I'm feeling incredible joy tonight, I'm staggered, and have been celebrating for hours. But I also have journalistic responsibility, and I confess I was a little underwhelmed by Obama's speech. It was too high-flown for me, too regal. At this staggering moment, there was not one confessional statement. John McCain was far more specific and straightforward about the actual news of the night: the first black president. He went on about this. McCain's statement of his own failure was an arresting one. I wish that Obama had been open about his feelings if only for an instant, and frank about the racial news, in the plainspoken personal way that he did in the race speech back in March in Philadelphia. As it was, he used the literary device of that 106-year-old woman to evoke the history-making part of his election. And that was too elusive for me. He obviously believes this is a great achievement not just for the country but for black people in this country, and I wanted a straightforward expression of this feeling, and the natural progression to the next point: that he represents all the people.
I don't think for one second that Obama doesn't understand the job before him, he seemed appropriately humble about that, and I loved when he spoke of "service" and "sacrifice." Those were the most direct words in the speech. There was nothing programmatic about the speech, or specific. JFK used the campaign in '60 to launch the Peace Corps. By contrast, Obama used vague language to describe the aggressive response the U.S. will have to those who want to "tear the world down." (as I remember the line…) Nothing about terrorism. He isn't a risktaker. He only gave that direct and personal race speech in Philly because his back was against the wall. I am somewhat apprehensive about his opacity and carefulness and kingly aura. I wonder how little real sense the public will get of his mental workings, and of his heart. He strikes me as the most private president since Reagan, and maybe as introverted as Nixon.
Still: joy, and ready to get to work!
