Mission Accomplished

Kerry had some tought acts to follow Thursday night--Barack Obama, Al Sharpton, even John Edwards--but his acceptance speech last night, IMHO, was acceptable oratory and should serve him well as a beginning salvo in the campaign's home stretch.

To be honest, my only references thus far have been blogs--both Louisianian and national. I'll take a look at the media and pundits in a bit, but I'd like to offer my own take.

The lines that seem to stick out most among those posting and commenting are the diss to the Saudi Royal Family, and "the future doesn't belong to fear, it belongs to freedom." Billmon notes a few more items, and I'm sure everyone that I read/listen to could offer their own. However, I doubt individual lines will be remembered by the general public unless they show up on campaign advertising.

That said, there are plenty of things that could easily be culled for media buys--Kerry made a compelling case for himself. Upon the conclusion--nicely timed to allow for commentary--I surfed around the channels I get and couldn't find many people carping, with the exception of Bob Schieffer at CBS, who misquoted the Saudi line, and a few disgruntled C-Span viewers who'd ride the Bush bandwagon even if he plowed into a shrub.

Some scoffed at the personal appeal Kerry made to keep the campaign positive, and pointed out that this followed some stinging criticism. However, such criticism wasn't personal, it was based in policy analysis. Besides, who are the Republicans to criticize? Punks...

Kerry will never have the style of Edwards, much less the superlative skills of Sharpton or Obama, but he came across as himself--an intelligent man who is capable of leading the national government. The introduction from his stepsons and daughters was a nice touch (hey, all of them are good-looking, and, whether you like it or not, people will judge on this)--and the Band of Brothers, led by Max Cleland, is impossible for the Rethugs to counter. And, while I'm not personally a flag worshipper (or any kind of worshipper), I'll accept the appeals to flag and god in the sense that, yes, this time around, the undecideds and fence sitters are for whom the message is targeted. My A.B.B vote can be counted on, provided that Kerry really makes a play for the Gret Stet.

As noted in posts below, it will be interesting to contrast this show with the one next month. In spite of the danger to my television and computer, I might have to watch the countershow just to compare both media coverage and talking points. On the latter, I think the Democrats have nailed it down, in spite of Billmon's warning that the Repubs could possibly "steal back" the flag. As for the media, I'll be interested in seeing whether or not disdain of the process will be given equal time.

But the Dems had a good show--for those of us who watched it--and I'll be hoping for an end to the reign of Bush the Mistake come January of 2005. President Kerry, though, will get no free ride from me. When he pushes DLC "Republican Lite" measures, I'll offer criticism as harsh as any I've leveled at Team Bush (minus perhaps the stupidity references--Kerry might be a lot of things, but he isn't dumb). The troops MUST come home from Iraq, and we'll likely have to pressure the new administration to do the right thing (I noticed a lot of quiet for some of the national security elements to Kerry's address). I'll take my chances with the Massachusetts Senator, though, because this IS the most important election of my lifetime. BUSH MUST GO, and the United States MUST return to being the United States--not a perfect country, by any stretch, but a country that at least paid some lip service to its ideals. Bush smirks at said ideals before cynically tossing them into the trash at the first opportunity. To cite Ronald Reagan, Jr., in his NPR interview last week, "the man is not qualified to be President of the United States."

Kerry, for all his faults, IS. President-elect Kerry, and President Kerry. I think I could get used to saying that.