Baised Observation -- Tony

I disagree with Eric, there's no such thing as an unbaised observation when you are supporting one group. Talking to some Obama supporters at work, we figured this out. We would watch the same video clip at the same time and discuss it, and come away with different takes on the clip. But after some discussion, I was able to see where they were coming from. I didn't necessarily agree with them, but could see how they came to their viewpoint.

I don't think anybody can argue with the gravity of the Obama nomination. It is no doubt a tic mark on the time line of US history. As I watched Thursday night's events unfold I couldn't ignore the faces of the Obama supporters in the crowd as the cameras panned. It's true, it really was like a scene out of a blockbuster movie, tight shots of tears streaming, the prideful smiles of most in attendance. What I did see were a couple different groups of people and the more I watched, the more I realized that most people there fell into three basic categories:

Group "A", people who seemed genuinely proud of the moment. People who just couldn't hold back their tears. People who, I feel, believe. These were mostly the black Americans, old and young. They didn't really yell and scream at every Bush bashing comment, they seemed to be beyond that. When I watched their faces, I really saw hope. It sounds corny, but I really saw people with a look I can't describe.

Group "B", people who were caught up in the moment, who were drawn to Obama because of the excitement of the whole thing. These are your young college kids for the most part, these are the ones that cheered anytime any speaker raised their voice. "We need to end this pointless war" YEAHHHH WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO, hands waiving, screaming. Like a College Pep Rally type reaction. What's funny is that the people in group "A" didn't react the same, they didn't seem to be there to have fun and party.

Group "C", people who are just nut jobs. These people had the painted faces, these people were wearing idiotic looking hats and holding signs with a big Peace symbol and Bush's face with a red line through it. These were mostly middle aged white Americans, mostly older women, but some older men. People who looked to me like they had been in college for the past 20 years. These were the people who scared me. They looked mad, really mad, whenever anyone would mention Bush or "the republicans". Serious hatred here folks.

In general, to me, most people fell into these categories. Eric may disagree, but this is my observation.

All of the speeches I watched were moving. From Michelle to Biden to Al Gore to Barack himself. But what I couldn't get away from is how they all seemed to be turning their platform of disagreement with Bush policies into factual faults that McCain is somehow responsible for. Take for example this excerpt from Al Gore last night, talking about 8 years ago, if we had not elected Bush: (click here for whole transcript )

"...Take it from me, if it had ended differently, we would not be bogged down in Iraq; we would have pursued bin Laden until we captured him. We would not be facing a self-inflicted economic crisis; we would be fighting for middle income families..."

Ok, I need to take a deep breath here, because I honestly can feel my heart beating faster just reading this stuff again......Take it from him, Al Gore, we would have pursued Bin Laden until we captured him. Maybe Al feels he could use the Jedi force to assist our special forces in Afghanistan. You see in the hunt for Bin Laden in the mountains of Afghanistan, only special forces are of any use. They are the only military unit that can operate covertly, get into the nooks and crannies of the mountains. Those forces have never stopped looking for Bin Laden, those forces are still looking for Bin Laden, those forces will continue looking for Bin Laden until they get him. I'm not sure what Al Gore or anybody else could do to make them more successful than they already are. Maybe he would concentrate really hard and rub his Nobel Peace Prize to summon the powers of the mighty Hybrid Force??

He says we would not be facing this "self inflicted" economic crisis. Again, I guess Al has some super power that would have magically removed the ink from the pens of the idiots who were about to sign a mortgage loan that was above their means. The ink removal super power that's it. Prior to the housing bubble burst, nobody was complaining about the economy. Gas and the housing collapse in the last year have caused some problems. Not Bush's fault, and definitely not McCain's fault. What's that you say, the war in Iraq is what caused the gas prices to rise...Brilliant, but why didn't prices start to go up in 2004, 2005, 2006??? I don't think we are in an economic crisis. Obama and the democratic party are doing a fantastic job of making it seem like America is spiralling out of control. Bush and the GOP destroyed our country. What's bad is that people are buying it. "We want change, not the same" was the chant going around the audience on Tuesday night.....Not the same huh. From 2002 until 2007 the economy was at it's peak. People were buying everything. Huge SUVs, big houses, lavish vacations, all because they were feeling great about their financial situation. The problem is that some of those people didn't act responsibly and got themselves in trouble. That's the cause of the economic problems of today. I just don't see the rationelle behind saying it's Bush's fault. And even if you did think the housing bust was Bush's fault, his first 6 years were great years, but the theme of most Obama supporters is "do you really want 4 more years of THIS". What is THIS? Just complete lunacy by Al Gore and it brings down the integrity of his party when he says this stupid stuff.

Anyway, I got way off track on this. I think Obama coming from a sinlge parent home to become the Democratic nominee is a fantastic story. Michelle tells it well, it's a regular made for the big screen movie. But what I'm afraid of is that people are going to vote for him, just because of the story, and just because of how significant the event is.

Not everyone. The Obama supporters I talk to, including Eric, have valid reasons to vote for Obama. They think he has the economic answers for the country. They think he will somehow get the "rich" to pay more taxes. So for them, they would probably support him anyway. But for those who are just supporting him because they hate Bush or because of the "moment", I think that's a mistake....