Hillary Clinton at the Convention
Like a good patriot, I watched Hillary Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention. After the speech, a shady McCain tv spot, and a ridiculous interview with a party delegate (at least on my CNN) James Carville said "It was a good night for Democrats". Now I realize that Carville is a good Democrat and that he needs to say this but do you think he really believed it?
First you have Hillary Speech's speech. She had all the right lines but her speech was mostly about her reasons for running and her causes. If I'm betting on the Democrats in the election, I might worry that she spent more time eulogizing her feminist crusade than she did building up Obama in the eyes of her still skeptical supporters. She certainly got the crowd (notably the women) behind her and what she/they had accomplished before tossing out the requisite McCain/Bush comparisons and urging people to vote for Obama. She emphasized that Obama needed to win but she didn't explicitly state that Obama was ready to lead. Her praise for Obama, the man himself, was tempered at best. Don't get me wrong, Hillary knows how to work her crowd and I thought the speech was well done but she refused to concede emphatically that Obama has what it takes to successfully run our nation. The people there seemed to love it though so who am I to talk.
The speech ends and the broadcast cuts to a commercial break which includes this McCain ad which uses Hillary's own words against Obama. This immediately strikes me as very shady. Couldn't the Democrats have said to CNN, "We're letting you broadcast our convention. Could you please not put a McCain ad suggesting that Hillary was blackballed from the ticket for speaking the truth about Obama's weaknesses in spite of her immense popular support right after her speech in which she fires up her base enthusiasitically but only half heartedly endorses Obama?". Maybe the Republicans somehow snuck it in under everyone's noses? Or Maybe CNN would not have honored that request?
As I'm pondering these questions, CNN returns with this interview from the convention floor. The interviewee is a black female 40ish Democratic delegate who strongly supported Hillary Clinton in the primary. Encompassed in this one delegate we have about half a dozen demographics (blacks, women, Clinton supporters, undecided Democrats, baby boomers, people who don't trust Obama) that Obama needs to secure in order to comfortably win this election and she has just heard a rousing speech from her champion about how Obama must win. How does she react? She breaks down into tears because she claims Obama "has not connected with her" and she suggests that she may not go to the polls for the first time in thirty years because of this lack of enthusiasm in the front-runner. Holy tap dancing Karl Rovian audience plant! The last thing the Democrats want is leftish undecided voters thinking it's ok to stay home from the polls because they don't like the candidate their party is running. In an election where voter turnout will be critical, how could the Democrats let an actively involved life long member of the party rant like this for a few minutes on CNN?
(The evening then comes to a close when Wolf Blitzer brings up the hurricane and it's possible impact on the election. Carville and Anderson Cooper both kind of snicker at the irrelevance of the storm and Wolf looks a little pissed off. Carville and the other commentators then feign interest and toss out plausible connections like "It will remind people of Katrina" and "It might knock out the broadcast to some people's homes". Awkward interaction all around.)
If I'm a Democrat (as opposed to Independent), this night doesn't scare me but it does make me question Hillary's (and CNN's... but I guess this is a good thing) commitment to the Democratic Party. It should be very interesting to see what Bill Clinton - who has legit beef with Obama's people over the whole race card thing - says tomorrow. My guess is that, in contrast with his wife, he levels a few pointed jabs at Obama's camp but ultimately throws his full weight behind not only Obama's campaign but in his ability to lead our country.
First you have Hillary Speech's speech. She had all the right lines but her speech was mostly about her reasons for running and her causes. If I'm betting on the Democrats in the election, I might worry that she spent more time eulogizing her feminist crusade than she did building up Obama in the eyes of her still skeptical supporters. She certainly got the crowd (notably the women) behind her and what she/they had accomplished before tossing out the requisite McCain/Bush comparisons and urging people to vote for Obama. She emphasized that Obama needed to win but she didn't explicitly state that Obama was ready to lead. Her praise for Obama, the man himself, was tempered at best. Don't get me wrong, Hillary knows how to work her crowd and I thought the speech was well done but she refused to concede emphatically that Obama has what it takes to successfully run our nation. The people there seemed to love it though so who am I to talk.
The speech ends and the broadcast cuts to a commercial break which includes this McCain ad which uses Hillary's own words against Obama. This immediately strikes me as very shady. Couldn't the Democrats have said to CNN, "We're letting you broadcast our convention. Could you please not put a McCain ad suggesting that Hillary was blackballed from the ticket for speaking the truth about Obama's weaknesses in spite of her immense popular support right after her speech in which she fires up her base enthusiasitically but only half heartedly endorses Obama?". Maybe the Republicans somehow snuck it in under everyone's noses? Or Maybe CNN would not have honored that request?
As I'm pondering these questions, CNN returns with this interview from the convention floor. The interviewee is a black female 40ish Democratic delegate who strongly supported Hillary Clinton in the primary. Encompassed in this one delegate we have about half a dozen demographics (blacks, women, Clinton supporters, undecided Democrats, baby boomers, people who don't trust Obama) that Obama needs to secure in order to comfortably win this election and she has just heard a rousing speech from her champion about how Obama must win. How does she react? She breaks down into tears because she claims Obama "has not connected with her" and she suggests that she may not go to the polls for the first time in thirty years because of this lack of enthusiasm in the front-runner. Holy tap dancing Karl Rovian audience plant! The last thing the Democrats want is leftish undecided voters thinking it's ok to stay home from the polls because they don't like the candidate their party is running. In an election where voter turnout will be critical, how could the Democrats let an actively involved life long member of the party rant like this for a few minutes on CNN?
(The evening then comes to a close when Wolf Blitzer brings up the hurricane and it's possible impact on the election. Carville and Anderson Cooper both kind of snicker at the irrelevance of the storm and Wolf looks a little pissed off. Carville and the other commentators then feign interest and toss out plausible connections like "It will remind people of Katrina" and "It might knock out the broadcast to some people's homes". Awkward interaction all around.)
If I'm a Democrat (as opposed to Independent), this night doesn't scare me but it does make me question Hillary's (and CNN's... but I guess this is a good thing) commitment to the Democratic Party. It should be very interesting to see what Bill Clinton - who has legit beef with Obama's people over the whole race card thing - says tomorrow. My guess is that, in contrast with his wife, he levels a few pointed jabs at Obama's camp but ultimately throws his full weight behind not only Obama's campaign but in his ability to lead our country.
posted by joketrump at 8:36 PM
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