Angry Dad at the Podium

If you are not on board with Obama's new vision for America, well then, you are obviously too stupid to "get" it. And if you are caught telling anyone why, well then he is "going to call you out". Admittedly, I was expecting a little more than patronizing parent mode yesterday evening. Honestly, my fear was that he was going to be at the top of his game. After all, he had weeks of off-time to prepare.

Maybe it is that the shine came off. We all have those moments when we go home with our shiny new trinket straight off the showroom floor and suddenly in the dimmer lights of our home--it isn't so shiny. When we go to turn it on, it isn't working quite the way the salesman made it work. When we dig out his phone number to call him and ask some questions, he isn't the same charismatic guy, who hours before, got you drunk on his enthusiasm. That's the feeling a lot of Obama supporters must be feeling.

At what point does your greatest asset become a detriment? Probably when you over use it or use it in every situation especially when it is not called for. So becomes the case with the "magical" oratory skills of Barack Obama. Admittedly, I only watched part of it. It is about as much as I can handle. I have never been moved by any emotion other than revulsion watching the hypnotized masses engage in their twisted cult of personality when witnessing him speak. However, from what I did see and read, it looks like if that is all he has got-Obamacare may well be dead.

Obama went into the speech last night with the charges that he was too vague, speaking in platitudes and not giving enough concrete, nuts and bolts information. Instead he tried to show up and deliver the magic, slip the audience a rufie of feel good platitudes and poetic exaggerations of semi-truths. Except what we witnessed was more of an angry campaign version of Obama. He was working on turning on the magic, and there were hints of it, but frustration, anger and a hint of desperation shined through.

Did the speech change any minds last night? Did he offer any new details? Most importantly is he answering the one question we are all asking, "Sounds great, now how are you going to pay for all this?" As far as I could tell is was the same bill, with the public option at the same costs that magically "won’t add a penny to the deficit”. He droned on about bipartisanship while chastizing Republicans. At the same time promising to "eliminate fraud, waste and abuse”. All in all, nothing new. Perhaps, he just hoped his recently vacationed vocal chords were going to make all the difference.