I said I wasn't going to do this, but since I've been asked, yes, Bill Clinton gave a pretty great speech last night. It's been accompanied by the usual hyperbole, as well as some healthy gushing. And both of those are to be expected. Whatever the man's flaws, Clinton knows how make politico's brains short-circuit--regardless of their party affiliation. His speech last night had the substance people never got from Paul Ryan's, a natural charm that Mitt Romney cannot contemplate, and the thorough defense of Obama's record that Obama has been unable to provide. I don't even care that it was long; you got something important to do? Grade: B+.
But for my money, Michelle Obama gave the superior speech. Satisfying though it was to see Bubba hammer the GOP on their lazy math and lazier lies (with a few nervous, dated, and--yes--lazy Lewinsky jokes hurled by the Right in panicky response), Obama spotlit the other pernicious lies that Romney shamelessly tolerates. She spat in the plug-ugly faces of the Birther-esque insinuations of Barack's foreignness, socialism, and thousand-years-of-darkness lunacy. Where Ann Romney pleaded with us to trust her that her husband is a great guy, Obama gave us anecdotal examples of her husband's humanity. Mittens might want to take us all home from the dance safely, but Barack wants to lift us onto the shoulders of past American giants to help us continue to live the Dream (yes, both of those analogies contain some Big Brother imagery; blame the generations of American voters who have demanded "strong leadership"). She took those lies, twisted them into inedible pretzels, and handed them back to the Republicans. All with a lump in her throat. Grade: A- (lost points for the saccharine "Mom-in-Chief" line).
Now we wait to see if her husband can trump both of them. Because make no mistake: he has to at least match that bar for any of this to mean anything. The guy better know how to give a convention speech.
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