Dull speech, dull audience

Candidate Obama's "big speech" yesterday was a perfect dud. If anyone swooned it was from sheer ennui. From the little I saw of it, the troops dutifully vocalized on cue. But their demeanor was what Joey B. would have called dull as hell. Click to enlarge and look at the faces. 

Photo from CCC Voice. Go there to fully maximize.

Media reactions:

Politicker: President Obama’s Speech Gets A Thumbs Down From Political Press Corps:

Before the speech was over, MSNBC’s Mike O’Brien begged the president to stop.

His tweet: 

In terms of politics, this speech could have ended about 20 minutes ago. Drive your message, take your ball, go home.

Worse from Jonathan Alter:

On the air, MSNBC’s Jonathan Alter said it was “one of the worst speeches I’ve ever heard Barack Obama make.” He refused to back down.

John Podhoretz: Running on empty

More striking was the evidence of Obama’s indiscipline — a destructive problem for someone in a tight race. The endlessly repetitive speech was so very, very long that it brought to mind a story about the 1960 premiere of the Otto Preminger movie “Exodus,” about the creation of the state of Israel. As the film crossed the three-hour mark, the comedian Mort Sahl stood up and shouted, “Otto, let my people go!”

If the nation’s undecided voters decide Obama has become a bore on top of everything else, they’re going to do what Otto Preminger would not do for Mort Sahl: They’re going to let him go.

So far there's no transcript of Mark Steyn's chat with Hugh Hewitt last night, but it was insightful (as usual) and I'll post it here if it turns up.

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Many thanks to Michelle Malkin for linking.

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Ed Morrissey rounds up more reactions and calls our attention to this Dana Milbank headline in the Washington Post:

Skip the falsehoods, Mr. President, and give us a plan

Ouch.

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