Analyzing Obama, Clinton & McCain's Latest Speeches

On tuesday night, June 3, Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain all made speeches in front of the American people who stayed glued to their television sets throughout the night. The evening started with a speech in New Orleans, Louisiana by John McCain whose campaign used a play on words with their new slogan, "A Leader we Can Believe in," a direct reference to Obama's "Change We Can Believe in" slogan.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of McCain's speech was not his contrasting policy stances on te Iraqi War or healthcare; instead it was to portray his contract with President Bush. The Democratic Party and Senators Obama and Clinton have ong been portraying McCain as a continuation of the Bush administration. In a presidential election year in which the Democratic Party figures to make big gains in the Senate and House of Representatives, McCain's campaign knows that the only way he can win the presidential election is if he distances himself from President Bush. Even top Republicans in Congress have ackowledged that the Republican brand has been badly damaged by President Bush, whose approval ratings have been the lowest in U.S. history. McCain's speech acknowledged that the next president cannot continue the same failed policies as the Bush administration and McCain cited his ability to break away from Party leadership as to why he believes he can unite the country.

Yet that alone did not raise as many eyebrows as his references to bringing "change" which the Democrats have campaigned strongly on this past election season. His speech repeated the phrase "that's not change we can believe in," in reference to Senator Obama's platform. McCain reiterated in his speech that we need to win the war in Iraq. His speech was better than his previous speeches but lacked the attention grabbing, emotional or passionate speeches that both Senator Clinton and Obama have been able to give and would give later that night. McCain cracked a joke during his speech that he had "a few years on his opponent," and cited his track record in the Senate and patriotism as reasons to vote for him. He called himself a "servant of the people."

Meanwhile, as MSNBC and other news networks interrupted McCain's speech to go to Senator Clinton's, a distinctive energy was present that you could feel sitting at home. Senator Clinton's speech took place at Baruch College in New York City and interestingly enough, her speech was located in the basement level of the college where people had no access to cell phone or internet reception. Her speech was given after results from South Dakota had predicted victory for her, yet before the Montana results could come in. Still, by the time that MSNBC and CNN had appointed Barack Obama the official presumptive nominee, all Clinton supporters had arrived and were seated at her rally speech. Meanwhile, pundits on all the major new networks debated if Clinton would remain defiant and refuse to concede. My favorite pundit, Chris Matthews on MSNBC correctly predicted that she would do exactly that as Clinton proceeded to refuse to say much of anything at all, other than to thank all of her supporters and state that her campaign had gained the most amount of votes in U.S. history. In asking the rhetorical question, "what does Hillary Clinton want?" she refused to answer the question to her steadfast supporters who chanted "Denver" in a belief to take the fight to the Democratic National Committee Convention in Denver in August.

Less than an hour later, the night of politics would culminate with Senator Obama taking over the role as the Democratic nominee and giving his most powerful and passionate speech yet, in perhaps his best speech yet. In a brilliant strategic move, his rally speech was held in an arena in St. Paul, Minnesota, the same site that the Republican Party will hold there Republican National Convention in a few months. Networks estimated Obama's crowd to be almost 18,000 people packed in the arena with another 20,000 people gathered outside the arena to watch him speak on the screens and speakers set up. Obama's speech recounted the words "It is our Momement, Our time!" as the crowd of thousands chanted "Yes We Can!" Barack Obama stood on stage in his half hour speech which motivated millions of people across the country as he thanked Senator Clinton for "making him a better candidate" and also thanked her for her past efforts in healthcare and energy efficiency. In his strategic move in his speech, he aimed to gather up the Clinton supporters in a sign of Party Unity. The GOP could not have been more dissapointed in a night that clearly belonged to the Democrats and one which highlighted the stark contrasts between Obama and McCain.

In his speech, Obama came out swinging against McCain, citing his 95% voting record with President Bush's policies and calling him "anything but change."