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In a stunning turn of events, Barack Obama actually said something more than “hope and hope meets hope and hope America!!” To me, his first step in what should be a home run trot was taken when he said

And when I'm President, we'll reject torture - without exception or equivocation; we'll close Guantanamo

For ONCE saying something specific he’d do, something he will stand for. For ONCE letting me in, letting me feel like he’s not just a superhero without a cape.

HOWEVER.

He needs to shut up about being against the Iraq War “from the beginning.” I’m sorry, but if you’ll notice, he did not get a vote. Yeah, he came out early and railed, but he wasn’t held accountable to the emotions of constituents that were at the time calling for blood. Believe me, I have a post coming up in the future about the failings of Congress re: letting emotions rule the day when it came to voting for war; but Obama repeatedly pointing out that he was against the war is like me saying I woulda drafted Jordan ahead of Sam Bowie: that’s great, but guess what? He didn’t have to deal with it at the time. He didn’t have history breathing down his neck, he didn’t have a country staring at him looking for payback. He could’ve said “eat at Pizza Hut!” at the time, and nobody would’ve noticed.

I’m still waiting for Obama’s home run. I do believe it’s coming, and this speech was the first step. But I’m warning him, drop the rhetoric re: "I would've voted no!" You’ll lose. Nipping at the ankles of those who actually had to vote makes you look small. You loom much larger when you tell us where you'll take us tomorrow, how you'll CHANGE things, how you'll move us forward. Demand from us what you will offer, and we'll line up to deliver.