The Irony of Hope

I knew Obama was a gifted speaker. I was aware that he had a rare knack for sweeping rhetoric that could catch the most unsuspecting bystanders in its grandeur. I have acknowledged more than once that he has a persuasive tongue.

But I didn't know just how persuasive he could be until I watched the live broadcast of his speech last night (Feb. 12) in Madison, Wisconsin.

And as I listened to him, he gave me hope that I have not felt for some time. He made me feel something that a week ago I thought I might never feel.

What he made me feel was a lot more optimistic about Senator John McCain being my party's presumed presidential nominee. As Obama pompously warned about America's future under a McCain administration, a seed of hope was born - the hope that perhaps Senator McCain will rise to the occasion and really become the leader that his would-be challenger was darkly portending that he will be. The man who still continue to wage the war on terror as long as it takes - a hundred years if necessary! The man who will continue the so-called "tax cuts for the rich" that in reality benefited the entire nation.

OK, so I may have a way to go before I can boost McCain with the kind of passion and fire I felt for President Bush in 2004. He's got some work to do to prove he's serious about earning the respect and trust of conservatives. (One of the things he needs to do, incidentally, is to show that he cares more for the esteem of conservatives than the praise of liberals like Senator Obama.) I'm not kidding myself that he's going to win me over overnight. I'm too good a judge of character for that and my BS detection mechanism is state-of-the-art.

Cautiousness keeps my imagination from running ahead to a day when, before the votes are casts, McCain has finally morphed into the Reagan conservative he claims to be and I can cast my vote for him with no reservations.

But for one shining, glorious moment, Barack Obama took me there with his soaring eloquence.