Friday, September 05, 2008

The Eloquent Absence of Eloquence   [Peter Robinson]

This was not an address.  It was a talk.  John McCain told his story, explained what he intended to change, and stated his first principles—principles that proved comprehensively conservative, from restraining spending and cutting taxes to advancing "a culture of life."

When he delivered a beautifully-wrought address at the convention of 2004, McCain proved earnest and well-intentioned, but awkward, like a teenaged boy offering a bouquet to his date, and the speech read better in print the next morning than it sounded live that evening.  Tonight McCain used simple, declarative sentences.  He made no attempt to achieve high effects.  He was himself.  Nobody will ever include this speech in an anthology of great American addresses, but it was an accomplished work, a work of political maturity.

Tonight John McCain ensured that the democracy to which he has dedicated his life has functioned yet again.  He gave the American people a choice.

09/05 03:23 AMShare