A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

A very good, very eloquent, very powerful case for a cause I do not believe in. It was delivered well, The atmospherics were impressive, if more than a little bit imperial. But at the end of the day, we have to decide whether we are going to buy into a political ideology merely because it is dressed up in eloquent words.

Can we? Harsh shot after harsh shot was leveled at John McCain and the Republican Party. That's fine; politics ain't beanbag. But once the harsh shots are finished, it is more than a little bit disingenuous to suddenly and self-righteously pronounce that we ought to put aside the old politics of imputing bad motives and ill intent to our political opponents. Republicans didn't just get politely disagreed with in that speech. Republicans got accused of every nasty thing under the sun and merely because Obama stopped every once in a while to assure us that Brutus John McCain is an honorable man, doesn't mean that he meant it. And it certainly doesn't mean that he wanted his political supporters to believe that he meant it. The new politics of Barack Obama are not new at all. They are fake beyond measure.

(One can, of course, see the hypocrisy in all of this by examining the "thoughts" of the aspiring patron saint of Obamanian politics, Andrew Sullivan. Sullivan believes that a YouTube John McCain put together to genuinely and sincerely congratulate Barack Obama merely means that it is "very hard for a celebrity as celebrated as McCain to be upstaged. Or up-stadiumed." He approvingly quotes James Wolcott's statement that House Deputy Republican Whip Eric Cantor is "essentially an unregistered Israeli lobbyist," calling such claptrap "entertaining." Of course, we may remind ourselves that Cantor is Jewish while we reflect on the fact that Sullivan is pleasantly amused by the implicit--or not-so-implicit--accusation that as a Jew, Cantor has dual loyalties.)

As for the substance of the speech--to the extent that there actually was substance--at some point in time, Barack Obama will have to explain how it is that he will be able to force American companies to stay in the United States when he does nothing whatsoever to cut (and even eliminate) the corporate tax rate. He will have to explain how it is that America will remain economically competitive when he proposes to fully bring protectionism back in fashion. Economic times are surely tougher than they have been in the past, but listening to Obama and the Democrats for the past four days, one would think that we are in the midst of yet another Great Depression. We are not, of course, but that doesn't stop the sob stories from flowing like the tears they are supposed to evoke.

Do not get me wrong: I am not hard-hearted to those who suffer. I just am outraged that politicians feel they have to constantly and consistently appeal to our worst fears by making it seem as if suffering is everywhere and just around the corner from your home, barreling towards you to consign you to the depths of Hellish misery and that the only way to escape is to actually be reassured and grateful when Bureaucratic Man comes around and tells us "I am from the Government and I am here to help." We ought to know by now that governmental "help" is nothing of the kind. The same people that screw up your day while you are waiting in line at the Post Office, while you are waiting at the DMV or while you are dealing with the recalcitrant IRS gnome who is impervious to reason are the ones who will be put in charge of your health care, will administer tax policy and will usurp your right and the right of your community to raise and educate your children. All the pretty words in the world can't hide that ugly fact.

And as for foreign policy? Barack Obama may tell us that he is ready for a debate, but what will he debate with? His reformed ideas about the surge and the counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq? Afraid not; Obama hasn't yet gotten around to admit that he was wrong when it came to judging the surge and the counterinsurgency strategy. His ideas about how to combat Russian aggression in Georgia? Afraid not; Obama has been too busy blaming John McCain for . . . something, while not saying a word about how he and Joe Biden would stand up to Vladimir Putin. Did we hear anything about dealing with China and India? Nope. Dealing with Africa? Nope. Dealing with the European Union? Nuh-uh. So where is this preparedness for a foreign policy debate that we are assured Barack Obama has?

I'm sure, of course, that the speech has many fans. A few of them are supposed to be non-partisan. I just wonder whether we, as a country, are going to let substance-free eloquence rule the day. Will we? Or will we look past the prettiness of the words and ask whether in the end, they mean anything?

The latter approach is how to best decide an election. The former approach is seductively easy to adopt. The Obama campaign wants you to adopt it. They hope that if you do, you won't ask any questions about the location of the beef.