Obama vs. Edwards

Matt said most of what needs to be said here. But it doesn't quite suffice to say that Obama gave a great speech and then Edwards dealt with the problem of following Obama by giving a great speech himself. There are real differences. Campaign reporters are saying that Obama basically gave a pumped up version of his usual stump speech, but to my ear he did more than simply talk about his heaping handfuls of hope. Instead, he clarified something. He said, basically, that hope is not just a nice thing to have, but also a necessary ingredient for making change. This seems like a perfectly obvious observation to me, but somehow it (and Obama himself) made the speech really moving.

Edwards followed it with a slightly less rousing but significantly more substantive speech. Substantive on foreign policy, substantive on many areas of domestic policy, extraordinarily substantive on this wacky but awesome-sounding plan to invest in biomass fuels to such an extent that we devastate the foreign oil market, transforming the Middle East out of sheer necessity into a modern techno-Eden, and forcing Europe, sadly lacking in landmass, to turn to the vast wildernesses of poor Africa for cheap labor and fertile grounds in order to compete! Kind of amazing! But from what I know about ethanol production and the politics thereof, incredibly difficult to pull off. Fortunately, I'm told I'll have some deeper explanation from Edwards' policy staff soon enough.

Also, he used that line again about asking Americans to be patriotic about something other than war. Which is, for my money, about the best line I've heard a presidential candidate use in recent memory.

Comments

[Ambient Cognition]

Boycott the two-party system in 2008, it's broken. Vote for yourself.

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http://www.au.af.mil/info-ops/perception.htm

http://www.erikyyy.de/tempest/

http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US2002188164&F=0

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/ANA309A.html

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/hpcc/insights/vol6/supercom.htm