acropolis antics
- Posted by Martin on August 28th, 2008 filed in 2008 election, Barack Obama, Martin
Obama’s campaign has a tin ear and a deity complex. Combined, those two traits will do a lot more damage than help tonight - accepting the nomination at a football field was dumb move number one, dressing it up like the acropolis was number two, and trying to sell this idiocy as an act designed ‘for the people’ as Obamessiahâ„¢ tried last night rounded out the hat-trick.
Everyone can define what can go wrong, and no one can quite define what “great move” would look like. It has every possibility of looking like a Nuremberg rally; it has too many variables to guarantee a good tv picture; the set, the Athenian columns, looks hokey; big crowds can get in the way of subtle oratory. My own added thought is that speeches are delicate; they’re words in the air, and when you’ve got a ceiling the words can sort of go up to that ceiling and come back down again. But words said into an open air stadium…can just get lost in echoes, and misheard phrases.
Of course, the crowd will, in the style of Chris Matthews, have a tingle in their collective leg anyway. BUT, if the sound is not perfect (as it often is not for open-air speaking), some of his applause lines may get missed, and interfere with his rhythm.
I, for one, think it’ll finally give the late night comedians clearance to laugh at this vapid lightweight with an ego the size of a planet, and will reaffirm the notion that this guy is in it for the orgasmic swooning of adoring crowds, rather than an actual desire to improve the governance of America.
He’s toast in my opinion - Mike Dukakis was UNABLE to recite a SINGLE accomplishment of his candidate last night despite being given several opportunities to do so; pretty tricky to get through a job interview with nothing on your resume.
Talmadge Easyt says:
It was cold as hell, and Kennedy did it. Didn’t read all this crap then. Will the sound mess up, will his applause lines be heard? Yada yada yada… Who cares, maybe he just wanted let as many people see the speech live as possible? Could that be it? Sure things could go wrong, but they could have went wrong inside. All this jabber is a load of crap.
gregor says:
you said “rhythm”. are you insinuating something here? you know, every time Michelle hears the word “rhythm” she thinks of the “n” word…
hahahaha!
neil says:
Sounds like you’re a koolaid-drinker, Talmadge!
Lord Bitememan says:
On a more upbeat note, McCain will be running an ad tonight congratulating Obama on his accomplishment and putting the gloves down for the evening. Say what you will about his positions, McCain is a class act.
raz0r says:
If the
sheeplefans can’t hear, just have the roadies turn the amps up to eleven.Heidi Sue says:
I was looking for blogs - stumbled upon this one - - looks pretty good so far :)
As for the Acropolis - - I don’t think he was going for Greek god status - - every time I could bring myself to look at the TV screen, it almost looked like he was standing in front of - - dare I say it - the White House - - gasp - shudder. I think they were trying to lend credibility to the man.
I heard someone comment last night that the reason they held it in the football stadium is so that all of those 80,000+ fans (sigh) could go talk about their “experience” - and they’re hoping to hype up a larger section of the populus.
That’s it for me.
ashok says:
I dunno. Now that it’s over, I thought it was pretty good. Jay Cost over at Real Clear Politics didn’t think it was effective enough, that the visuals were indeed a bit weird.
My only complaint is the utter lack of substance, but that’s the usual complaint with the Democrats. Still - if he had taken more time to argue against Republican positions as opposed to assuming that “Bush sucks,” he could on that alone have given himself a sizable bounce, I feel.
My thoughts on the speech are here, if you’re interested.