McCain's Speech
I watched it last night of course, but only the once. Many people, including some of y'all in comments, are saying it was great...so I thought I'd just register my initial reaction for the record. Which is: not great. I may very well change my mind on this on a second viewing, but last night I was thinking: this is o.k., but it needs to be about 100% more forceful, making it clear to McCain's supporters, in no uncertain terms, that all that campaign hogwash about Obama being an unqualified socialist etc. was, well, campaign hogwash, and that he's going to be the president, and that everyone needs to let him start off with a clean slate, and give him their energetic support unless/until he does something to lose it.
McCain's speech was fine, but it hardly rose to the level, energy- and conviction-wise, of his ten thousand denunciations of Obama.
Gore's concession speech was much, much better...and he was conceding to an unqualified piece of shit who had just basically tried to steal the election, and who had just spent months vilifying him.
McCain's speech seemed adequate to me, but nothing more. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about it, but I can't really.
I watched it last night of course, but only the once. Many people, including some of y'all in comments, are saying it was great...so I thought I'd just register my initial reaction for the record. Which is: not great. I may very well change my mind on this on a second viewing, but last night I was thinking: this is o.k., but it needs to be about 100% more forceful, making it clear to McCain's supporters, in no uncertain terms, that all that campaign hogwash about Obama being an unqualified socialist etc. was, well, campaign hogwash, and that he's going to be the president, and that everyone needs to let him start off with a clean slate, and give him their energetic support unless/until he does something to lose it.
McCain's speech was fine, but it hardly rose to the level, energy- and conviction-wise, of his ten thousand denunciations of Obama.
Gore's concession speech was much, much better...and he was conceding to an unqualified piece of shit who had just basically tried to steal the election, and who had just spent months vilifying him.
McCain's speech seemed adequate to me, but nothing more. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about it, but I can't really.
posted by Winston Smith at
11:40 AM
13 Comments:
Here's an argument that McCain was obliged to disavow neither his comments about Obama being unqualified nor his comments about Obama being a socialist.
First, campaigns are essentially attempts to say the other guy is at least less qualified than me. McCain tried to do this by pointed to Obama's relative inexperience. While I would argue that Obama's relative inexperience is not, in the end, a matter of great concern, it is at least a factor which one could reasonably be concerned by. McCain should not have to disavow a reasonable complaint about the other guy's qualifications.
The socialist comments are iffier, but the concerns behind them at least meet the minimal standard of rational. There is nothing wildly irrational about the principled belief that government spending should be small and taxes low. Of course, the label "socialism" does not fit perfectly, but my completely unscientific impression is that most people who were concerned about Obama's "socialism" weren't really using the term to mean much other than "raising taxes on the rich" anyways. Given such shorthand, McCain was under no obligation, says I, to repudiate what basically amounted to the usual Republican problem with Democratic taxation approaches.
As for energetic support...McCain did at least make a plea for support by his own example, and I'm not sure that advocating for "energetic" support is his obligation here. In any case, I'd say that McCain conceded to Obama more energetically than Clinton did during the primary.
Admittedly that's setting the bar pretty low. But Gore's concession speech sets the bar pretty high - not only in his situation but in the cogency of his rhetoric. What really struck me about McCain's speech is that he described his concession in the same way that he advocated his own presidency. The patriotism which he had advocated throughout his campaign was the very thing which now drives him to work with Obama for the benefit of the nation.
But...I haven't been watching presidential concession speeches for that long, so I may just not know the genre.
I just rewatched Kerry and Gore...maybe I'm just really moved by concession speeches in general.
You make a plausible case, Spencer. I'll re-watch and re-think.
But a suggestion: the more iffy and negative your criticisms during the election, the stronger your obligation to undo/repudiate them when the election is over
I am not a McCain supporter but I thought that his concession speech was commendable. I think it is totally unfair to say that he did not do enough to repudiate the earlier claims of his campaign. Winston, your criticisms of the speech are only directed at the content--but consider the timing of it. McCain threw in the towel around 11:30 the night of the election. Also, the speech is the most sincere public speech that McCain has given since the campaign began. Given McCain's fiery temperment, it must have been hard for him to give such a clear, heartfelt and positive concession speech on the day of the election. Of course, the speech could have been more apologetic, but it is admirable nonetheless for him to save us the uncertainty of the election process, quickly admit his defeat, praise the historically strong turnout, praise the victory for African Americans in this country, and give a strong endorsement to his opponent. I am an Obamaphile and I think McCain ran a shitty campaign, but his concession speech was honorable.
I have to go, and so I haven't read the comments at all - maybe someone already said this, but I'm glad you said that WS. You said exactly what I've said to every single person who's told me that his concession speech was "fantastic!" - I thought it was mediocre at best. As you say, he did too little to stop the booing (which was appalling) and too little to actually promote unity.
Of course, he didn't do an awful job, and he was, in fact, on the right track with the speech, but that seems to me to be the bare minimum requirement for a speech before it becomes downright bad, so I was thinking it's mediocre.
Everyone else has been making me feel like I'm insane to have expected more from him than what he gave or something.
Sorry WS, I think you're wrong.
McCain said precisely what he needed to say at that time, and in a manner that reminded me of the man I admired eight years ago.
I don't believe that he needed to repudiate specific allegations. Such a speech would have been uninspiring, and turned off the people who needed to hear what he was saying.
Here, this is what got me:
"I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.
Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.
...
Tonight — tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Sen. Obama, I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president."
He speech was short and to the point. He said what needed to be said, and more importantly, said it like me meant it, like he believed it.
It seemed, finally, like a speech he had written himself--a speech where he said the things he MEANT--rather than something he had drilled into him by his handlers.
McCain mystifies me. His speech was as gracious as could be expected, but he knows he hocked his soul in the gamble and lost. Reminds me of the movie Office Space where the one guy laments after being fired, "And I told those fudge-packers I like Michael Bolton."
I think McCain hates the fact that he ended up being the representative of racism and xenophobia - the worst elements of our nation. And he friggin' lost!
I just don't think you can give anything especially heart-felt when there's so much self-loathing going on at the same time. He danced with the devil and now he deserves to pay the price.
Clearly I'm in the minority here. FWIW, I do intend to re-watch McCain's speech as soon as I get a chance, and re-evaluate.
Note that I didn't think it was awful--I just didn't think it was notably good.
I find it interesting, Michelle, that you find McCain's speech to have been one that seemed to be reflective of McCain's own opinions and authorship. I thought that, given the way his campaign had gone, this speech was likely to be the most disingenuous that he had given.
I won't fault him for that, though. If he really does feel the way he was portraying himself throughout his campaign, then he gets points for doing the right thing despite his own feelings on the matter. However, I'm inclined to believe that, since his campaign was so horrendously awful, this speech was not exactly indicative of his beliefs on the matter.
Further, while he did put his hands out to stop the booing and yelling from the crowd, which was the right thing to do, that was an example, to me, of where he did something that only minimally met the requirements for respectability. What he should've done was something more like what Obama did when the media was going nuts about Palin's daughter being pregnant. He not only told them that they could not run stories of that nature, but that Palin's daughter's pregnancy didn't have anything to do with her mother's ability to govern, and further that Obama's own mother had him when she was 18.
That's the way you stop pernicious behavior from persisting - you thoroughly refute the behavior and ensure that the message is loud and clear. You don't just put your hands up to quiet down harmful activity. You dismiss it forcefully and make it clear that you do not support the behavior that they're engaging in.
If McCain had taken a second to stop and say something - anything - to the people who were booing, I would've thought it was a much better speech. But he didn't. He never said a word about the booing. He simply put up his hands in a sort of "let me finish" way.
That's why I found it mediocre. It was minimally acceptable.
Mystic,
See, I used to like McCain. The reason I felt like that speech reflected his ideas is because what I saw Tuesday night was what I remember McCain speeches being like. The way he presented himself reminded me of the man we say in 2000, who was very different from the man we say throughout this election.
And I don't fault him for not doing more about the booing. This was a concessions speech. The way I figure, things like that you can't go off path or you'll lose it and break down and cry.
Essentially, he said what needed to be said, and for the first time in month he sounded sincere when saying it.
That impressed me.
And trust me, I haven't much been impressed with McCain since he started toadying to Bush.
Claim 1: A person should praised or blamed based on the way they live up to their abilities to the extent that conditions permit.
Claim 2: McCain's rhetorical and impromptu speaking abilities are pretty poor. (And his ability to make quick judgments - part of the reason I did not vote for him.)
Claim 3: McCain was obviously heartbroken to have his lifelong dream of gaining the Presidency dashed. The concession speech appeared to be extremely difficult for him to give.
Claim 4: McCain's concession speech displayed the same degree of rhetorical power and control as he displayed in most of his campaign speeches, indicating that he was using his abilities to their highest degree.
If all of these claims are justified, then McCain deserves praise for doing what his poor rhetorical abilities and his emotionally difficult situation permitted him to do.
And though McCain did not address the booing directly, I'm not sure what else he would have said besides "we are first of all Americans and we should come together and all offer him goodwill," which is what he then went on to say. "Don't boo" was implied so strongly by what he knew he was going on to say that I don't think he was under any obligation to say it then.
Michelle -
I gotta say, after reading about McCain, biographically speaking, and noting his drastic change from how he behaved prior to 2000 (and even as late as 2004, perhaps) to how he behaved during this election, it seems to me that he is likely the kind of person who will simply do anything it takes to get what he wants.
Let me put it this way: I can't see anyone who actually believed in what McCain was doing pre-2004 acting like he acted during the campaign unless he is either extremely weak and bullyable by bad campaign managers bent on Rovian politics or he is simply willing to perform extremely immoral acts in order to win a presidency.
My guess is that he's far from the former and close to the latter. Given that, combined with the minimally acceptable behaviors during the speech, I can't find a reason not to think his speech was just as fake and geared towards support-getting as any other behavior of his.
My colleague the mighty Armenius, knows more about Mccain than anyone else I know. He's read his autobiography and so forth, and he supported him in 2000, sending money and all that. (He was a whole-hearted Obama supporter this time, incidentally). He says that he is now inclined to believe that McCain was always a bad egg, motivated largely by ambition. I'm just throwing in this datum FWIW.
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