Thursday, August 28, 2008

Tonight's Fare (Updated)

In about thirty minutes, I'm going to sit down with my wife and the daughter who isn't at work to watch Barak Obama give his acceptance speech as the nominee of the Democratic Party for the office of President of the United States.

When I was a kid, I reckoned that the chances for seeing a black man elected president during my lifetime were pretty good. Mrs. Tmj and I spoke of this this evening with the youngest goddess.

We live in a wonderful country. The best one on the planet, actually, and one that still offers a great future for hardworking folks that will fight for freedom.

I wish Mr. Obama were fit for the office he pursues. I wish his party wasn't responsible a large part of the problems facing the nation. Sadly, the victim politics, the race pimping, the identity politics, and the intent to redistribute the wealth of the nation are now cemented as features of the party, not bugs, with Mr. Obama's arrival as The Candidate. I wish the Senator's party didn't hate this country so much, and out of such depths of ignorance of history.

We are a nation of limitless possibilities. We always have been. I wish the Left could see that; but no, it conflicts with The Narrative...

The Constitution declares the power of government to come from the consent of the governed. The Democrats will do well to remember that should they find themselves in possession of both the executive and the legislature. That document also says you just have to be thirty five years of age and a natural citizen to hold the office. Beyond that, the only direction given is contained in the oath of office:

"I, name, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."


We live in interesting times.

Post speech update:

Liberal boilerplate for the most part; I was hoping for better in light of the historic nature of the moment. More than a little red meat for his base - "government that sat on its hands" during Katrina. He had to quash rising chants on two or three occasions. There was some kind of fugly edit between the "make our houses more green" segment and the one that followed; it was jarring. He mentioned clean coal and nuc plants and for all of five seconds you could have heard a gnat fart inside that stadium of filled with seventy thousand bodies. Ditto his promise to bring tax cuts to 95% of the people. Proclaimed his readiness to debate John McCain. It is my understanding that his campaign is actively trying to back out of the previously agreed to schedule.

I wish he hadn't closed with the pledge to "free us from dependence on foreign oil" in ten years. That's such a blatant untruth it kind of soured whatever good feeling I was able to shepherd through the rest of the performance.

Nothing about illegal immigration. Nothing about foreign policy except he pledges to restore our stature. I think Mr. Putin has plans for YOU, Mr. Obama.

No surprises. Not unless you count the amount of botox it must have taken to turn Michelle Obama's forehead into the featureless, deathly still plain that it has become. They were successful in getting rid of the anger crease. Unfortunately, instead of giving the impression of barely restrained rage, her new look is more akin to a state of persistent confusion. And the dress... she's going to expect lots of payback for this night, make no mistake about it.

Now if McCain doesn't absolutely screw the pooch on his VP pick, I can get on with my life.

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