Dean Barnett attended a speech that Obama gave this weekend at the Virginia Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner and notes that there were marked differences between the Obama who speaks inspiringly of unity and bringing the country together. Obama spoke from notes rather than the Teleprompter and he went off script several times to deliver partisan jabs at the Bush administration and rail against the big oil, drug, and insurance companies in terms that could have come just as easily from John Edwards than from the man with the audacious hope. Nothing particularly remarkable from a Democratic politician - all standard stuff, but different from what Senator Obama usually delivers.
What makes Obama's Jefferson-Jackson speech especially relevant is where he went when he went off script. The unifying Obama who has impressed so many people during this campaign season vanished, replaced by just another angry liberal railing against George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Exxon Mobil, and other long standing Democratic piñatas. The pressing question that Obama's decidedly uninspiring Jefferson-Jackson oratory raises is which Obama is the real Obama--the one who read beautifully crafted words from a Teleprompter after his victory in Iowa, or the tediously angry liberal who improvised in Virginia?
Those Republicans who are toying with the idea of voting for Obama if he wins the nomination may do well to wonder along with Dean Barnett which is the real Barack Obama.
Dean Barnett attended a speech that Obama gave this weekend at the Virginia Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner and notes that there were marked differences between the Obama who speaks inspiringly of unity and bringing the country together. Obama spoke from notes rather than the Teleprompter and he went off script several times to deliver partisan jabs at the Bush administration and rail against the big oil, drug, and insurance companies in terms that could have come just as easily from John Edwards than from the man with the audacious hope. Nothing particularly remarkable from a Democratic politician - all standard stuff, but different from what Senator Obama usually delivers.
What makes Obama's Jefferson-Jackson speech especially relevant is where he went when he went off script. The unifying Obama who has impressed so many people during this campaign season vanished, replaced by just another angry liberal railing against George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Exxon Mobil, and other long standing Democratic piñatas. The pressing question that Obama's decidedly uninspiring Jefferson-Jackson oratory raises is which Obama is the real Obama--the one who read beautifully crafted words from a Teleprompter after his victory in Iowa, or the tediously angry liberal who improvised in Virginia?
Those Republicans who are toying with the idea of voting for Obama if he wins the nomination may do well to wonder along with Dean Barnett which is the real Barack Obama.
