After day 2 of the DNC

Well, I did not catch the speech last night as it was in action, but I caught the late version, or what I could of it. I finally dozed off about 11 and couldn’t take anymore. I have to say that I appreciate the fact that Obama beat Hillary in the primaries simply because she is a difficult speaker to listen to. She is loud and tends to get stuck in an obnoxious, almost shout that gets very old after a very short period of time. In any case, the speeches from Michelle Obama and from Hillary could not have been more different. Michelle was poised and her speech flowed, it made sense, it was easy to listen to and it was even easy to read. Hillary’s was one tag line after another, some biting at Bush, others at McCain, but most of them patting herself on the back.

The stated purpose of the speech, from several Dem strategists was for Hillary to help unify the party and repair the rift that was created through a long and bitter primary. I think she could have done that, or at least made a lot of progress in that direction, but I don’t think she wanted to, and I don’t think the Obama’s really thought she would.

To me the story of the night, as I watched Hillary speak, was the look on Michelle Obama’s face. It was a mixture of angst, fear, bitterness, and if looks could kill, then at some point during the speech last night I think Hillary would have been burned by the fire coming out of her eyes.

Wow. It was not pretty.

I didn’t get to hear what any of the pundits were saying about the speech, hopefully I will catch some of that today. I would have to say that my impression is that it was a failure. The whole thing sounded more like a rallying cry to Clinton and what she had done than a moving speech to try and restore the party. Of course, I really don’t know if Hillary could deliver that speech. I think Pres Clinton could, if he wanted to, but from all of the reports that have been coming out, I don’t think that’s the foremost thing on his mind.

It was a very interesting development for Obama to let the Clinton’s have two nights at the convention. I’m not sure what he was thinking here. He would have had a better chance at unity if he would have made Hillary is VP choice. Of course, then he would be watching his back and hesitantly sipping his coffee for the next four years, but he would have had a better shot at the election. Either that or he is thinking that his speech at Invesco Field is going to be SO moving and SO inspiring that the rest of the convention will be forgotten and everyone will look back on all of the other pathetic speeches and be glad that they have elected this eloquent speaker, their nominee for president.

For his sake I hope there aren’t any teleprompter issues. It could bring the whole thing down in flames. Hmmm… that could be very interesting. :)