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Notes on Last Night

So, it's finally over, and the general election now begins. A few observations on a historic night:

- First of all, it cannot be denied that the winning of a major party's presidential nomination by an African-American is a wonderful thing for this country. If you'd asked me five years ago how soon we'd see the first black president, I'd have probably guessed 20 or 25 years. Now, we may have one THIS year. Whatever you think about Obama, this is a milestone that must be acknowledged.

- McCain's general election campaign got off to an especially sputtering start, with a witless speech that not only purloined most of Obama's own slogan, but seemingly dragged on forever. And why must McCain do that stupid grin whenever he gets a zinger in? And why must he do that Beavis-like chuckle as well? Also funny to hear McCain bash "the media," after a decade-long period in which they loved him and he loved them.

- As for Hillary, to call the speech ungracious would be an understatement. Matthew Yglesias last night said it better than I could:

I probably shouldn't write any more about this woman and her staff. Suffice it to say that I've found her behavior over the past couple of months to be utterly unconscionable and this speech is no different. I think if I were to try to express how I really feel about the people who've been enabling her behavior, I'd say something deeply unwise. Suffice it to say, that for quite a while now all of John McCain's most effective allies have been on Hillary Clinton's payroll.

Unless internal polling shows him that he absolutely would win with her on the ticket and absolutely would lose without her, I don't think Obama should even begin to consider Hillary as veep.

- Great speech by Obama, he clearly had the crowd eating right out of his hand and hit major flourishes two or three times. If this is the contrast for the next several months- a dynamic speaker who inspires his base, against a sluggish one who puts his to sleep- I can't see McCain getting any momentum. And yes, he gave Michelle dap prior to the speech. I noticed that, too.

- I loved the idea of giving the speech in St. Paul, in the same building that will host the GOP convention in September. But funny to hear Obama rip the oil companies at the XCel Energy Center. It's also an arena that was built almost singlehandedly due to the efforts of Mayor-turned-Sen. Norm Coleman, who the Democrats will be trying like hell to defeat in November.

- Odd thing on MSNBC: At 9 p.m EDT, when the polls closed in South Dakota, MSNBC interrupted McCain's speech to declare that Obama had crossed the necessary delegate threshold and was therefore the presumptive nominee. None of the other networks did this, and I sort of assumed that the AP making the exact same declaration six hours earlier meant it was already in the bag.

- In other election news, Frank Lautenberg easily beat back a challenge from Rob Andrews in the New Jersey Senate Democratic primary. Lautenberg, who is 84 years old and already retired from the Senate once, will face Dick Zimmer in the the fall. I was on Andrews' side, until he started running a particularly loathsome ad, and not only that, it was pretty much his only ad buy in the Philadelphia market.

- So the general election begins. I can't wait to watch it, write about it, and vote in it.

Posted by Stephen Silver at June 4, 2008 04:19 PM