Killer O

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Not a grand slam. Not even a home run.

Obama's acceptance speech was an in-the-park homer with four men on base, after running which he snatched the ball from the catcher's mitt and jumped 30 yards into the air to hit a three-pointer on a basketball hoop 2 miles away. Really.

I'm at a disadvantage with sports metaphors, obviously. But Obama just gave the best political speech I've ever heard, and I've been listening to them since 1964 --- long before my brain was even fully developed.

If Obama wins the general election, his acceptance speech will be studied for decades. If he doesn't, it still may be studied for decades. Everything about it, in my opinion, rang genuine and uncontrived. His oratory style was perfect --- almost nobody I've ever heard could hit the sweet spot between the personal and the grandiose. If you missed it live, I'm sorry you did --- it is no exaggeration to say it was historic. Gracious, but with plenty of fighting words. Spiritual, but inclusive of everybody. Hard-headed liberalism. About fuckin' time!

I'll try one more sports metaphor. First the setup: remember that Obama is running not only against McCain and all the shadowy interests that want to prevent both a Democrat and a black man from living in the White House, but he's also running against the corporate interests that dominate the mass news media. He's running against all the corporate handmaidens who have been assigned to trivialize Obama, to misdirect our attention to meaningless foibles or words taken out of context, to expound or pass on the dog-whistle racism that right-wing bigots have already been spewing for months on end.

So (sports metaphor coming): if Obama can pull this out and get elected with a mandate, it would at least equal the 1970 no-hitter Dock Ellis pitched while tripping on acid. And that, my friends, would really be something.

Update: I'll try to explain these thoughts more coherently in a future post. Was up too late Thursday night dancing to "The Theme from Shaft" and drinking malt liquor straight from the bag.