Did Obama Give a Mediocre Speech?

     This was something the media was trying to get traction on Friday. That, and, of course, the jobs report.

     However, it's now clear that all this hand-wringing misses the point. It's now clear that Obama got a significant bounce from the convention. Multiple polls are now clear about this.

     Yes there is an Obama bounce http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-obama-bounce-is-actually-happening.html

     Yesterday there was a lot of talk that Obama was flat-as the title of a Politico piece claimed.

      http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/80925.html?hp=l6

     I will admit that when I first heard it I did find it somewhat scaled back. However, the more I reflect the more I realize that this was by design. The key thing is that it was a choice he and his campaign made.

     What actually happened was he hustled Romney and the media. Everyone thought he was under this pressure to top Clinton, to go through a point by point answer to all the attacks on his stewardship of the economy.

     The media said it was flat. Limbaugh of course claimed he sounded like Carter in 1980. This is because Limbaugh thinks every year is 1980 and every Republican candidate is Reagan, evidently he can even fool himself about Romney.

    However, it was actually very effective. Chris Matthews touched on it when he said that Obama basically said: "I'm the President and you're not."

    That's actually a very powerful posture to take. It's not really appreciated that in America, incumbent Presidents virtually always win re-election.

    There's a huge bias in favor of the incumbent. This wasn't always so. In the 1800s one term Presidents were actually the norm.

     However, since the start of the 20th century, only one incumbent President has lost-Herbert Hoover-if you include one caveat.

     Hoover was the only President to lose who wasn't primaried. No other President who wasn't primaried has lost. Of course, Romney might like to claim that Obama is Herbert Hoover, But he's not and Americans know he's not.

    The truth is that George W. Bush was Herbert Hoover. The polls show that Americans know this.

     What I think Ohama did with that speech was this. He was kind of answering the Romney ad where the woman breaks up with him. She still wants to be friends but that's all. She will vote Romney.

      What Obama's speech on Thursday was about was an answer to that woman. He basically said:

       "Yeah, I know things seem different now than they did back in 2008. Back then you were so inspired when I talked about  'Yes we can' and 'Hope and Change!'

       "It is different. I'm not a candidate anymore. I'm not the boy who first wooed you 8 years ago at the Kerry convention. I'm not candidate for President now, either. I am the President."

       "But this doesn't mean hope and change are out the window. It's a tougher path than we might have imagined but it's still real. I'm still the boy you fell in love with. If you can believe in me one more time, go all in for me one more time, we will have that hope and change."

       What it amounted to, was a shorthand to the base, to those Obama supporters who might have been disaffected. That's what he was getting at when he said he's as tired of saying "I approve this message" as they are of hearing it.

       From my conversations with fellow Obama supporters and the polls it's clear that this speech hit it out of the part.

       It was a home run. That the media didn't get it showed how skillful it was.

       Again, everyone thought he had to best Clinton. To answer Romney point for point on the economy.
   
       That wasn't it. As Clinton gave the speech Obama had to give, Obama didn't have to give it. Clinton, Biden, Michelle, Ted Strickland, Julian Castro, and John Kerry-among others- had all given barn burner speeches.

      As they had all set the table, Obama was able to rise above the fray a little and look Presidential. What the real point of his speech was for the base to get up after such a barn burner of a convention and go out and volunteer for him one more time-and for rich Democrats to open their wallets to his Super Pac.

      Tomorrow I'm going to do my part and make some phone calls. Then I'm going to watch some football.

      The best part of the DNC, particularly Clinton's speech, is that it enabled me to miss the Giants get whipped to open their Super Bowl defense to the Dallas Cowboys. The Giants are always a terrible team in years after they go to the Super Bowl and they were totally true to form in week 1.