Acceptance Speeches Part II: The Democrats

Last time, I talked about the acceptance speeches of the Republican Party, the “classical” approach of John McCain, the aspirational outlook of Sarah Palin.
Tonight, as ballots are being cast, I am going to take a look at the acceptance speeches of the Democrats, Senator Joe Biden and Senator Barack Obama.

Governor Biden’s speech had a number of the elements that the Republicans exhibited, including the “nods” to family, the hardscrabble narrative, the attempt to make connections with the most ordinary Americans. This narrative segued into an attack on the Republican ticket and its purported connection to the Bush Presidency; Biden cast the Republicans as the enemies of common folks.

So, while Palin’s “construct” was an elite straw man of education and culture in order to make alliances with listeners, Biden’s “construct” was a secretive elite of economic privilege.

The overarching theme was a call for change, to fight the elite of economic privilege by voting Democratic.

These elements warmed the crowd up for Barack Obama.

While Biden alternated “nods” and criticism, narrative and complaint, Obama wove them all together, synthesizing more closely his humble beginnings and the circumstances that threaten the humble now.

But what distinguished his words from Biden’s was not the structure of the elements, but the cadence of the elements, utilizing the symbolism of a country whose core character he deemed better than what the last eight years have shown.

What distinguished the aspirational nature of his call was not Palin’s invitation to Republicans to vicariously emulate her individual example, but instead, to invite the country to rise above the leadership and shortcomings of the last eight years.

This alternation, between the struggles of the humble, and the call to a national transformation, formed the central dynamic of the speech. As a result, Obama used no “straw men”, he simply identified the concrete forces of opposition and change, and if anything was a construct utilized in his speech, it was “America”.

Next…someone’s victory speech, we’ll see who.

Stay tuned.