Membership in Reaganism requires a deeper commitment, and for that an institutional base is being built. At the cornerstone are the fundamentalist churches and their rapidly growing school system, which threatens the health and even the life of public education; about a thousand new religious elementary schools were opened this year. Alongside are the foundations and think tanks, the military and militaristic institutions, sports and celebrations, broadcasting and publishing, volunteer and charitable institutions and a new breed of ideologically oriented businesses. Amway sales agents are Reaganist cadre; so are R.O.T.C. trainees, weekend "survival game" players, religious disk jockeys and Bible salesmen, and certain professional athletes. Everyone who watched the World Series heard that the San Diego Padres' pitching staff is stuffed with John Birchers. The Olympics became a Reaganist spectacle, and the chant "U.S.A. ! U.S.A.!" was appropriated for Reagan-Bush rallies.

-- "The Age of Reaganism" by Andrew Kopkind, The Nation, November 3, 1984

Sophisticates might have sneered at his TV commercials depicting an America of Norman Rockwell prosperity and harmony, at the chants of "U.S.A.!" that carried over from the Olympics to rock Reagan rallies. But the President correctly divined that Americans were yearning to experience once more the emotions of pride and patriotism.

-- "They Also Made History" by George Church, Time, January 7, 1985

He rose to national prominence and a plausible presidential campaign largely on the power of his 2004 Democratic convention keynote. When his campaign was floundering, it was invigorated by his stirring speech at the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. And when that campaign surged to victory in the Iowa caucuses, he had the chance to introduce himself as a presidential candidate to a larger audience than ever before, to turn his campaign into a cause. His speech on the night of the Iowa caucuses - when, literally, the whole world was watching - met the moment.

One of the most wonderful aspects of Michael's book is - as Matt has pointed out - that it takes ideas seriously. There is perhaps no part of modern campaigning that more people think they understand and is less understood by the public at large than speechwriting. Every blogger worth his or her saltiness believes they could show up and turn their posts into oratory. Yet, a good campaign speech shows why "framing" or whatever excuse for lack of thought is popular this year is insufficient. A good campaign speech is - most of all - what Matt Bai in his wonderful book, The Argument (just released in paperback in extended form) calls...an argument. It involves policy, politics, personality but also a convincing case for the candidate.

That's why Obama's Iowa speech, taken in the context of modern American political history, was remarkable and unlike that which any other national Democrat could have or would have delivered on such a night. What Obama chose to do on this occasion was deliver a speech almost completely devoid of any discussion of policy. Save for four sentences in the middle of the text, the speech did not discuss health care or the economy or energy independence or Iraq. It was instead a meditation on unity and hope and their meaning.

This is not to say that Obama lacks substance or has not delivered enough wonky policy speeches. Neither is close to the case. However, his poetic call to renewal on caucus night made clear that he was making an argument in this presidential race, not just presenting a laundry list. Where most Democratic presidential candidates seem to be running for head of government, Barack Obama is running for head of state. That's why their speeches sound like a State of the Union; his sound like an inaugural address.

Before this technocratic age, political leaders used to be more comfortable speaking in terms of values and national goals. In my recent history of the 1948 campaign, The Candy Bombers I quoted extensively from the speeches of Truman, Dewey, and Wallace to remind readers of this language of American politics.

But no other Democrat in my lifetime would have thought to give the kind of speech on a big night that Obama did in Iowa. In fact, there is only one politician in recent memory who would have: Ronald Reagan. Just as I was thinking this while watching the speech on TV, I heard a chant in the crowd: "USA! USA!" Some have commented that this was a resurrection of the mantra of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. But it was also appropriated by Reagan's campaign in a way that drove Democrats batty. Many said it represented jingoism and, to this day, some claim it was a cry of fascism. During Obama's speech that night, and since, his supporters appropriated the cry for their own vision of what America should be, what Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer call "true patriotism" in their new book.

From early on in this campaign, I have argued that we're in a 1980 moment - a period of national malaise and self-doubt. We've seen the loss of an American city due to incompetence and neglect. We've sacrificed thousands of Americans in a war based on false intelligence that was fought with one hand tied behind our backs. We've had a sluggish economy and falling real wages drag on for years. We've allowed a madman to attack the two most important American cities, live to tell about it, and send regular video missives mocking our national impotence. It makes the pessimism surrounding Desert One and stagflation laughably insignificant. The person who wins the presidency will be the candidate who restores America's faith in itself. The campaign still has a long way to go, but on the night he won the Iowa caucuses, Barack Obama understood this and laid a claim to the mantle of Reaganesque optimism he has not relinquished.

As Michael shows in Live from the Campaign Trail, campaign speeches matter a great deal in shaping the contours of American public life. His book will be definitive when it comes to the oratory of the 20th century. The oratorical history of the 21st century is being written at this very moment.

Andrei Cherny, formerly Senior Speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore and Director of Speechwriting for the 2004 Kerry campaign, is editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas and author of The Candy Bombers.