Obama oratory lingers in mist

By The News Virginian Staff

Published: August 27, 2008

On a cool day in August, the Illinois senator who would become Democratic presidential nominee stood before the crowds and declared amid cheers: “I have stood by my principles in fair weather and in foul, in the sunshine and in the rain. … I knew that the people would see in the end that I had done right, and I knew that the God of heaven would smile upon me if I was faithful in the performance of my duty.”
Barack Obama seeks tonight to ascend to the oratorical heights reached by his predecessor, Stephen Douglas, in the second of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, which at this writing took place precisely 150 years ago in Freeport, Ill. That Obama performs at a level parallel to his legend is considered critical by the pundits, who know all, or tell us they do. His campaign has grown weary and he has received little bounce in the polls from the Democratic National Convention, which closes tonight and has appeared starved of its ordinary bang.
No matter how Obama fares, he will stand as a symbol of change not only to Denver’s adoring masses but also to those gazing back across the expanse of time toward Douglas’ rhetorical skirmishes with uppity Republican Abraham Lincoln. Let us dispense with the obvious: Douglas argued to allow slavery’s expansion, while Lincoln opposed it. Now Obama, a black man, stands on the precipice of the presidency. In this, America has grown.
Not all change is for the better, however, as the Democratic extravaganza this week attests and as will the Republican National Convention next week. Both demonstrate what modern politics has become, a game of electronic illusions. Lincoln and Douglas spoke from atop simple wooden platforms to crowds gathered in the shades of groves, seated in wagons or shuffling from one foot to the other as the debates, like one of the apostle Paul’s sermons, extended for hours covering points prosaic and sublime.
Americans in that era were swept into the depths by elections and political campaigns, which now drift in the shoals. Sound bites have nibbled at substance and left only crumbs. Successful oratory tickles emotions and subdues intellects. Unsuccessful oratory – mastered by the current president – treats language as foul, but is accepted, provided the candidate is considered of the likeable sort found at local taverns.
Obama is expert at the former, a speaker who sets the legs of pundits to tingling and the hearts of women to fluttering. He plays to crowds as though leading a symphony, directing at will sentiments to stir with flourishes of words. But in music, there are Bach and Kool and the Gang (whose “Celebration” played Monday night at the convention). Both have sold records, but one is worth hearing.
Tonight, television analysts, whose titles are oxymoronic, will declare from behind earnest gazes that Obama must deliver the “speech of his life,” a phrase that should be proscribed under penalty of torture. Whatever it means, expect Obama to provide it tonight. He is a man of moments, if not something more substantive, and he is sure to rise in Denver.
But will the junior senator from Illinois speak beyond words, and if we probe beneath their ethereal appeal, what will we find? His antebellum predecessor’s principles and the actions that corresponded to them were flawed, but while Douglas stood vivid in sunshine and rain, Obama remains shrouded in mist. Obama desires this. But should we elect one whose greatest acumen is in inspiring hope from within illusions’ shadows?