For Anonymous

Anonymous asked for my opinion of the Dem convention and it has taken me a while to decide what I think. I’m not one of those bloggers who just pukes up whatever is on my mind and throws it on the screen. And I'm just not clever enough to think of just the right thing right away. That’s why this will never be a world famous blog.

Two impressions. The convention and Obama’s speech. The convention was pretty conventional. We heard the expected messages in the expected way from the expected players. Not that the content was bad. I was impressed by the stories of ordinary people and their struggles. Al Gore was thoughtful and serious. But in this age of social networking, 24/7 communications, YouTube, etc., the convention was pretty much a bunch of talking heads, many of them shouting at the crowd like Fighting Bob LaFollette had to do 100 years ago from the bed of a hay wagon. We have microphones now folks.

I wasn’t watching the TV when Obama came on, but from the audio only he seemed nervous and out of synch. He eventually got into the “policy” part of the speech before winding it up with an emotional call for change. He got better as he went along. My initial reaction, however, was that between the specific policy announcements – healthcare, environment, tax cut, war, etc., and the “change coming TO Washington,” Obama failed to paint a picture of the America he would like to see. Yes we should have job security, energy security, healthcare, justice and all that, but how do you achieve such a society and how might it work? I would have liked to hear about that.

But – this is why I didn’t write immediately – that was just one person’s reaction. In the following days I learned that, by leaving the canvas blank in critical places, Obama had invited listeners to fill in their own impressions, desires and goals. Everyone heard something different in the speech. Everyone brought their own ideas and heard them in Obama’s words. So maybe that’s the genius of his approach. If there are enough people with the right dreams.

I was a little disappointed – but probably shouldn’t be – that Obama still didn’t issue a call to action that goes beyond electing him prez. Realistically, the forces of reaction – including Democratic special interests – will still be there after November and will gradually take back whatever they have lost in the tsunami of the election – if there is a tsunami. What will the people on the floor of the convention do about that? How will Obama rally them from complacency and doubt in 12 months, 24 months or more when he needs them to put the heat on Congress? Yes, change has to come from the bottom up, but change needs a bold leader who will ask “what can you do for your country?”