IN MY SHOES: When All Is Said And Done
Here’s what Barack Obama and John McCain said the other night – and what The Stiletto was muttering under her breath.
Barack Obama: If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible … tonight is your answer. …
The Stiletto: Yes indeed. Anyone can grow up to be president, whether he is qualified or not.
Obama: It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. …
The Stiletto: And the dead, and foreign nationals and even Mickey Mouse.
Obama: Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. …
The Stiletto: None of which you’ve ever done for your country. All you’ve ever fought for was your next career move.
Obama: And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama. …
The Stiletto: Hope she’s proud enough of the U.S. now to tell the world we’re not a bunch of ignorant, fearful rednecks.
Obama: Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House. …
The Stiletto: In case anyone still thinks he’s a Muslim, a dog is his best friend.
Obama: To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them. …
The Stiletto: What about his half-brother George – the one living in a hut without running water - and his auntie Zeituni – the one living here illegally in public housing - while he lives in a Chicago mansion that convicted real estate developer and Dem fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko helped him buy?
Obama: I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. …
The Stiletto: That’s for sure! What other community organizer who was just halfway into his first term in the Senate would even think to go for the top job (second item).
Obama: The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. …
The Stiletto: He hasn’t even been sworn in yet, and already he is running for re-election.
Obama: And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
The Stiletto: Unless, you are a woman like Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. In which case, no you can’t “sweetie.”
John McCain: This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.
The Stiletto: It was an historic election for women, too. But no one mentions that – not the MSM, not Barack Obama, not even you.
McCain: Sen. Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain.
The Stiletto: Your problem wasn’t so much that you were running to be another W, your problem was that on too many issues – from global warming to illegal immigration to embryonic stem cell research to the Wall Street bailout – you were running to be another Obama.
McCain: I urge all Americans who supported me to … come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.
The Stiletto: That’s what we were voting for you to do as president.
McCain: We fought … as hard as we could. And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours. … I don't know what more we could have done to try to win this election. I'll leave that to others to determine. Every candidate makes mistakes, and I'm sure I made my share of them.
The Stiletto: Um, where to begin ... The Stiletto hasn’t seen a campaign this inept since Bob Dole’s (unless you count the re-election bid of his wife, Elizabeth). Your opponent did everything right – legal or not quite (untraceable donations, ACORN’s voter registration drive); ethical or not quite (opting out of public financing after pledging he would not); honorable or not quite (making your age an issue, while at the same time casting everything that you and Sarah Palin said as “racist”). With the exception of choosing Palin as your running mate, you did everything wrong. You never seemed to realize that you were running against a Chicago pol. Which means you pull no punches and you throw everything you’ve got at him. You did not fight as hard as you could. What did you gain by not making an issue of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, for instance? Why didn’t you match Obama’s unfounded accusations of racism with documented instances of misogyny against Palin (second item)? And where the hell were your oppo researchers? By the time Joe the Plumber came around, it was too late to save your campaign.
McCain: But I won't spend a moment of the future regretting what might have been.
The Stiletto: When The Stiletto thinks that we are fast approaching 100 years since women got suffrage and we are no closer to the White House than we were back then, a lot of her time will be spent regretting what might have been. Ditto when she sees her income redistributed left and right and regrets what she could have done with the money instead – like save up for a down payment on a fire-sale foreclosed condo in Miami or Scottsdale (when the time comes, The Stiletto wants to retire to a warmer clime than NYC).
McCain: We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.
The Stiletto: Um, what else is a concession speech but a surrender? You won’t get the chance to make history. You are history.
The referenceto a Chicago pol reminds me of the quote in "The Untouchables": "He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the 'Chicago' way."
When Obama broke his promise to use public funding McCain should have done likewise. As much as I might enjoy a moment of schadenfreude toward the predicament of the man who is half of McCain Feingold, now the Chicago Machine has gone national. My only consolation is the possibility that Ahmadinejad will diss Obama's tie or something and Obama will turn Iran into a sea of molten glass. Thin skin with nukes. Um HUM. Oh well. Maybe he'll grow into the job.
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Well said! He should have pounded the Rezko/Wright drum alot harder and he should have displayed his legendary temper when Sarah Palin was being trashed in such a vile manner and laid that right on Obama's doorstep and called him out on it. Lemonfemale's comment said it all.
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