Obama's Speech

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/08/the_american_promise.html

I try not to knee jerk to such historical moments. That isn't saying I agree or disagree with Mr. Obama's policies but we have to recognize that this country, after far too many years, finally nominated its first bi-racial candidate. (Stop, he isn't solely African-American.)

I have to say that I thought it was a great speech in the big picture, in its entirety. This speech will stand the test of time and go down in a very short list of our nations history. Even most old time Republicans are saying this. Their were parts I laughed at, parts I cried during, and parts I was wondering where he was going. I don't feel something like this should be or needs to be over analyzed and nit picked.

He had some very strong lines. He wasn't strong enough on the economy; President Clinton made a better attack speech. A few that stood out to me (and again, not saying whether I agreed or disagreed but what stood out):

I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.
It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.
In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.
Well it's time for them to own their failure.
I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election...
I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.
I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.
But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy.
And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength."
But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.
John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.
You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq.
We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe.
But what I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism.
The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain.
So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.
You make a big election about small things.
And you know what - it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.
I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.