Big John's Grand Slam

Senator John F. Kerry had to make the speech of his life tonight. He was following Barack Obama, who became the party's rising superstar in one night. He was following Howard Dean, whose energy gave Kerry the party he needs to win this fight. He was following General Wesley Clark, Al Sharpton, and John Edwards, all of whom electrified the crowd. Senator Kerry didn't just have one hell of an act to follow -- he had several speeches of a lifetime to live up to, especially Obama's, which raised the bar for everyone.

He took a hard, inside fastball and knocked it out of the park. Hell, he shattered the Green Monster -- and sent that blast flying to New York, a gauntlet delivered. Somewhere, Cheney's robotic heart is beating just a bit faster. Somewhere, Rove's shrunken soul shivers, sending him into a cold sweat. And somewhere, George W. Bush sleeps blissfully, as usual unaware of what he's about to face -- a stirring voice ringing out from a united Democratic party. Who knows when his advisors will deign to tell him that this race is now Kerry's to lose?

What has me gushing so rapturously? The "stiff, wooden" Democratic nominee, the "Brahmin" chosen for his "gravitas," the "candidate that no one likes," rocked the house even more than the brilliant and eloquent Obama. There was a genuine and undeniable energy at the convention, all the more real for the script it exploded free of. Kerry's speech was pure genius, blending a powerful progressive message with eloquent centrist language. speaking from the heart while hitting all the highlights of his stump speech. Even the wonks got their time in an hour that he had to spend making himself likeable, when he told those looking for more in-depth policy info to go to johnkerry.com, and he managed to do it in a funny, clever way. The speech, however, was aimed at convincing the fence sitters -- progressives looking for someone to stand up for them, ambivalent voters who want someone "likeable," fence-sitters who want to know if he can really protect the country, or if he's "too liberal." Kerry's aim was dead-on.

Unapologetically, he picked up the populist theme and defended it in stirring patriotic terms. Unabashedly, he stole Obama's best line -- and improved it, calling for One America, "Red, White, and Blue!" Unreservedly, he took on the mantle of an American champion, assuring viewers that he would take concrete steps to defend the nation -- and explaining them. Unashamedly, he spoke of faith on his own terms, albeit with a little legendary help:

"I don't want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side."

And then -- I can't believe he had the guts to do this -- he threw a bone to Earth-based faiths with the "cathedrals of nature" line on trees and the environment. Sure, it's ecumenical, but I have to imagine that with the diverse bunch supporting the Real Deal, something filtered along.

Indeed, there was a great deal of "coded" appeal -- red meat for we partisans that wouldn't give the undecided centrists indigestion. His defense of all minorities and treating people with respect (translation: the FMA is evil). Tying "honor thy mother and father" to protecting Social Security (translation: Bush doesn't care about your parents). Insisting that families won't have to pay for servicemen's body armor when he is president (translation: the corrupt SOBs running this war are more interested in their profits than our soldiers). All of it sheer genius.

Not that his speech was without good, solid blows. "It's time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families" was one of the best lines of the convention. Perhaps his most effective tactic, however, was calling out the Repugs' politics of division. Senator Kerry reminded us of how united we were after 9/11 without coming across as exploitative, then showed how the Bush Gang cynically leveraged that good will and unity for their own foul purposes. His language was always carefully chosen not to go too far, striking the right tenor between condemning the sins while reaching out to the sinners -- and those who believed them.

In short, one beautiful, beautiful speech. Faced with his own legendary question -- "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" -- he came up with a brilliant answer. You don't. You ask men to help correct that mistake, to redeem it, to make right what others have made wrong.

I truly believe that we could have the first unquestionably great Democratic president since that other JFK. I can't do it justice in this short space. For the full text, read the BBC's coverage -- yep, the Beeb's already on the case. Read the acceptance speech of the 44th President of the United States.

(/) Roland
"Our world is unconquerable because the human spirit is unconquerable." --Al Gore