Reaction is pouring in reacting to former President Bill Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention nominating — and defending — President Barack Obama. Here are a few must read links:
—Andrew Sullivan roundup of blog reaction.
—Andrew Sullivan some Twitter reaction.
—The Politico’s Maggie Haberman on “Bill’s Clinton’s Effective Obama Embrace”
—Ex-Bush aide Matt Latimer on how Clinton’s speech bested Romney’s (don’t expect this to be similar to the take you’ll hear from Rush Limbaugh). It’s worth quoting two paragraphs here:
Here’s why I think Bill Clinton’s speech was successful. For all of his tortured arguments and wonky, ponderous asides, Bill Clinton made a substantive case. He dealt with facts and statistics. He made points and then explained why he made them. He had details. Boy, did he have details. In short, he did what almost no one at the Republican convention tried to do, what few conventions bother to do anymore. He treated the American people like thinking human beings.
….Last week, in fact, is already a blur to most Americans. Three days of nonstop attention to Mitt Romney and his agenda for the nation did not help the candidate in the slightest. That’s because the GOP convention spent most of those days handing out cotton-candy slogans that some batch of consultants thought up: “Believe in America.”“Restoring America’s Promise.” These are almost parodies. It is sadly fitting that the most memorable moment of the Republican Convention came when an old man talked to an imaginary person in an empty chair.
–How Clinton ad libbed from his prepared text: Bill Clinton’s Top 10 Best Ad Libs From His D.N.C. Speech
–CNN Analysis: Analysis: Clinton speech hit Obama’s marks
–Pundit in India: Why India will never have a Bill Clinton
–Talking Points Memo: Bill Clinton To Mitt Romney: Barack Obama Is My True Heir
–Yahoo Contributors’ network Voters on Bill Clinton’s Speech: Former President Backs Obama with Aplomb
–Dave Weigel: Clinton rewrote his speech as he went along—and hit all the right notes.
–Salon’s Joan Walsh: Clinton and Obama prank the doubters in an electric joint convention appearance
–National Journal’s Ron Fournier: Clinton Does Obama’s Dirty Work
–RealClearPolitics’ Carl M. Cannon and Caitlin Huey-Burns: Clinton Still Has the Touch — but Will It Rub Off on Obama?
Here’s the video of the full speech.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.