A Bad Dream

AS the presidential race has been accelerating beyond the limits of Einsteinian physics, it’s little wonder substantive commentary about Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic convention was so scarce. Of course, there was ample instant-punditry about the “spectacle” at Denver’s Invesco Field-the Greek columns, the adoring throng of 80,000, and the historical poignancy of the speech’s being given on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. But the next day John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate; three days after that, the GOP convention commenced. Now Obama’s address seems like it was a century ago.

And that’s fitting. Because rather than a bold and visionary statement about the future-what some might expect from “The One”-the core theme of the speech was in fact very, very old.

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Jonah Goldberg

Jonah Goldberg is a National Review contributing editor.

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AS the presidential race has been accelerating beyond the limits of Einsteinian physics, it’s little wonder substantive commentary about Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic convention was so scarce. Of course, there was ample instant-punditry about the “spectacle” at Denver’s Invesco Field-the Greek columns, the adoring throng of 80,000, and the historical poignancy of the speech’s being given on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. But the next day John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate; three days after that, the GOP convention commenced. Now Obama’s address seems like it was a century ago.

And that’s fitting. Because rather than a bold and visionary statement about the future-what some might expect from “The One”-the core theme of the speech was in fact very, very old.