Initially a bit concerned ... he was tight and pulled out the infamous finger wag that he does when he is nervous (like when he is being impeached e.g.) ... but put out his antennae, tapped into the scene and found hid footing.
Then it was the open hands reaching out, the occasional reflective hand to the forehead, the sympathetic two-hands motioning down bit (essentially, I know your excited, but try to contain yourself, I'm not quit done). From then on is was as close to that middle ground of beck and call coupled to northern moderate as one can get. Once he has slipped into that mode with an adoring audience he is frighteningly effective.
It took maybe 5 or 10 minutes, tops.
He said "the gays" in a reference to current benefits to Obamacare, I would be inclined to lose the word "the" ... but nothing lost. Voters sensitive to this issue (pro or con) are firmly decided.
I didn't like the use of the word "need" in the closing round of beck and call:
"If you want blah blah, you "need" to vote for ...", just a style point, but one is to never tell a voter what the must or need ... but I'm not saying I have a better word, and it didn't seem to rub that I know of.
So there, three things:
1. the finger
2. "the gays"
3. "you need to"
Otherwise, he was a quarterback on his own ten with 15 seconds left in a tie game, and he chucked a 65 yard bomb. Now the Blues are looking at 1st and 10 on the Reds 25. Bring on the kicker.
He managed to put the Reds on defense, he redirected the mood of the narrative, opened a more reflective consideration of things, stoked significant suspicion of the Reds, all while coming off like a good friendly guy that just wants the best for Everybody. He rallied american exceptionalism (very politically valuable) but suggested that the exceptionalism was a matter of community and cooperation and not just the trickle down from a few good men. The narrative has been deftly redefinied, it was always there, it has been rearticulated.
So, does the kicker split the uprights, or do we go into overtime?
I wonder what Rove's venom spin is today. Rove is not very charismatic.
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