Above all, it was a Democratic speech. The most important line:
I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?
The problem with the speech is that is was more of a stump speech than a case for Senator Obama as president. Maybe Clinton is not the best surrogate to praise Obama because her attacks during the primary limited her ethos is this regard, but to not address Obama in a personal way, after spending 18 months near him, seems a little odd to say the least. The purpose of the important speeches it to make the case for Senator Obama, especially when there is a lot of division Slate's Dahlia Lithwick :
Let’s give her credit for doing what she had to do: She lit up the crowd (and not a moment too soon) she reminded her supporters of the real stakes here; and she stuck a shrimp fork in John McCain’s eye enough times to really hurt a guy. So she didn’t sell the country on Obama. If he can’t manage to do that for himself, he’s got bigger problems than a bunch of put-out PUMAs.
Again, it was a good speech, probably a very good speech. However, it was not the speech for the occasion; it was not a convention speech. It reinforces why Clinton is not the VP as there is a lack of trust.
3 comments:
One thing that was very interesting about it was switching back and forth betweeen Olbermann and Hume in the immediate wake of her speech. As if throwing back to his days as a Disney employee, Olbermann's first words were "Grand Slam, out of the building, across the street", &c.
On the green M&M channel, Hume let William Kristol have the first crack. Kristol in his infinite wisdom pronounced it a "shockingly mild endorsement of Obama." Although to be fair, just as MSNBC had Buchanan to argue against the others, FOX used Chris Wallace as a foil. Actually, solon, Wallace addressed the concern you raise, arguing that there had already been plenty of "Barack the man" rhetoric, and that other than Biden, it was pretty much up to the Clintons to champion the Party and its programmatic agenda.
Harrogate thought it a strong piuece of oratory and, to be honest, felt that she did "embrace" Obama at several points. She managed to acknowledge the dedication of her supporters and then loop things back to showing that the natural consequence of their work would be to turn to Obama.
Only one big problem for Harrogate--she didn't call out McCain for the Ads. We can be cerrtain there was discussion between Hill, her speechwriters and top advisers, about whether to go there. Harrogate wished she had.
I thought that she would address the ads as well. Now, there is a gimmick behind the ads as the McCain campaign released them to the news but has not put them on the air. MSNBC et al will raise them as a point but they are not getting a lot of play.
And while others have praised Obama there is a difference: there is not a division with others, just with the Clinton. Tonight will be interesting.
Solon,
What would you like to see Bill do tonight?
Post a Comment