Starting the General Election With a Thud

Robert Novak echoes something I wrote the other day:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. John McCain had just begun his speech from Kenner, La., on the year's last primary election night when distraught Republicans began e-mailing each other this message: Is it possible at this late hour for our presidential candidate to learn to read a teleprompter?

McCain's strategists, concerned that he has been out of the spotlight for months while Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton battled for the Democratic nomination, long ago planned to get some national attention Tuesday night. But McCain looked uncomfortable addressing a few hundred supporters at the dreary Pontchartrain Center in the New Orleans suburb.

In contrast, Obama's managers booked the huge Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., site of the Republican National Convention three months from now. The Democratic candidate showed off his oratorical skills before a big partisan audience.

I wrote it this way:

John McCain made an ill-advised decision to give a speech last night, not long before Barack Obama's victory speech. While Obama spoke to thousands and the TV images showed adoring fans in the background, McCain spoke to literally dozens and stood in front of a lime green jello-looking backdrop. His speech, though praised by some Republicans for content, was a typical McCain delivery. Stilted. He doesn't know how to give a speech from a teleprompter, and although he may believe what he's saying, he doesn't give that impression with his awkward speaking style.

You can just imagine what's going to happen this summer. Obama will give his typically soaring but empty speech to thousands of swooning Democrats and media, and shortly thereafter McCain will give a stilted speech, full of awkward pauses and grins that don't match the text while disheartened Republicans try to fake enthusiasm that they clearly don't feel.

If McCain is less than 20 points down at the end of that speech I'll be amazed.