Democratic National Convention - 2012
- Thread starter MojoMan
- Start date
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.
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.
Apparently Democrats at the DNC are proudly wearing these buttons in the convention hall for all to see.
If that button were edited to exchange the words "Black" for "White" and "Obama" for "Romney", and it had been openly worn by delegates at the RNC, what would the media and the left have said about these people? That same assessment should also be applied to the people wearing these buttons at the DNC.
WashU-Horn
500+ Posts
HornHuskerDad:
With any due respect, you don't know squat.
My comment about the lesser of two evils was directed at the fact that you have to be for sale to get elected in this country. Sure, it is a matter of degree and it varies but it is generally true.
Your post reflects the typical Republican non-argument. So, you voted twice for the worst President in American history whose administration fisted the country for EIGHT effing years. You expect the "other guy" to fix the mess your guy/party created and because it isn't all fixed in four years you want to elect another jackass from your party who PROMISES to engage in the same mis-steps that your prior selection did.
You are not thinking straight. This shouldn't be about party politics, it is about what is better for the country.
With any due respect, you don't know squat.
My comment about the lesser of two evils was directed at the fact that you have to be for sale to get elected in this country. Sure, it is a matter of degree and it varies but it is generally true.
Your post reflects the typical Republican non-argument. So, you voted twice for the worst President in American history whose administration fisted the country for EIGHT effing years. You expect the "other guy" to fix the mess your guy/party created and because it isn't all fixed in four years you want to elect another jackass from your party who PROMISES to engage in the same mis-steps that your prior selection did.
You are not thinking straight. This shouldn't be about party politics, it is about what is better for the country.
Mojo,
With a 5-hour time change, I didn't stay up to watch the Convention. However, I watched Fluke's speech, and she was atrocious. She appealed only to the "wingnut class" of the Democratic Party and didn't even do that especially well. She had a few decent lines, but she just seemed like a bitter, pissed off chick looking for a handout with a chip on her shoulder. She did nothing to help Obama.
Clinton's speech was a totally different story. It was one of the best I've ever seen. He was able to have the crowd in an uproar the entire time but kept his appeal focused on independent voters. Obviously, Clinton was the King of Sleaze as President, but the guy can give campaign speeches in his sleep and do a better job than almost anybody else. He did Obama a huge favor.
(Of course, Clinton's an amazing BS artist since we know he hates Obama's guts.)
With a 5-hour time change, I didn't stay up to watch the Convention. However, I watched Fluke's speech, and she was atrocious. She appealed only to the "wingnut class" of the Democratic Party and didn't even do that especially well. She had a few decent lines, but she just seemed like a bitter, pissed off chick looking for a handout with a chip on her shoulder. She did nothing to help Obama.
Clinton's speech was a totally different story. It was one of the best I've ever seen. He was able to have the crowd in an uproar the entire time but kept his appeal focused on independent voters. Obviously, Clinton was the King of Sleaze as President, but the guy can give campaign speeches in his sleep and do a better job than almost anybody else. He did Obama a huge favor.
(Of course, Clinton's an amazing BS artist since we know he hates Obama's guts.)
SeamusMcBundy
< 25 Posts
I'M BACK!!! Just wanted to check in and while I'm here say that the little mayor did a terrible job at delivering his speech. But so did Clint Eastwood...
CottonEyedHorn
1,000+ Posts
Yahoo has a list of "oops" tweets posted during the DNC and RNC by Democrats, including this gem from the Official White House twitter account.
The democrats continually calling republicans "dumb" and "rich" seems a little off base, but I guess that is my perspective. Seems like when Slick Willie was wowing the crowd with the dumb and bigoted slanders, the television focused in on one of the delegates proudly flashing her Medicare card with her Social Security number and her name to a world wide audience. I chuckled.
The Link
The Link
Barack Obama has a very strong speaking style, as long as he is using a teleprompter, which he was for his speech at the DNC. He delivered this speech with pace, with poise and with a little bit of passion. It was stylistically a very good speech.
Substantively, Barack Obama's speech was largely just a re-hash of promises and ideas that he has promoted repeatedly over the last four years, many going back to the last campaign. The new numerical goals that he trotted out were unsupported and apparently pulled out of thin air. He has made a number of specific promises like this over the last four years, such as that if the stimulus was passed, unemployment would not exceed 8% and would be an estimated 5.3% right now, and that he would reduce the deficit by half during his first term in office. None of these specific promises have been fulfilled by him, as far as I am aware. So this fresh batch of promises really have no credibility at all.
In this speech, Obama urged America to re-elect him so that we could "Stay the course". So it appears that his plan is to continue doing what he has been doing over the last four years, over the next four years. Considering the right track (32%)-wrong track (68%) polling, this presentation was a surprise to me. I expected him to come out with some sort of proposal that he could hang his "change" hat on. He did not.
Barack Obama fired up the crowd in Charlotte and he surely fired up supporters who were watching on TV. However, this speech will not have had any appreciable effect on undecided voters. It was stylistically a good speech, but it did not appear to be a very effective speech. As a result, Obama appears to be betting his future around the cult of his own personality, and whatever motivating power that brings. If he wins this race based on that premise, then we as a nation deserve whatever heartache and disappointment comes upon us.
Substantively, Barack Obama's speech was largely just a re-hash of promises and ideas that he has promoted repeatedly over the last four years, many going back to the last campaign. The new numerical goals that he trotted out were unsupported and apparently pulled out of thin air. He has made a number of specific promises like this over the last four years, such as that if the stimulus was passed, unemployment would not exceed 8% and would be an estimated 5.3% right now, and that he would reduce the deficit by half during his first term in office. None of these specific promises have been fulfilled by him, as far as I am aware. So this fresh batch of promises really have no credibility at all.
In this speech, Obama urged America to re-elect him so that we could "Stay the course". So it appears that his plan is to continue doing what he has been doing over the last four years, over the next four years. Considering the right track (32%)-wrong track (68%) polling, this presentation was a surprise to me. I expected him to come out with some sort of proposal that he could hang his "change" hat on. He did not.
Barack Obama fired up the crowd in Charlotte and he surely fired up supporters who were watching on TV. However, this speech will not have had any appreciable effect on undecided voters. It was stylistically a good speech, but it did not appear to be a very effective speech. As a result, Obama appears to be betting his future around the cult of his own personality, and whatever motivating power that brings. If he wins this race based on that premise, then we as a nation deserve whatever heartache and disappointment comes upon us.
majorwhiteapples
5,000+ Posts
There was no substance, just pandering and promising the same old same old. How does anyone seriously vote for this guy?
I logged on to post about Obama's speech, but MOJOman had already typed exactly what I was going to say.
First of all, as a public speaker, our President has few peers. Truly an outstanding speaker. I think from overexposure, from everyone's tendency to hear only the political aspect of what's said, and from now very raised expectations, his skill level does not get noticed as much anymore.
Substantively, it was pretty empty, which I can gauge, because as one who disagrees with him, I never felt uncomfortable. He could have gone on for twice as long and it would not have bothered me. He both looked at and focused on the people in the room, and didn't really connect through the TV.
I really haven't followed this campaign on a day-by-day basis, which is why I tuned in. I won't say he looked "beaten," but his content and approach did act about half-beaten.
On another front, as a Christian, I was surprised at the content of the closing prayer, and I bet the convention-goers were VERY uncomfortable with that, and gripping on every sentence. Kind of surprised the DNC allowed that, especially as the last word.
First of all, as a public speaker, our President has few peers. Truly an outstanding speaker. I think from overexposure, from everyone's tendency to hear only the political aspect of what's said, and from now very raised expectations, his skill level does not get noticed as much anymore.
Substantively, it was pretty empty, which I can gauge, because as one who disagrees with him, I never felt uncomfortable. He could have gone on for twice as long and it would not have bothered me. He both looked at and focused on the people in the room, and didn't really connect through the TV.
I really haven't followed this campaign on a day-by-day basis, which is why I tuned in. I won't say he looked "beaten," but his content and approach did act about half-beaten.
On another front, as a Christian, I was surprised at the content of the closing prayer, and I bet the convention-goers were VERY uncomfortable with that, and gripping on every sentence. Kind of surprised the DNC allowed that, especially as the last word.
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