Posted by
Scott Ott on Friday, September 05, 2008 12:33:23 AM
(St. Paul, Minnesota) -- From my Everestine perch 123 yards above the floor of the Xcel Energy Center, John McCain appeared roughly the size of an Oompa Loompa. His voice, far from the measured cadences of Barack Obama, often got lost among the shouts and cheers.
Sen. McCain speaks near a stage whisper at times. It's the kind of voice that gets you to lean in.
The world of the mainstream media will little note what he said here, but history will remember what he did here. John McCain redefined what it means to be a septuagenarian.
It struck me about halfway through
the speech that most elderly people that I know cling to the past, reminisce about "the way it was" and look with bemusement or disgust at the many changes which have transformed our world.
This old man comes from a different breed of fogey. His speech was replete with calls for specific change in the way government operates...from killing pork barrel projects, to transforming our energy policy, to equipping a new generation of workers for the technologies that have reshaped our lives.
He's not the codger who scoffs at cell phones, internets and iPods. He's the sage who sees in these technologies the jobs of the future, and the betterment of our lives.
Rather than getting stuck in his ways, Sen. McCain seems willing to re-invent everything but his principles.
Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church where Sen. McCain turned the tide and kindled the passion of the base, is known for saying, "Methods are many, principles are few. Methods always change, principles never do."
Thursday night in St. Paul, Americans saw a whispering warrior with principles like still waters that run deep, who has lived enough to realize life is a river that never stands still.