Rhetoric

Ed Brayton has a nice demolition of vapid political advertising. Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan offers a bizarre contrast:

People want The Sermon, not Obama's well-turned thoughts on foreign or economic policy. What the crowds crave from this scrupulous agnostic is his proven capacity to deliver the ecstatic consolation of old-time religion—a vision of America that transcends differences of race, class, and party, and restores harmony to a land riven under the oppressive rule of a government alien to its founding principles.

This is honestly one barrier to getting excited about Obama. I took a jab at one line from his Iowa victory speech Sunday, but really it wasn't just the one line. And Obama does empty well. That worries me.