If words alone are the only thing that counts in politics and history, Barack Obama is clearly the best speaker of all times. As I write this, Obama has just finished his jobspeech. It was a true masterpiece, also in making the further job of the Republicans close to impossible. He directly killed them politically, by reaching out his hand the way he did.
It is late here in Norway as I write this, and I will make it short. The most obvious flaw in Obamas speech was his trackrecord. He has said so many nice and good things in the last three years, but what happens to what he says? It looks like he can promise the moon to anyone, as long as he knows there will always be someone that will shot «his ballon» down. Always somebody to blame.
If this is what we will see this time too remains to be seen. If he for the first time really will be able to deliver according to his promises, a miracle bigger than anything previously seen in politics will be a reality. Because what was very obvious was what the man did not say. Can he save another 300 billion without starting to really hurt the military? What will happen to soldiers loosing their jobs? He mentioned Ford in the same breath as he talked about jobs in America. This speech was on the same day as Ford made it clear that they will create 5000 new jobs in India. Why do we so often get a universe between Obamas words and what really happens?
Somethings really made me wonder during his speech. His wife Michelle looked very said, and seemed to be just politely clapping her hands. It is difficult to speculate why, but it looked strange on the day her man made his probably best speech ever.
After seeing what we have the last year or so in international finance, and knowing how close the world and US are to a total collapse, my best guess is that Obamas great speech will buy time before everything falls apart. His trackrecord, advisers and financial supporters and backers makes it close to impossible to believe that he will be allowed to push trough all he said. But hopefully I am wrong, and a great miracle will come out of all this. The next weeks will probably show us a lot of the reality behind Barack Obama. I hope for the best, but willingly admit I am prepared for worst.
Må Lyset Vinne Over Mørket.