Wow. Now that was a speech. The front page of Huffington Post said it all with the words "Bill Kills."
Clinton is a great speaker to say the least, but tonight may have been his best speech. I would say it's one of the best speech's I've heard in my life-though my frame of reference is only to about 1980...
I can't remember who said it, but a conservative I read recently claimed that Romney is the anti-Clinton even more than the anti-Obama in terms of his button down persona.
I agree with that. Clinton gave us everything tonight that Romney lacks. Empathy-yes, of course. Clinton feels your pain, Romney is painfully unaware of the pain of others.
However, the other side of Clinton is his genuine wonkishness-rather than Ryan's fake wonkery. Clinton always has those two fascinating, fruitful elements-his human touch along with always having the facts and figures at his disposal to make the case in an understandable way.
As Peggy Noonan said regarding Ann Romney's speech last week, there's a difference between telling and showing. Clinton understands that to make it real in a speech you have to show not just tell.
That was why Michelle Obama's speech worked last night and Ann Romney's speech didn't work so well-as even Noonan conceded.
It's why Clinton is the Great Communicator and Romney communicates only befuddlement and confusion.
Clinton is a phenomenon-he's one of the few politicians that the networks won't cut away from when he inevitably goes over time. How much of a phenomenon he is was underscored to me tonight at the library when a nice old guy told me that he was going home to watch Bill Clinton.
So that's Clinton-an interesting combination of right brain feel good empathy and left brain dead on statistical analysis. He always has the correct facts and figures for whatever point he's making to you.
His speech had everything you could want tonight. He literally broke down every Republican talking point and simply dismantled it. He called out Romney for lying about Obama and welfare and he spiked the ball by saying that as it's his bill it's personal for him.
My favorite was when he called out Mitch McConnell's famous 'our number one priority was to make Obama a one term President' line. ' Other Democrats have called out McConnell during the convention as well, but Clinton's was particularly memorable.
Another great moment was his pointing out the absolute Obama Derangement Syndrome (OBDS) that those who hate him suffer from. It was good that he called them on their hate.
Another very nice moment was when he expressed gratitude for the President's treatment of his wife as Secretary of State, the relationship they've developed, the respect Obama has treated her with. This should put to be the talk about some great rupture between the last two Democratic Presidents, just boiling beneath the surface.
I think this speech was a tremendous display of shock and awe on the part of President Clinton. I think I now get why the Republicans have worked so hard to claim that he's on their side, that he "endorsed" Romney.
It's because they don't want to be on the other side of the battle with Bill Clinton. After that speech tonight, who possibly would?
Yet this strategy I suspect has backfired. By invoking Clinton so much, they have left him as the arbiter of the dispute. Clinton has made it clear where he stands.
How are they going to play the welfare ad after the welfare reform after the bill's architect called them out on it?
While they still may do so, it will be even more shamefacedly.
The Dems came in with a very small act to follow as the RNC convention last week was a total bust. However, the Dems have had two great nights.
If anyone wants to know why I'm a Democrat, just watch this speech.
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