:

"It is almost a cliché of this election that many Americans, despite a 20-month-old campaign, still lack a strong notion of who Mr. Obama is. In the most personal sense, his speech was not particularly illuminating on this score. He spent far more time talking about struggling Americans whose hopes he related to than wearing his emotions on his sleeve or reaching across history's divide to talk about race.

"But Mr. Obama's purpose, obviously, was to open a direct channel between his candidacy and the personal lives of Americans, rather than open up about himself."

Boston Globe: "Gone was much of the soaring rhetoric of hope that defined his primary campaign; and while he alluded to his biracial, international life story and the historic nature of his candidacy, he mentioned them only obliquely. He let his diverse audience of devoted fans, crowded into a football stadium, make their own point about racial unity and togetherness . . .

"The toughness seemed to signal an awareness that Obama, who maintains only the narrowest of leads in the polls, had to make a stronger case against the Republicans.

Baltimore Sun: "Barack Obama took off the gloves last night.

"Sometimes accused of being too high-minded and elitist, the Democratic presidential nominee used a rock-star stage in Mile High stadium to get down and dirty, striking back hard - and repeatedly at John McCain."

Chicago Tribune editorial: "the electricity generated by a firm and confident speech can last until November, Barack Obama may look back on a crisp Thursday night in Denver as the megawatt moment that won him the presidency. If, though, Obama's reluctance to stray from traditional Democratic orthodoxy flummoxes the voters who matter most, he may recall Thursday as the night he played it too safe. The pageantry and Obama's delivery were spectacular -- as in, a sensory spectacle. The goal of every convention is to reassure and motivate true believers. By that measure, Thursday's glittery message machine outshined a sometimes turgid convention. The football stadium, the night, the crowd, the lights -- as the clock clicked toward 10 in Chicago, we half-expected campaign strategist David Axelrod to dump Gatorade on Obama"

The libs loved it. Josh Marshall:

"I thought this was a very strong speech. About exactly what was needed. It was a strong speech. He made the case for himself; he laid out clear policy goals; and he aggressively set forth the stakes of the campaign. He made the case against John McCain while not attacking his character -- which makes a clear contrast with McCain's aggressively personal, denigrating campaign strategy.

"I've heard a few people say that he seemed to hold back from giving the soaring speech he might have given. But I suspect that was intentional and I think a good decision."

John Judis in the New Republic:

"I have heard Barack Obama deliver speeches better, but in this acceptance speech, Obama did exactly what he needed to do to set the stage for the fall campaign.

"He had to do three things for the fall, which he accomplished in his speech: first, he focused the campaign on the economy--and did so by personalizing the fear and anger that many Americans now feel. Secondly, he answered forcefully arguments about his ability as commander-in-chief. And third, he invoked his own biography to dispel fears that as a president he would favor one group over another."

Andrew Sullivan:

"It was a deeply substantive speech, full of policy detail, full of people other than the candidate, centered overwhelmingly on domestic economic anxiety. It was a liberal speech, more unabashedly, unashamedly liberal than any Democratic acceptance speech since the great era of American liberalism. But it made the case for that liberalism - in the context of the decline of the American dream, and the rise of cynicism and the collapse of cultural unity. His ability to portray that liberalism as a patriotic, unifying, ennobling tradition makes him the most lethal and remarkable Democratic figure since John F Kennedy.

"What he didn't do was give an airy, abstract, dreamy confection of rhetoric. The McCain campaign set Obama up as a celebrity airhead, a Paris Hilton of wealth and elitism. And he let them portray him that way, and let them over-reach, and let them punch him again and again . . . and then he turned around and destroyed them. If the Rove Republicans thought they were playing with a patsy, they just got a reality check."

One who is distinctly unimpressed is National Review's Jim Geraghty:

"I notice three glaring flaws from a speech that I'm sure will make Chris Matthews' leg explode, prompt Keith Olbermann to start chiseling at Mount Rushmore, and that will be hailed by many media commentators as the greatest in American history -- just as Obama's Berlin speech was, just as Obama's race speech was, just as his Iowa victory speech was, just as his 2004 convention address was . . .

"Obama's speech was predictable, it was implausible, and it was strikingly, inexplicably, angry.

"Predictable: I could have prewritten a lot of it -- 'four more years that look like the past eight,' 'voting together 90 percent of the time,' 'McCain is no independent.' Anecdotes of working men who have to ship their equipment overseas, the reference to 'a city drowning,' the implicit comparison of himself to Martin Luther King."

I respect Geraghty's analysis even when I disagree with him. But angry? I have no idea what he's talking about and doubt many people saw it that way.

And, finally, Woo-gate:

"Several members of the media were seen cheering and clapping for Barack Obama as the Illinois senator accepted the Democratic nomination Thursday . . .

"Standing on the periphery of the football field serving as the Democratic convention floor, dozens of men and women wearing green media floor passes chanted along with the crowd.

"Two members of the foreign press exchanged opportunities to take each other's picture while wearing an Obama hat and waving a flag.

"Several others nearby screamed 'woo' during some of Obama's biggest applause lines."

Okay, but who were these people? Fifteen thousand media types got credentials, including commentators, bloggers and some who just seem to go to the parties.

For earlier Media Notes postings from the convention in Denver, go to thecolumn archiveon washingtonpost.com.