Joey Biden

This is somewhat of an addendum to my last post on the DNC so far. I was a bit surprised at Biden’s speech, but I suppose I shouldn’t have been. I’ve never watched Biden give a long speech before. I’ve seen his long-winded responses to questions. But I’ve never seen him deliver a full set-piece speech.

It was very personal. It was filled not with rhetorical flourish like Obama’s or turns of phrase like Clinton, but pure emotion. He stepped on his lines several times, including one of the great Freudian slips of all time (saying George McCain by accident).

More importantly, he was Joey Biden, the Irish Catholic. He has emotional appeal to the very white working class voters that have yet to warm to Obama. He was real, as was his son.

The Obama appearance at the end was nice insofar as it showed the ticket together and comfortably. It was also a chance for Obama to thank the Clintons for their work this convention. But it really wasn’t as important as Biden’s or Bill Clinton’s speech beforehand.

So I think the crescendo continued, but it settled on a plateau. Tomorrow will be the big show.