convention's end: slam dunk !

What did we tell you?

John Kerry’s nomination acceptance speech did everything the media bobbleheads demanded---and most of them (according to a salon survey) admitted it. A few technical but somewhat important matters: the speech was almost exactly an hour long as delivered, fitting neatly into the single hour 10 to 11 pm network slot—and using EVERY LAST MINUTE OF IT. Plus, as political insider Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out, it was a speech filled with sound bites, which is how most voters will hear it---on the Today show, on local newscasts. And GREAT sound bites at that.

That’s even before we bother saying that this speech was: personal and presidential, subtle and forthright, scathing and idealistic. It was solidly Democratic, yet it reclaimed issues like family values and faith, that Republicans consider their own. AND it’s emphasis on unity, on a positive campaign (but waged just not on issues but on values), on picking an administration of the best people including Republicans, on the American dream, spoke directly to independents.

It was also a damn good speech. In different times, JFK gave a rousing nomination acceptance speech, that had only one memorable section, on the New Frontier. He saved his economical eloquence for the Inaugural. Bill Clinton set the TV age standard with his nomination acceptance speech in 1992. But John Kerry surpassed it (a judgment rendered by none other than a Clinton press secretary.) It may turn out to be a speech of historical significance.

In terms of the convention, Kerry drew themes from previous speakers on previous evenings. He took Obama’s red states/blue states theme (Obama said “United States”; Kerry: red, white and blue states.) He echoed Edwards on middle class plight, using Edwards-like examples. He used a bit of Teresa Heinz Kerry’s “we can and we will” rhetoric, and like her, very effectively quoted Abraham Lincoln. (She read a long passage, very movingly, that contains both the” mystic chords of memory “ and “better angels of our nature” phrases. John Kerry’s quote was in this context:
"And let me say it plainly: In that cause and in this campaign, we welcome people of faith. America is not us and them. I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father a few weeks ago and I want to say this to you tonight: I don’t wear my religion on my sleeve. But faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this day, from Sunday to Sunday. I don’t want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God’s side.”

Speaking of Ron Reagan, Kerry picked up from his speech by making stem cell research a priority in this one.” What if we have a president who believes in science so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem-cell research and treat illness for millions of lives?”

There were also the themes of optimism and strength from many previous speakers, the metaphor of the boat and references to battlefield experience. But where other speakers might have been cautious, Kerry was forthright. After hoodwinking the media into believing he was going to tamp down any criticism of the administration he seeks to oust, there was stuff like this:

“ I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I will have a vice president who will not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a secretary of defense who will listen to the advice of the military leaders. And I will appoint an attorney general who will uphold the Constitution of the United States.”

He deftly turned one of the dumber criticisms: “Now I know that there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities, and I do, because some issues just aren't all that simple. Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so. Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And proclaiming mission accomplished certainly doesn't make it so.”

Though he claims not to have seen Michael Moore’s film, he talked about American energy independence with this zinger: “I want an America that relies on its ingenuity and innovation, not the Saudi royal family.”

For those who thought he would drop issues he emphasized in the primaries, he said this in an echo of his stump speech, but in even stronger terms: “And when I am president, we will stop being the only advanced nation in the world which fails to understand that health care is not a privilege for the wealthy and the connected and the elected - it is a right for all Americans. And we will make it so.” (Star Trek reference there? Captain Kerry to the bridge!)

How deft is this? He talks tough on terrorism as he draws a subtle but real distinction in his approach, which again echoes and strengthens a theme that runs throughout the convention:

" We need a strong military. And we need to lead strong alliances. And then, with confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: You will lose and we will win. The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs to freedom. “

He took the values theme away from the Bushie attacker, sharpened it, and stuck it to the assailant:

“We believe that what matters most is not narrow appeals masquerading as values, but the shared values that show the true face of America. Not narrow values that divide us, but the shared values that unite us - family, faith, hard work, opportunity and responsibility for all - so that every child, every adult, every parent, every worker in America has an equal shot at living up to their God-given potential. That is the American dream and the American value.”

On Iraq he said the magic words the left needed to hear: bring the troops home. He actually mentioned peace, which had just about disappeared with all the strength talk. He deftly combined his own experience with what it means on the issue of war:

“And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to. That is the standard of our nation.
I know what kids go through when they are carrying an M-16 in a dangerous place and they can't tell friend from foe. I know what they go through when they're out on patrol at night and they don't know what's coming around the next bend. I know what it's like to write letters home telling your family that everything's all right when you're just not sure that that's true.
As president, I will wage this war with the lessons I learned in war. Before you go to battle, you have to be able to look a parent in the eye and truthfully say: "I tried everything possible to avoid sending your son or daughter into harm's way. But we had no choice. We had to protect the American people, fundamental American values against a threat that was real and imminent." So lesson number one, this is the only justification for going to war.

And on my first day in office, I will send a message to every man and woman in our armed forces: You will never be asked to fight a war without a plan to win the peace.”

But just as Kerry the war hero brings valuable lessons to the presidency, so does Kerry the anti-war hero:
“Our purpose now is to reclaim our democracy itself. We are here to affirm that when Americans stand up and speak their minds and say America can do better, that is not a challenge to patriotism, it is the heart and soul of patriotism.”

Finally, something that was personally meaningful to the Baby Boomers among us. John Kerry first attracted our attention as a possible presidential candidate a couple of years ago, when he talked about fulfilling the promise of the 60s and the 60s generation. It was an idea we didn’t hear again and had forgotten. Mostly we thought Kerry had forgotten it, but he hadn’t:

“And when I was in high school, a junior, John Kennedy called my generation to service. It was the beginning of a great journey - a time to march for civil rights, for voting rights, for the environment, for women, for peace. We believed we could change the world. And you know what? We did.

But we're not finished. The journey isn't complete. The march isn't over. The promise isn't perfected. Tonight, we're setting out again. And together, we're going to write the next great chapter of America's story.”