Obama's Speech in Iowa

To address the nation, Obama returned to Iowa to thank the people that launched him and to continue his general election campaign since Senator Obama can win Iowa in the fall.

After acknowledging his wife and praising Ted Kennedy, Obama turned to the people of Iowa. In a powerful rhetorical move, Obama delivered his speech in terms of the audience... "You spoke," emphasizing the role of the people in Iowa, and then the other states, culminating in Obama receiving "the majority of delegates elected by the American people and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for President of the United States of America." This is Senator Obama's argument to the Super Delegates.

Obama talks about the journey, praising Clinton for "shattered myths and broken barriers and changed America in which my daughters and your daughters will come to age." Later in the speech, Obama delivers a very good line: "change is coming to Washington just as it did to Seneca Falls."

Through most of the speech, Senator Obama grounds "change" in his calls for health care, etc., and attacks McCain and the Republicans. It is a good section but not too much is new.

While Clinton speaks of the promise of progress, Senator Obama discusses the spirit that moves Americans to act in the Revolution, Civil Rights, etc. It invokes mysticism to Clinton's pragmatism. Yet, while the means are different, the purpose is the same: to ground the identity of America in a transcendent essence. The differences will need further discussion.

Megs raised an interesting point about audiences: why does Senator Obama's rhetoric of empowerment fail with "worker class" voters? With the WVC audience, Senator Clinton is a "fighter" working on behalf of these voters. Yet, as Megs asked, is this because these people do not believe that they have a voice in the process or that they believe they need someone to speak and fight for them because their voice will not be heard?

Postscript: The New York Times (via AP) reports that Senator Obama is "quietly planning to take over the Democratic National Committee and assemble a multistate team for the general election." This seems to be another sign that the race we see on television is not the race behind the closed doors of the Democratic Party.