“I make my living as a seasoned cynic when it comes to politics, so I’ve been more than a little reluctant to go on record with how moving, inspiring and, damn it, thrilling I found Barack Obama’s convention speech. … I woke up to a David Broder column that … complained that Obama’s ‘jibes at John McCain and George Bush were standard-issue Democratic fare, and his recital of a long list of domestic promises could have been delivered by any Democratic nominee from Walter Mondale to John Kerry. There was no theme music to the speech and really no phrase or sentence that is likely to linger in the memory. … Al Gore, the famously wooden former vice president, gave a more lively and convincing speech than Obama did.”‘ [editor’s note: The wonder of this is why Alterman would be at all surprised that Broder would defend the established power, and trash an alleged “usurper” of it … as he ALWAYS does! - SAT] (09/03/08)