Obama: singing with angels, dancing with the force

Anybody who was watching CNN on the morning of June 4 might be tempted to think so. History was being made.  Obama was about to become the first black man ever to be nominated for the presidency of the United States by a major political party. The super-delegates of the Democratic Party were falling like dominoes, committing to him one by one.

The excitement in the studio was palpable as Obama inched toward the magic number. The CNN team was pumped up and salivating like the Alien drooling over Sigourney Weaver. For a full thirty minutes, Wolf Blitzer looked as if he was about to have the first internationally televised orgasm. And finally it happened: the Bingo moment kicked in and CNN declared Obama the Democratic nominee. Wolf Blitzer relaxed visibly.

It was at that point that all three remaining presidential candidates began to give speeches. It was fascinating.  Everybody watching must have been struck by the differences in style and substance.

First John McCain spoke. Compared to the others, he really looked old. His speech was a little shaky in places, broke no new ground, but wasn't bad. As always, McCain conveyed an earnest sincerity, a gritty integrity that was almost transparent. But he also seemed uncomfortable on the public stage.  Occasionally he flashed a strained smile when no smile was called for.

In the campaign of 2000, McCain often paused in his speeches to flash the same strained smile. I came to call it his "phony smile". McCain is not a smiley kind of guy, and I'd be willing to bet that his advisers had told him, "John, you look too serious. You've got to smile more." So McCain made a deliberate effort to smile during his speeches, and it came across as artificial.

He's doing it again, and it compromises his image as a straight shooter. If I were him, I'd tell my advisors, "Hey, guys, if I don't feel like smiling, I'm not going to."

CNN followed McCain's speech with a buzz session from a panel of  commentators whom Wolf Blitzer likes to call "the best political team on television". Young Jeffrey Toobin burst out, "That was awful!  That was the worst speech I've ever heard!" David Gergen, a magisterial sage who always speaks in measured tones and is old enough to be Toobin's father, mildly remarked that he didn't think it was so bad.

This suggests a generation gap in the way people perceived McCain's speech.  Older people may have thought it was okay; younger people probably thought it was terrible. What's certain is that, although it was passable, McCain's speech is not going to win the Nobel Prize for Oratory.

Not long afterward, Hillary Clinton spoke. Hillary is always smiling and upbeat, and her speech was competent and well delivered. But she came across as smarmy in several places. Hillary likes to pander to her audiences, and sometimes pandering sounds patronising. The most newsworthy part of her speech was a statement indicating that she wasn't going to drop out of the race just yet. 

Then it was Obama's turn. As usual, he started off with measured cadences and gradually built up to a thundering climax. Images of Lincoln at Gettysburg, Martin Luther King Jr at the Washington Mall, and Jesus Christ on the mountainside flashed in my fevered brain. I pictured the heavens opening and angels descending, sounding trumpets and scattering rose petals from on high.

Obama hammers at the same themes - optimism, change, reconciliation, togetherness, all summed up in his punchy slogan, "Yes, we can!"  You'd think this would start to sound old hat after a while, but he always manages to make it sound new, and he never misses a beat. I always end up shaking in my La-Z-Boy recliner and muttering, "Holy mackerel, this guy is GOOD."

If I had to grade the three speeches, I'd give McCain a C, Hillary a B, and Obama an A - possibly an A plus, because it's hard to imagine him getting any better than he is already. And if I had to pick a song to represent each speech, McCain's would be "The Old Gray Mare", Hillary's would be Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You", and Obama's would be the Alleluia Chorus from Handel's Messiah.

Is the Force with Obama? It's certainly with his speeches. Always he tries to draw us back to the ideals enunciated by America's founding fathers, phrased in a new and compelling way. Those ideals have become tarnished in recent years, but under Obama's constant polishing, they've emerged looking shiny and new.  

Whether there's substance behind the speeches, and whether Obama can deliver on the ideals he enunciates so eloquently, we have yet to learn. So far, things are looking good. He navigated the minefields of the pre-nomination campaign with skill and aplomb. He's demonstrated good judgement, flexibility, coolness under pressure, and the ability to respond to a crisis with class and grace - qualities that do credit to any president. Will this translate into competence, or even brilliance, on the world stage? He's not there yet, so stay tuned.

But there's one more thing. I'm an expat, but I'm also an American. And I look forward to the day when Obama's two little daughters, or somebody very much like them, will be playing on the White House lawn. On that day the United States will finally have fulfilled its promise; the American Dream will have come true; and those of us who have had to squirm in discomfort for these past seven years will finally be able to raise our heads and reclaim our heritage.

s tsow is a humorist, a student of religions, and a political observer. He is the author of "The Nirvana Experiments" and "Thai Lite".