Bill's Broadsides

A crackerjack speech

How about that Barack Obama tonight, huh?

I wonder if perhaps his speech was broadcast in different languages on different channels, because the pundits on CNN and the pundits on Fox News had utterly opposite reactions.

CNN commentator David Gergen described the speech as "a masterpiece" and "a symphony" that was at times "soaring." Other analysts on that channel described it as a pitch-perfect performance and "the best speech since Kennedy" [meaning John F., not Teddy, though even that would be a compliment]. 

Alex Castellanos, a GOP consultant who had worked for the Mitt Romney campaign, conceded on CNN that Obama's speech was excellent -- to the extent that "whomever didn't get picked to be McCain's VP today is a lucky Republican."

Over at Fox News, Charles Krauthammer's judgement of the same Obama speech included the following comments:

"It was not at all a great speech."

"It was a generic Democratic speech."

"It was not at all soaring."

Huh? Perhaps he watched it on HDTV (high-density tunnel vision?).

I found it refreshing that the CNN crew used art and music metaphors in their praise of Obama and largely refrained from using insipid sports metaphors (though Anderson Cooper said Obama "threw some punches").  

My prediction for next week, when John McCain gives his speech accepting the Republican nomination for president, is that commentators on CNN and MSNBC and many other networks will offer the following reactions: "McCain's speech was very strong by most standards, but it failed to surpass Obama's in terms of populist energy and sheer oratorical power."  Or perhaps, "Close, but no cigar."

And over at Fox? How much do you want to bet someone like Mr. Krauthammer will call McCain's performance a "slam dunk" or say he "hit one right out of the park"?

If I'm right about that last line, the Fox News pundits can buy me some peanuts or crackerjacks ... nutty confections seem to be their specialty.

...

(P.S. I love these Obama posters and the all the spoofs they have inspired. The original (top) is by an artist named Shepard Fairey. When a piece of art inspires repeated parody, you know it's somehow touched a nerve. Think of all the goofs you've seen on "American Gothic" and "Whistler's Mother.")

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