Obama Goes to the Wall: McCain Attacks Obama

On Thursday, July 24th, Barack Obama gave a speech to a crowd of 200,000 people in Berlin, Germany. The number of people that attended that speech is as noteworthy as anything Obama could have said. My opinion is that he gave a good speech, one consistent with his message of hope. I will leave it to others to debate the historical merits of his speech. A portion of that speech is presented below.

"That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe. Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations -- and all nations -- must summon that spirit anew."

On Thursday July 22, in Rochester, New Hampshire, John McCain said, "This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign."

Joe Klein, reporter for Time magazine said of McCain's comments, "This is the ninth presidential campaign I've covered. I can't remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation. It renews questions about whether McCain has the right temperament for the presidency. How sad."

Many of those who oppose Senator Obama have said that his speeches are mostly rhetoric, empty of significant content. If Senator McCain's speech is an example of significant content, then this nation cannot subsist on it.