That Fireworks Music, and Thoughts on The Speech

Although I had the TV sound off during Senator Obama's speech, I turned it up during the fireworks and immediately keyed in on the music.

Instead of rousing patriotic music, it was pseudo-THE NATURAL style music -- once again emphasizing, from my point of view, that for the Democrats this isn't about our country, it's about Senator Obama. The music was designed to spotlight him, not the country. It might be a subtle point, but I saw it as one more sign of the "cult of celebrity" surrounding Obama, particularly given tonight's setting.

There's lots of great commentary all over the web, particularly at The Corner. One of the reviews I found most interesting, by Victor Davis Hanson:

"Same old, same old of the last two decades.

"The convention's final workmanlike message: The country is wrecked. Our freedoms are lost. Our soldiers are victims, not triumphant heroes. We are all impoverished except for a parasitic few. All bad news is not due to globalized changes in a radically different world, but to the nefarious greed of Bush-Cheney-McCain nexus. The Obamas, Kerrys, Pelosis, Gores, et al. who make millions a year and live in mansions, are populists uniquely called upon to tax, expand government, and think of ever new programs, as if the United States doesn't have the largest government and the most ineffective programs in its history.

"And this is change? Political transcendence?"

One of the key differences between Democrats and Republicans: Democrats are depressed and see the U.S. as a declining country and its people as unable to cope without government help.

Republicans, on the other hand, are proud of their country and remain wary of the government being "here to help," to call Ronald Reagan's "nine most terrifying words" to mind.

As Andy McCarthy wrote tonight: "That used to be the greatness of America: I WANT TO BE ON MY OWN. Now, somehow, it's a problem — that if the government is not holding your hand, helping you work it all out, there's a problem. Earth to Obama: That IS the problem."

Update: Don't miss Charles Krauthammer: "The air of unease at the Democratic Convention this week was not just a result of the Clinton psychodrama. The deeper anxiety was that the party was nominating a man of many gifts but precious few accomplishments — bearing even fewer witnesses...

"The oddity of this convention is that its central figure is the ultimate self-made man, a dazzling mysterious Gatsby. The palpable apprehension is that the anointed is a stranger — a deeply engaging, elegant, brilliant stranger with whom the Democrats had a torrid affair. Having slowly woken up, they see the ring and wonder who exactly they married last night."