Forward! - to the 1990's for a flashback to the last century with Bill Clinton. The Dems played the song "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow" while Bill Clinton was taking the stage. You just can't make this stuff up.
Overall, a nice speech by Bill Clinton, but it was too long and too wonky. It included a laundry list of all the Democratic talking points, many of them outrageously misleading. But he delivered the speech well and he is as slick as ever. Old Slick Willie, back in the saddle again, at least for a night. For those who were paying attention to Bill Clinton and his antics back during the 1990's, I can't help wondering how many took his words 'with a grain of salt'.
But how much will the old Clinton magic rub off on Barack Obama? Just to make sure he was getting the maximum possible effect, Obama came out and physically gave Clinton a hug on stage. Is Obama starting to look desperate, or what?
In any case, Clinton did about as well as he could have last night, which was important, as the previous two speakers, Elizabeth Warren and Sandra Fluke, while surely impressing the Democratic base and the left, did not do much to help with moderate voters. In fact, being a supporter of Mitt Romney this time around, I might have scheduled these two ladies myself, just so the American people could get a good look at what the Democrats are really all about. Warren was unimpressive and her content was very liberal. But it was Fluke who really distinguished herself as an extreme left wing radical. I was thinking to myself as I watched Fluke and Warren, that for some reason this convention seemed to be almost entirely focused on the Democratic base, and not very much towards moderate or undecided voters.
Without Bill Clinton to bring some gravitas and a bit of talk about the important issues of our day, this whole day would have been a complete disaster for the Dems. But Clinton pulled the Dem's bacon out of the fire and salvaged the night. He was really the first Democratic speaker that I have seen that seemed to try to reach out to centrist or undecided voters. As a result, the Dems continue on with a pretty good, if unusually base-focused convention.
Next up, President Barack Obama.