naked candidate

Michelle Obama has just finished her speech introducing herself and her family to America. She gave a very sincere speech and she will certainly represent a new type of First Lady. She is obviously a very powerful woman who wields a lot of influence, both as a peer and a confidant, with her husband. She was clearly on stage to give the Robinson-Obama narrative and help set at ease some of the tensions the undecided folks in America might have about voting for Barack.

We also tonight heard a moving speech from Ted Kennedy, in essence passing on the baton from his family to Barack. His mere presence would have been inspiration enough but he gave a rousing speech, which was followed by a very subdued and strange speech from former Rep. Jim Leach.

And through all of this there is something that haunts me.

Why am I thinking about the NBA playoffs from two years ago? Why is it I keep seeing a first round match-up between the Dallas Mavericks, who were coming off one of the most successful seasons in NBA history, and the Golden State Warriors, who were a number eight seed? Why does the vision persist of a very successful Maverick team falling victim to an underdog who no one outside of northern California thought had a chance of winning the series?

The simple reason is that the Mavericks felt the need to change their game plan and play a different style of ball against the lesser regarded Warriors. Dallas was a team that steam rolled through the regular season and were the popular pick to repeat as Western Conference Champions, but from the very first game they altered their line-up and they altered their approach to account for Golden State. Before the first whistle had ever blown the Mavericks were on the defensive and were not playing their style of basketball.

The Mavs realized their mistake at the end of game one but the tone for the series had been set. I wonder if the same thing happened tonight. I worry that too much of the first night was dedicated to playing defense against some of the haymakers that the Republicans have been throwing our way. Here’s a list of some of the things that were addressed, mostly by Michelle, in night one:

1. The Obamas are elitists – Michelle tonight gave the narrative of two self-made people, one from the south side of Chicago and the other from Hawaii and both from blue collar, average American families.

2. The Obamas are not like most Americans – Michelle made sure we understood that the Obama family is first and foremost a family and they have two cute little girls they adore. She has a brother and mother she loves.

2. Michelle Obama is not proud of her country – “…tonight where the current of history meets this new tide of hope and, you see, that is why I love this country. ” Michelle Obama loves America.

3. Barack Hussein Obama might be a Muslim, possibly a terrorist – Barack has a funny name, but his family in Hawaii was just like Michelle’s – a blue collar, hard working American family – and in turn just like everyone else’s.

4. There is an irreparable rift between the Obamas and the Clintons – Some people may disagree but the shout out that Michelle gave to Hillary seemed a little clumsy and a little forced as she was in midst of listing off the groups of Americans working to make our country as it should be: “…the service men and women who love this country so much they leave those they love most to defend it. The young people across America serving our community, teaching children, cleaning up neighborhoods, caring for the least among us each and every day. People like Hillary Clinton who put those 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling…”

5. Women will not vote for Obama – Michelle managed to touch both on being a woman who supports her husband Barack and on women’s issues, the 88th anniversary of women winning the right to vote and Hillary cracking the glass ceiling.

6. Barack Obama does not have enough experience – Michelle spoke on Barack’s experience both as an Illinois Senator and a US Senator and went into eloquent detail on Barack’s community service work.

7. Hope – Michelle talked about the hope and dream of coming from a working background and making your way to the presidency of the US – the American dream where you “can make it if you try” and where we should all strive for the world as it should be: “the great American story.”

I am not knocking this in theory. These things had to be addressed at some point and Michelle gave an inspiring speech and was extremely poised as she went through her checklist of possible boogeymen the US voters might still fear. However, there was not a clear message tying everything together tonight.

We lost two presidential contests in a row to a party represented by a man who had the intellectual curiosity of a bicycle. He was the underdog in every presidential debate and yet his simple message resonated with voters. He was expected to lose the first contest to Al Gore, who was coming off one of the most successful administrations in our history, and then to John Kerry, as Bush found himself and his war widely unpopular. He beat both of those men. He kept to simple messages and hammered home simple rhetoric to the very voters we are now hoping will vote for Obama . Bush won the votes of independents and undecideds with an almost childish message that never veered from his basic GOP platform.

The Republicans kept saying the same damn things over and over until everyone bought in. If we raised a good point or undermined their entire line of reasoning, Bush merely cranked up the volume and said the same thing, but louder.

Tonight I saw some nice pageantry and some nice symbolism. It cheered my heart to see images of Jimmy Carter and to see Teddy Kennedy speaking in front of the convention, but I could not help wondering if these were the leaders who could reach John Q. Voter in Michigan. Michelle Obama did a wonderful job of making the Obama narrative accessible and charming but the first night lacked a simple message that might sway the undecided man in New Mexico or the independent woman in Colorado.

The recent GOP approach to swaying voters dates back to Jr High English Class:

1. Tell them what you’re going to tell them

2. Tell them

3. Tell them what you told them

Tonight we spent some time introducing the Obamas and attempting to lay to rest some of the questions and fears voters have about our candidate, but we are already on the defensive. Could not these same points have been made in a context that weaved a narrative about where we are right now as a nation?

• We are a country engaged in two wars.
• We are a country on the brink of a recession.
• We are a country paying high prices for food and for gas.
• We are a country in which the gap between rich and poor grows wider by the day.
• We are a country with no real energy plan.
• We are a country who has lost the respect of so much of the rest of the world.
• We are a country in need of change – not more Bush policies from John McCain.

Maybe I am paranoid. Maybe I worry too much. And then again, maybe I am spot on. Did we play too much defense tonight? Maybe we should have reminded voters that the country is headed in the wrong direction and McCain will do nothing to change that.

Are you better off today than you were eight years ago? If you want a better day tomorrow, you have to start making a change today. McCain represents more of the same the problems but Obama and Biden represent an answer.

Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed the convention tonight and will watch again tomorrow but I am telling you, the Mavs should have won that contest.

So should we. Let’s play our game.