Obama v.s. McCain - Oratorial Prowess

On Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, the two dominant figures in American and international politics over the past eighteen months each made speeches accepting their fates as decided by the American electorate. Republican presidential candidate John McCain made his concession speech to a crowd of upset supporters in his home state of Arizona, while the new President-Elect, Barack Obama, made his monumental acceptance speech to a titanic and emotional crowd in Chicago. Although both speeches were superbly crafted, Obama's will likely trancsend the ranks of average political performances, and land a place in the Oratorial Hall of Fame.
There were some similarities between the two men's speeches. For example, both made reference to historical events, especially pertaining to the struggle of African-Americans over the past century. McCain cited the example of Booker T. Washington, the first African-American to be invited to the White House, while Obama chose to mention 106 year old Ann Nixon Cooper. Obama also made several other more poetic and subtle historical references throughout his speech, such as his use of "calloused hands".
The structure of the speeches was also similar, despite being of different lengths. Both included historical references, brief comments on the campaign, discussion of the future, time for thank-you's, and mention of speaking with the other candidate after learning of the result.
There were also some differences between the speeches, apart from the obvious fact that Obama's speech was in acceptance of the presidency, and McCain's was not. Both speeches included time for thank-you's to family, friends and campaign personel, however, Obama took a minimal amount of time for that portion of his speech, choosing to deal with other issues, mainly the road that now lies ahead of him, and ahead of America.
McCain left more time for thank-you's, and even branched off, briefly talking about the role of families and friends in the campaign.
In the end, both were excellently crafted speeches, and delivered powerful messages to their intended audiences. Whether or not the audiences listen is another matter entirely.