Barack's Big Speech

Just a few random thoughts...

- Did you notice that in the whole speech he barely even mentioned international issues? Have people forgotten that nearly all the big problems we face today are linked to the situation in the Middle East? Or problems with American economic competitiveness in the global economy? Also not hardly mentioned. Ought those issues not at least get passing mention in the biggest political speech of the era? Do folks have ADD or what?

- Does anyone else find the level of populism evident in Obama's candidacy a little frightening? 85,000 fans screaming and weeping over a political stump speech? This is getting kind of surreal.

- Talk about expectations. Even if he is elected this star is going to fall hard and fast. No one can live up to all that.

- Remember Bill Clinton's line that "The Era of Big Government is over"? Well, it's b-a-a-a-c-k. Or should I say it's Barack? There were more new government programs in that speech than there were fans in the seats.

- So how does one pay for all those promises? "By getting rid of government programs that no longer work" he says. Yeah right. We've heard that before. He's going to raise taxes. But--you say--he promised to lower taxes for 95% of Americans! We've heard that before too. Sure, he'll raise the top 5% tax-payer rates faster and higher than the others, but make no mistake. For all the talk about "change" and a "new wave", this is standard liberal Democratic fare -- more government, more spending, and more taxes. As opposed to the standard Republican fare, of course -- more government, more spending, and more deficits. What's a limited-government, low-tax, libertarian guy supposed to do?

- Final thought... There's probably no stopping this train. Reminds me of the 1993 post-Brian Mulroney tsunami in Canada. People are so fed up with Bush/Cheney that they are clearing the decks of all Republicans. And the big-government, bleeding-heart, tax and spend liberals are going to take full advantage of the opportunity. And that reminds me of Canada too!