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Convention Crescendo

August 27th, 2008
By ELROD

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I’m a strong Democrat and supporter of Barack Obama. And I’ve been waiting a long time for this convention. Finally, I am starting to feel that my anticipation was worth it. Finally.

The first day was a wandering mess of themeless droning from Democratic politicians and party also-rans. Some of the speeches were actually quite compelling, including Lilly Ledbetter’s tale of Goodyear Tire’s gender pay discrimination. But most were aimless. Then came Ted Kennedy with his courage. And finally came Michelle Obama who delivered one of the finest speeches in a long time. It was biography roll-out and it hit home that we may be putting a real African American family in the White House.

But the second day seemed to lose that momentum. Another string of boring speeches interspersed with a few zingers from Bob Casey and a great speech by Brian Schweitzer.

But then came Hillary. This was the real drama. How animated would she be? Would she hedge? Would it all be about her? In my opinion she did an amazing job and provided a sort of catharsis for her strongest supporters. She made the case that a vote for McCain was unacceptable because her causes and McCain’s were so at odds. She de-legitimized the PUMA movement by pledging her loyalty to the party and Obama.

Still, I had a sense this morning that the convention had a kind of meandering quality to it. A few high notes - Michelle, Teddy, Hillary - but not a whole lot more.

Then came the roll call. It could not have been managed better, with Hillary Clinton nominating Obama by acclamation. The show of unity and emotion was real and sustained. It was history on display. Finally, the convention got going.

Bill Clinton’s speech only reinforced Hillary’s remarks, but added much of substance. The unity was complete by that point. And then John Kerry showed a fire I haven’t seen yet. Finally the red meat. Kerry went after McCain for his warmongering. At last, I feel like the convention has a rhythm to it. The convention has finally started to carry on a momentum that was lacking yesterday. Now Joe Biden will speak. Hopefully, for Obama’s sake, the crescendo continues to build. Like many of Obama’s great speeches, they start off slow and build to a climax. This convention seems to be doing the same.

UPDATE: Beau Biden’s intro is wonderful.



This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 10:28 pm and is filed under Newsweek Blogitics, At TMV. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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