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Friday, October 17, 2008
John McCain and Barack Obama are apparently hilarious.
At the 63rd Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner last night in New York, Barack Obama and John McCain proved one thing: they're both much, much funnier than any of us realized them to be. Both of these videos are hilarious - and so refreshing to see the candidates from another angle. Watch John McCain and Barack Obama roast one another below.
McCain:
McCain's closing statements:
Obama:
Obama's closing statements:
Two things surprise me about these speeches.
First: John McCain is a far, far superior speaker in this capacity than he is on the stump. It is videos like this that must make Republicans cringe in wondering what could have been. If McCain could communicate this effectively while on the campaign trail, this might be a completely different race. It is a striking reminder to me of why so many people liked John McCain in the first place. Makes you wonder why we haven't seen more of this side of the man.
Second: Barack Obama has great writing in this speech. This sounds like something that could easily have come off of the Daily Show or the Colbert Report, and he delivers the lines every bit as well as he does any other speech he gives. I also thought it was interesting to see him work off of notecards every bit as effectively as he uses a teleprompter. He also uses a vernacular that is notably younger and more vibrant than McCain (ie: Facebook, the Superman references, use of "I am a little too awesome").
My thoughts? McCain is naturally funnier. He seems more comfortable doing this, and looks to genuinely enjoy it. But Obama more than holds his own, and is funny in a completely different way. It is amazing that the very real differences in these two candidates even translates to their humor.
Generally, though, the most remarkable part of these speeches are how well they meld policy and jokes. I used to do speeches like this in high school - Special Occasion Speaking in the IHSA's Speech Individual Events program is almost exactly like this in structure - and it is so, so hard to balance the two as effectively as McCain and Obama did in these speeches. They managed to make some real policy points in the course of their humor - McCain hitting Obama on ACORN and Joe the Plumber, and Obama parrying with jabs on the financial meltdown.
This was a complete breath of fresh air. Enjoy.
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4 comments:
Thank you SO much for being the only one to include FULL videos of BOTH candidates. I fully agree with your comments, both candidates did do very well and it was a breath of fresh air. I am a McCain supporter and this is the McCain I knew and admired, unfortunately his latest performance has been more than sub par. This roast renewed my faith in him and reminded me of the sincere wisdom I respect him for. Thank you again for the site and for you balanced views!
Both gentlemen were marvelous. McCain's remarks about Obama brought tears to my eyes.
in mccain's speech, when he begins to get serious, he desribes that either he or obama will get their orders from...go listen to it. does he mean the people? when are we considered above? the rest of the writing seems intelligent enough. some one is handing them orders?
of course someone is handing them orders. the president doesn't decide anything. corporate paymasters do.
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