THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 213, August 28, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
SOME SPEECHES ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS:
Obama's Acceptance Speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention
& Dr. Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" Speech
By Alan Caruba
THE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH OF DEMOCRATIC PARY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, JR., AT THE
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 2008: AN UNREMARKABLE SPEECH CONTAINING THE PROMISES THAT
LIBERAL LEFTIST POLITICIANS IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY USUALLY MAKE -- OBAMA'S FLAWED ANALYSIS OF
AMERICAN SOCIETY & ITS PROBLEMS
FULL STORY:
Some speeches are better than others. Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., knows how to deliver a speech, but his
acceptance speech was familiar stuff to anyone who has been listening to politicians as long as I have. Permit me a bit of
cynicism because sometimes it allows you to separate the wheat from the chaff.
It is a bit of luck that Barack Obama’s acceptance speech was given on the forty-fifth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.’s famed “I’ve got a dream” speech. That speech brought people together to build a better America, to fulfill its
promise of equality.
I not only lived through the Civil Rights Era, but I actually met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was brief, but memorable for
me. Dr. King could deliver an inspirational sermon or speech. I often wonder if the civil rights movement would have been
as successful, if there had not been a Dr. King to lead it. Things might have turned out differently for Barack Obama.
I thought it interesting that Barack Obama did not hew that closely to Dr. King’s oratorical style in his acceptance speech,
but, then, it occurred to me that he is striving to get people to believe he is just like you and I. He is not.
He is the child of an imperfect mother who twice married Muslim men and whose child was literally rescued by two
extraordinary grandparents. He is not like you or I.
He is half black and half white. He is not like you or I.
His intellect opened doors to elite universities, earned scholarships. He is not like you or I.
He has never served in the military, nor has he ever held a job that did not require a suit and tie. He is not like a lot of
Americans.
He was imbued, from an early age, with the sophistry of Marxism that seeks to impose a government that promises all
things to all people from cradle to grave and delivers only a soul-killing slavery to the state.
His speech had a central theme, and it was jobs. In Obama’s world, most Americans are out of work. They are not.
In Obama’s world, corporations are the enemy, not the engine of the economy.
In Obama’s world, the nation can free itself in ten years from its dependence on oil. No nation on Earth can do that. And
$150 billion of your money and mine to the charlatans offering wind and solar power will not produce much more than the
one percent of electricity these limited sources of energy currently represent.
What America needs is more drilling for oil for our transportation needs, more coal-fired and nuclear plants for the
electricity we require, and more natural gas for its many benefits.
The other theme of his speech was that the last eight years of the Bush administration were a failure. Is it a failure that we
have not been attacked since 9/11? Is it a failure that unemployment remains at a bare five percent, among the lowest in
generations? Is a $14 trillion economy a failure?
Never mind. Obama is not addressing facts. He is in the business of generating promises like the one to reduce taxes for
95% of working families. That is not going to happen.
He promises “a world class education” for every child, but Teddy Kennedy’s failed “No Child Left Behind Act” is
guaranteeing a failed education for the nation’s children. He promises higher wages for already well-paid and pensioned
teachers, despite the fact they are turning out students who cannot spell, cannot do arithmetic, and have no idea of
America’s real history.
Promises are what politicians make. Speeches are what politicians give, but Barack Obama is no Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
For one thing, Dr. King was a registered Republican.
Some speeches are better than others. I give this one a C.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics & Political Competition:
Elections, PACs, & Political Parties
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, & Other Leftists
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
-------------------------
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba has a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2008
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume X, 2008
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity