A Speech Worth the Wait

Photo by Mark T. Osler

St. Paul – Anticipation filled the day as Eugene Jorissen counted down to the Republican National Convention’s grand finale Thursday: the prime-time acceptance speech by party nominee John McCain.

He wasn’t disappointed.

Standing and cheering from his upper-level seat in the Xcel Energy Center, the alternate delegate from Michigan took in every word.

“He knows what he wants to do for the country,” Jorissen says in summation of McCain’s speech. “Not for his personal gain but for the country. I believe that’s what he’s saying and that’s what he means.”

The retired teacher paid particular attention to McCain’s words on education, agreeing with the nominee’s call for an effort to “shake up” public schools, weed out bad teachers and allow parents choice of schools–whether public, private or parochial.

“I’ve seen that happen in the classroom,” Jorissen says, referring to poor teachers. “I’m sure the other party is going to be upset and the teachers unions will be upset. But people need to have the best education they can get.” He added that he was required to be a member of the Michigan Education Association during his career, yet didn’t agree with many of their tenets.

Now supervisor of Pere Marquette township in Michigan, Jorissen described McCain’s speech as “low key,” especially in comparison to vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s rousing oratory Wednesday.

But he said McCain hit the right notes in “all the areas where we’re going to make changes in Washington. You can’t, as president, do it all yourself,” he adds. “You’ve got to take the best ideas from all sources—including Democrat ideas and Republican ideas—and make them into our ideas.”

Jorissen did find McCain’s discussion of his Vietnam experience “repetitious,” saying he knew all that before, but figured it was something McCain found hard to talk about and gave the former POW credit for that.

Earlier, Jorissen spent the convention’s final day networking—eating both breakfast and lunch with members of the Michigan delegation. His hometown of Ludington is far from major urban centers, so the week provided a rare opportunity to talk with Republican state officials.

One highlight was meeting state Attorney General Mike Cox, which would not have happened back home. “You don’t do that on a normal day,” Jorissen said.

Cox endeared himself to the Michigan delegates by printing up hockey shirts with the number “08” on the back, each personalized with a delegate or alternate’s name.

Jorissen wore his proudly Wednesday for Palin’s speech, echoing her theme of being a “hockey mom.” He and his fellow hockey-shirted delegates laughed heartily at Palin’s description of the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom – “lipstick.”

Elaine S. Povich is a freelance writer who covers politics.