The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...

Down to Earth

He kept it down to earth tonight, which was the plan and a good idea—too much making people swoon would prove John McCain's charge that what Obama really is is a celebrity. And Obama nicely turned away the celebrity dig with a description of how he came from striving people who worked for everything they ever got. But he is at his most interesting, most compelling when he talks about himself, which is an unusual gift. When he switched to his policy plans, the specifics of what he wants to actually do for the country—he will make us energy independent in 10 years, for example—I just thought, "Sure you will." During the past couple of days, as both Bill Clinton and Joe Biden tried to talk about what Obama has done in his life to make us believe that he is ready to be president, you can't help but be struck by how little that adds up to. In the biggest speech to the country he has ever made, he didn't even try to list the accomplishments that make him qualified for the presidency. Yet, as you listen to him, strangely, that doesn't seem to matter.