President Obama's closing speech at the DNC last night was a great stump speech and review of his first four years.
President Clinton's speech on Wednesday night was a lesson, wrapped in facts, figures, and parables.
Bill Clinton was the teacher.
Barack Obama was the evangelist.
What bookends to a great convention.
I was held in rapt attention by Clinton's speech, and literally hung on every word. Last night, though, I found myself fading about halfway into Obama's speech. And I don't know why. Maybe after three days of cheerleading and rhetoric, I was just a bit word weary, although I fully acknowledge that's what political conventions are made of.
In retrospect, maybe it's because I agreed with everything that Bill Clinton addressed, while I disagreed with President Obama on a few energy related items in his speech (particularly his endorsement of "clean coal" and increased use of natural gas) that were at odds with his nod to climate change (which the GOP totally ignored) later in the speech. Maybe it's because Wednesday night seemed so heavily weighted by the convention planners to burnish the President's national security cred. I am a veteran, and I sincerely appreciate the focus on military and veteran's issues (which, again, the GOP totally ignored), but that overwhelming focus ended up becoming somewhat of a distraction for me as the night wore on.
I dunno. I'll let it all sink in for a few days, and take another look. Was the Democratic National Convention energizing? You bet, in a way that the RNC could have never hoped to duplicate. President Obama is a sane, thoughtful, and caring man. He has my full and vocal support. The Romney / Ryan alternative is too scary to even consider.
But Bill Clinton? When he speaks, he's still got a hold on me that's hard to describe. And his impassioned pitch for 4 more years of the Obama administration moved me even more than Barack Obama's eloquent request for the same thing.