Barack Obama goes for a closing Iowa argument today

Barack Obama and his campaign team seem to like set speeches to set themes. Remember, his announcement speech in Springfield. His foreign affairs speech. And his domestic policy speech. Now comes his closing argument speech. In Iowa. Des Moines. Today.

It will be a summation of his presidential effort so far and where he wants to go. The good folks over at NBC's First Read paid very close attention to Obama's Mason City speech Wednesday and think they see the developing theme of today's rhetorical ruminations that could play a crucial role in closing the sale for the junior Illinois senator among many Iowa Democrats in what has become essentially a statistical dead-heat among Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

Obama seems likely to retrace his campaign trail from the steps of the Illinois Capitol, where he made his announcement 10 months ago based on a fundamental belief in "the core decency and generosity of spirit in American people. A belief that the American people were desperate for change."

He added, "We felt that we might be able to not just change political parties in the White House, but that we might be able to change our politics. That was our bet and now 10 months later that faith has been vindicated, 10 months later what people said couldn't be done, we might do."

Now, he claimed, the whole Democratic campaign has become about change. And he urged the crowd, "when you make a decision to caucus, you have to ask yourself who's been about change their whole lives? Who's made the choices that would indicate their passion for working Americans, their hopes and their dreams?"

Not too surprisingly, Obama comes down on the side of Obama.

Now, if the same pattern as all year follows, watch for an attempt at a major announcement or distraction by the Clinton campaign to detract from the news play and attention Obama might get if he dominates Iowa's newscasts alone.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Xavier]

Actually Andrew, the pattern of "distraction" operates in reverse. Obama's "major closing argument" comes on the heels of Sen. Clinton's "Big Challenges, Real Solutions--Time to Pick a President" tour kick-off where is spreading the message to Iowans that you don't hope for change, you work for it... and improving the lives of women, children, and families has been something Hillary Clinton has dedicated her life to, and will continue to push an agenda of universal health care, a higher minimum wage, and an end to the war in Iraq as president.

[Keith Henderson]

"the core decency and generosity of spirit in American people. A belief that the American people were desperate for change."

I think that standard grammar (and Obama's intended phrasing) would put a semicolon instead of a period between those two clauses. I mention it not to nitpick but to highlight the non sequitur. Sure, by measures of central tendency Americans are decent and to a much lesser extent "generous of spirit". That doesn't imply that they are desperate for change. My experience is that most Americans are desperate for nothing. That's the problem, really; we are fat, complacent and lazy.

(You make an interesting point, Keith. And voter turnout numbers would seem to back you up. We'll see what happens this time.)

Americans love to sit around and make fun of either Bush 2 or Clinton 2, depending on their ideology. They don't, however, care that much. Politics is mostly entertainment. It's "I Love New York" with nuclear strike authority. Which would be great TV, except that nobody expects any elected official to do anything interesting at all. Stabilize! Quell! Surge! Mission Accomplished! At least New York is committed to and proud of her absurd decisions.

I don't think Americans are "generous of spirit" or "desperate for change", in the aggregate. We are decent; I'll give him that. The main thing that Americans are is starving to matter. If you dangle in front of most Americans (I'm convinced) the opportunity to make a difference, even if it's only a tiny, localized difference, they will abandon all the mundane trappings of their lives and take a chance. It's where we started, and it's where most of our national heroes have resided.

The American philosophy is not a commitment to change, or generosity, or Jesus, or individual liberties, or world peace, or equal rights, or hard work. It is a commitment to the idea that each living person can contribute to History, even if he or she is never mentioned in any history books. It's a commitment to the intrinsic value of persons.

If that all sounds wonky and meaningless, I guess maybe it is. My point is that Obama's comment (and his premise, on many occasions) is flawed. It is The West Wing without the extras. The West Wing was an inspiring drama, and most people would do well to watch it, but it is fiction in the end. If I talked to my wife like Romeo or the male lead from The Notebook, she would like it for about eight days and then tell me to please shut up and fix the cabinets.

I like Obama. I really hope he wins the nomination. But I hope that in the meantime he distances himself from platitudes and catchphrases and adds some substantive policy to his platform.

[esles2000]

try and front if you want to. barack obama is the deal deal.

here's the video of his speech today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPtg-gvgWhE

billary doesn't even come close.