« Every Convention Seems To Produce A Partisan Star
Convention Crescendo »



Some Thoughts On Bill Clinton Speech

August 27th, 2008
By PATRICK EDABURN

Print Print

Former President Clinton spoke this evening and as usual it was a superb delivery. With the passing of former President Reagan, there is probably nobody out there who can deliver a speech like Clinton does. He can bring a crowd to their feet and hold them in the palm of his hand.

I also thought he did a much better job of supporting Senator Obama. While some suggested that Hillary did the best she could in terms of offering support for Obama, it seems Bill was able to find more ways to do it.

He directly addressed the issues of experience and made some very effective arguments about why he thinks Obama is the best choice and why he is ready to lead:

He has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and rally us to high purpose. He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful President needs. His policies on the economy, taxes, health care and energy are far superior to the Republican alternatives. He has shown a clear grasp of our foreign policy and national security challenges, and a firm commitment to repair our badly strained military. His family heritage and life experiences have given him a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse nation and to restore our leadership in an ever more interdependent world. The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him. And in his first presidential decision, the selection of a running mate, he hit it out of the park.

With Joe Biden’s experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama’s proven understanding, insight, and good instincts, America will have the national security leadership we need.

Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world. Ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States.

That seems to me a much stronger statement of support than Senator Clinton was able to deliver last night.

I do take exception with the next part of his remarks when he called on the need to fight diseases like AIDS and TB overseas. While President Bush has many faults, he has been stronger than any other President in providing help to Africa.

Following the theme of many speakers, he paid tribute to Senator McCain as a good man who is wrong on the key issues. I think this is a good tactic for the Democrats despite those who consider it flawed.

He then got into the red meat section of the speech where he attacked the GOP record over the last 8 years and suggested that McCain would be more of the same.

They took us from record surpluses to an exploding national debt; from over 22 million new jobs down to 5 million; from an increase in working family incomes of $7,500 to a decline of more than $2,000; from almost 8 million Americans moving out of poverty to more than 5 and a half million falling into poverty - and millions more losing their health insurance.

He concluded his remarks by a traditional Clinton rallying cry for everyone to unite and support Obama/Biden in November and brought the room to their feet.

Or at least most of the room.

One of the great advantages of the modern DVR is the ability to rewind live television and it allowed me to notice something interesting. Of all the people in the arena there seemed to be two who were not especially happy with the address.

Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.

Each time the cameras panned to either woman during an applause line it seemed to me that their applause and reaction was quite strained. Neither seemed really pleased to be there or with what Bill was saying.

Hillary had her standard fake smile that she always seems to have when Bill is speaking and given the somewhat-rocky history between them I can understand why she probably is not his biggest fan.

But Michelle Obama seemed to be quite unhappy as well. Perhaps the reports of things Bill supposedly said are still not resting well with her.

Again overall it was a great speech, better than Hillary’s in my view but it was also interesting to read the faces in the crowd and find that perhaps things are not quite as happy as they seem between the Clintons and the Obamas or indeed the Clintons themselves.

Admittedly probably not going to impact the campaign much, but it was interesting to see.



This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 10:07 pm and is filed under Newsweek Blogitics, Michelle Obama, At TMV, Bill Clinton, 2008 Elections, Hillary Clinton, Politics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 3 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    I noticed that too with the two women. Hillary just looked more tired and defeated than anything. After all, her defeat just became official an hour before..

    But Michelle looked downright pissy. The same face she wore quite a bit during Hillary's speech come to think of it. And she did this weird thing with her lower lip.

    And speaking of the AIDS issue, the one time I saw her visibly flinch and look away from the camera was when Bill brought that up? But pretty much any time Bill said anything that he had accomplished in his tenure, Michelle met it with visible bitchy-face and a very weak, stiff handclap.

    Only when he complimented her, her husband or her children did she crack a smile. A real stateswoman. I'm really looking forward to how she will receive the spouses of heads of State of different nations she doesn't like...

    : (
    • ^
    • v
    "I do take exception with the next part of his remarks when he called on the need to fight diseases like AIDS and TB overseas. While President Bush has many faults, he has been stronger than any other President in providing help to Africa."

    This point is RARELY mentioned in praise of President Bush, but believe me, Africans have noticed, and they are grateful.
    • ^
    • v
    Were we watching the same speech? I thought both women looked proud of their husbands and their party.
 
close Reblog this comment
Powered by Disqus · Learn more
blog comments powered by Disqus

« Every Convention Seems To Produce A Partisan Star
Convention Crescendo »


By posting comments on The Moderate Voice you are acknowledging and agreeing to the following general comments policy:

(1) The Moderate Voice's comments are hosted by Disqus (http://disqus.com). If your comment doesn't appear immediately, please be patient since it is an off-site system.

(2) All e-mail received from readers by The Moderate Voice is considered intended for publication unless otherwise indicated in the initial message from the writer. Please do not send us attachments unless you contact us and we agree to it.

(3)The Moderate Voice reserves the right to edit all e-mail and posted comments for content, clarity, and length.

(4) Our comment space is reserved for comments that relate to a post's topic. You should not reprint lengthy text from your own works or those of others, including news articles. You MAY link to them.

(5) Comments that are abusive, offensive, contain profane or racist material or violate the terms of service for this blog's host provider will be removed and the author(s) banned from future comments. Such comments also violate the very SPIRIT of this site -- which was created to encourage thoughtful and vigorous discussion among readers who may share differing viewpoints.

(6) All points of view are welcome on The Moderate Voice, with the following exceptions:

(a) Comments posted several times a day with the intent of dominating, re-directing or hijacking the thread by turning a discussion into the equivalent of a bitter shouting match.

(b) Comments posted several times a day that insult or call other commenters or blog writers names or repeatedly make the same point with the effect of or clear intent to annoy other commenters or blog writers.

(7) Name-calling, personal attacks, racist comments or use of profanity by any commenter, whether they are by persons who agree or disagree with the views expressed by The Moderate Voice will NOT be tolerated and will result in the deletion of the comment and the banning of the commenter's ISP address, without notice. In some cases a comment may be deleted and the writer will be given another chance. Commenters who virtually ASK The Moderate Voice to ban them by ignoring any warnings or daring TMV to ban them will quickly get their wish.

(8) Anonymous commenters should identify themselves with the same moniker, so readers know their comments are coming from a single individual. If they don't, they are subject to a banning.

(9)If we have problems with inappropriate or inflammatory comments from a commenter who it turns out gave a fake email address that person is subject to immediate banning.

(10) Quotes from material appearing on The Moderate Voice with attribution are allowed. Reprints are allowed only by permission from The Moderate Voice. You may request permission by e-mail.

(11) The Moderate Voice is a personal site. It is not the Government. It is NOT aligned with any political party. It is NOT promoting any specific candidate for office. It is not a public institution or a media organization. It is not a neutral site. It is intended to express and disseminate the authors' varying points of views. Writers on this weblog WILL take positions. It reserves the right to limit comments to those that, in its view, comport with its stated comment policy. Comments that do not comply are subject to deletion and banning of the author's ISP.

Disclaimer:

--Reading and posting comments at The Moderate Voice constitutes acknowledgment of and agreement to the terms outlined in this comment policy. This comment policy may be revised in part or in full at any time.

--All comments must comport with applicable state and federal laws. The Moderate Voice has no obigation to monitor, edit, censor, or take responsibility for comments. It may or may not act upon a violation of its comment policy once a suspected violation has been brought to its attention. Therefore, commenters are solely responsible for the content of their comments and should ensure that that their comments are lawful and fall within the stated guidelines of both The Moderate Voice and its hosting company.

--The Moderate Voice is not be responsible for injury or liability to any reader or commenter resulting from its own communications or those of commenters, that may be offensive, misleading, inaccurate, illegal, or otherwise unsuitable in the view of the reader. Readers and commenters further agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Moderate Voice from claims resulting from the use of any material appearing on The Moderate Voice which damages the reader, commenter or any other party.

--The Moderate Voice is not responsible for and might disagree with material posted in the comments section. While we strive for accuracy in our posts and DO correct errors, material posted by The Moderate Voice in its posts -- or those left by others in the comments section -- may or may not be accurate.

Read and Post at your own risk.