All Is Change, Or Maybe All Is Reform

Tim Cavanaugh | September 4, 2008

One theme people have been hitting a lot this week is an attack on the Obamariffic use of the word "change." Most succinctly, one delegate last night said to me: "Not all change is good. People don't want change, they want reform. That's the message we've been sending."

Not too well, as it turns out. The tale of the tape from last night's big speeches:

Mike Huckabee: 7 changes, no reforms

Rudy Giuliani: 4 changes, 2 reforms

Mitt Romney: 2 changes, 1 pornography-free school, 1 Chinese Adam Smith on steroids, no reforms.

Sarah Palin (on message): 2 changes, 7 reforms.

Many of the references to change above were sarcastic or quibbling on Obama's usage. But as Matt Welch noted earlier, reform comes loaded with a bunch of stuff McCain would rather not talk about. Campaign finance reform? A flaming sack. Immigration reform? Don't even say it! Ethics reform? Out where the woodbine twineth.

There are other associations as well. They didn't send bad kids to change school in the old days, the sent them to reform school. And I'd rather hang out with a changed alcoholic than a reformed alcoholic.