PoliticalDerby.com

28 hours after my initial less than enthusiastic response to John McCain’s acceptance speech, I have come to the conclusion that the long term effects of the speech will be quite positive for camp-McCain. It is obvious from the ratings numbers John McCain received, 38.9 million according to Nielson Media Research, that Sarah “Barracuda” Palin’s post speech coattail was quite long going into Thursday night.

After reflecting on Obama‘s stadium revival rally I found myself unable to recall anything, and I mean anything, the man had said. I recall it being similar to a State of the Union address with a laundry list of initiatives and promises we have all heard before, but what they were seems to have slipped my mind. I recall seeing a concert by Sheryl Crow, huge crowds, cool fireworks, and 2008 Chinese drummers………wait, sorry, that was the Olympics. I digress. I recall pundits telling me that it was one of the greatest speeches since Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and I recall Chris Matthews getting another thrill up his leg, but again, I cannot recall what specifically the man said about anything.

Last night John McCain seemed to have stumbled and bumbled himself through another brutal delivery of what might have been a well written speech. Anti-Intelligence protesters seemed to further disrupt what was already a shaky walk on a delivery tightrope. After the 60 year old Code-Stink stripper was escorted away from “the pole” John McCain then added his own touch of laundry list initiatives that led me to make a sandwich and poor some milk, skim. Then it happened. John McCain began to tell the story that only he could tell. He began to tell the story that a teleprompter was not needed to remind him of. McCain reminded America that “change” began for him in a POW prison cell. It was a story we have all heard numerous times but this time it seemed different. This time McCain seemed to have opened his soul and exposed his humility to the people whose trust he hopes to garnish. The crowd grew quiet but not from sleep this time but from the knots in their throats. It was the scene of a great man giving his all once again, for the last time, to a nation he hopes to lead. It was beautiful, eloquent, and honest.

How will the events of the last two weeks be remembered? I believe now that the “styrofoam Greek columns” have been hauled back to the studio lot, John McCain may have come out of the last two weeks as the man America will trust, if for no other reason than the fact he has earned it.

Maybe I am suffering from the “Audacity of Hope”.