Knowing that I could certainly never stomach the annoying earnestness of Obama's speech in real time, I decided to read the text. Truth is, it's not that interesting a speech. I was pretty surprised at how much of it could have been said by any Democratic nominee for the last 20 years.
Obama certainly came out swinging against Bush. Based on what I read, I am confident that Bush will drop out of the race almost immediately.
As for McCain, it's hard to tell if Obama's attacks came off as strong or angry from reading the text.
But one thing really stood out for me. When Obama says that he is ready to have the debate about whether or not he is ready to be President "any time," it struck me as very odd. Obviously it's a little chest-puffing to make him look strong, but it seems to me that the final night of your nominating convention in front of a large crowd and uninterrupted national television coverage is probably the time to lay out your case for why you are ready. The whole campaign is a big debate and Obama just had a huge chance to stage his rebuttal. Instead, he simply said, "Aw, dude, this case for why I am ready is SOO sweet and you are going to be blown away when we debate it...someday."
The election is less than 70 days away, Obama. The debate is already happening.
Also, is it just me or was telling McCain that you are ready to debate any time a bit of a silly move given that you turned down constant offers from McCain for town hall-style debates all summer?
Then again, the magic is in the image with these things, so I wonder how people thought it played on TV. Did he look strong or angry? Did he sound confident or shrill? The speech is so boring on paper, it could really go either way.
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