I thought he sounded sincere, that he left out any hints of the negative that you can slip in to a speech like that, and that he acknowledged both the historic thing that just happened in the abstract and the person whom we had just elected warmly. I agree with you on the "what a concession has to do" but I think that we've seen cases where that doesn't happen, and I worried that this was going to be that. I wasn't disgusted by his discussion of race, but I admit to not listening horribly closely at times.
I also thought he seemed actually surprised and annoyed at his supporters in the room for their inappropriate booing etc., and like he really did want them to shut up and not be such idiots, which I appreciated.
I also thought he seemed actually surprised and annoyed at his supporters in the room for their inappropriate booing etc., and like he really did want them to shut up and not be such idiots, which I appreciated.
This. When I saw him hushing them, I thought, "Where was that guy all through the last few months?"
Maybe it was because he'd set his own personal bar so very low during this campaign; he didn't have to be very decent to appear extremely so compared to the candidate.
And I did like the part where he took a bit of personal responsibility on the negative choices of his campaign (the "my mistakes" part).
When I saw him hushing them, I thought, "Where was that guy all through the last few months?"
In part he was legally bound by the rule of no coordination between a campaign and unofficial organizations such as 529s. That's a very new rule and the boundaries are uncertain.
Yeah, the lack of sniping I was seeing as just normal, but it presumably takes a lot of effort in that situation. I'm interested by the sincerity feel, since, as I said to jacflash above, McCain comes across as completely cold-blooded to me. Watching him in the debates and and speeches, anger/condescension is the only human vibe I pick up. (Unlike earlier times I've seen him speak, or on The Daily Show or whatever). I wonder what cues I'm interpreting differently for that.
I was really moved by it. Specifically, he didn't just say "we should work together now" but named and praised some of Obama's strengths. He did it once and I was pleased, and then later did it more. That is not required, and is gracious.
Certainly his discussion of race made me squirm, especially the clear idea that he doesn't get that electing an african american is a victory for our COUNTRY, not just for african americans. But honestly, he sounded like a white liberal, rather than a white conservative, with respect to race. So that was pretty exciting to me.
I did not think he handled the crowd booing well. I haven't paid enough attention to know if he doesn't know how to handle a crowd, or if instead he chose to let them disrespect our next president. But honestly that's the part of politics I hate and I expect that same disappointing behavior from the democrats in that circumstance.
For me it was largely just by comparison with my expectations. Between the negative campaigning and the totally disingenuous game of good-cop-bad-cop with Palin -- oh, she's been whipping people into a frenzy by inappropriately using the phrase 'palling around with terrorists'? That's really unfortunate but, y'know, kind of mavericky! -- I'd have considered any concession speech that carried the message that Obama will be an adequate and uniting president to be on the side of gracious.
I'm with you. I thought the second half of the speech was just fine, but I thought it started very poorly and ungraciously. So, I asked my folks what they thought. Neither my mom nor my brother heard what I heard in the first half of McCain's speech.
It's possible that my academic environment, big-city, argula-sipping ways led me astray? Or muted what others say was the sincere tone of the speech.
I missed the first half of the speech but caught the second half on the radio and it did sound sincere to me. I expected nothing and got something, so I was happy.
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I also thought he seemed actually surprised and annoyed at his supporters in the room for their inappropriate booing etc., and like he really did want them to shut up and not be such idiots, which I appreciated.
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This. When I saw him hushing them, I thought, "Where was that guy all through the last few months?"
Maybe it was because he'd set his own personal bar so very low during this campaign; he didn't have to be very decent to appear extremely so compared to the candidate.
And I did like the part where he took a bit of personal responsibility on the negative choices of his campaign (the "my mistakes" part).
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In part he was legally bound by the rule of no coordination between a campaign and unofficial organizations such as 529s. That's a very new rule and the boundaries are uncertain.
But still.
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Certainly his discussion of race made me squirm, especially the clear idea that he doesn't get that electing an african american is a victory for our COUNTRY, not just for african americans. But honestly, he sounded like a white liberal, rather than a white conservative, with respect to race. So that was pretty exciting to me.
I did not think he handled the crowd booing well. I haven't paid enough attention to know if he doesn't know how to handle a crowd, or if instead he chose to let them disrespect our next president. But honestly that's the part of politics I hate and I expect that same disappointing behavior from the democrats in that circumstance.
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Interesting! Can you say more about that?
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It's possible that my academic environment, big-city, argula-sipping ways led me astray? Or muted what others say was the sincere tone of the speech.
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not asking -- just saying that this is an interesting thought that hadn't occurred to me. hmmm.
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