Obama's Speech

Drudge has the full text here. It's good, but not great. His speeches are really getting awfully formulaic, both in content and style. Although the "Change is...", "Maybe...", and "So it was..." introductions are great for his oratorical style (where he starts soft, slow and deep and ramps up the pitch, pace and volume), they are becoming quite tiresome. Same for content: change is good, change is what he's about, McCain won't change anything, change can unify the country, a unified country can do anything, change begins now, and with him. Again, very simple, very effective, and always delivered excellently.

The last couple of paragraph's actually let the speech down -- it reads like it's trying to be truly spectacular, but comes of as both a little clichéd, and as a bit of a clumsy West Wing/JFK rip-off, like the writer was trying to merge the fictional Sam Seaborn and the actual Ted Sorenson:

America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love. 

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment -- this was the time -- when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

I feel a little sorry for the candidates; it must be so hard to preserve any originality in such an exceptionally long primary season. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive, but every time I hear Obama say "change" or McCain say "my friends" or "straight-talk", I look for a cushion to cringe behind. Perhaps a two-month moratorium could be placed on certain words and phrases to afford the public some well-needed respite, and provide them (and me) with an opportunity to become re-sensitised to some of the terms that have become lost inside the white noise of political rhetoric.