DNC Recap: Day 2

I know tonight's speeches are just hours away, so I'll try to keep this belated recap brief. I obviously didn't catch all of the speeches, but I'll briefly report on the ones I did. Also, thank you for the scoring suggestions. I thought all of them were solid, but I'm going to go ahead and go with "lucid spells" in honor of John McCain.

Barbara Boxer: Whew. Just be glad I couldn't find a link to the actual speech. At least it was short. Looking at my notes from last night all I have written is, "Cliche, cliche, cliche." and "Yawn." That pretty much sums it up.
Rating: 0.5 LSs of 5

Ed Rendell:
I thought Ed was really strong. He's got this way of earnestly throwing shit in your face while having a big smile on his that just works. His attacks on McCain's lack of an energy policy were effective. Favorite line: "The only thing that will be recycled are the tired old policies of George Bush". Second Favorite line: "The only thing green about McCain's policy is the $4 billion in tax breaks to the oil companies."
Rating: 4 LSs of 5

Mark Warner:
Sure hope you win that Virginia senate seat Mark! If he puts that same level of dedication into getting Obama elected, well...maybe the Democratic chances of turning Virginia really aren't that good. I'm being overly critical. It was a decent speech with some nuance, but what's all this hucky-dory, reaching across party lines, post-partisan crap? This is electoral politics my friend, and as Rachell Maddow said, that might be ok for governing, but not an election.

Hillary Clinton:
I'm going to have to fundamentally disagree with Aaron, and quite a few commentators and say I thought her speech was weak overall. My notes for the speech were as follows:
-"me me me" (is that absolutely necessary?)
-better turn this around right now
-they shouldn't have let her on
-now it's "we we we"
-does she realize she lost?
-"twin cities" bit was funny
-"were you in it for me or.." is really great
-meh

I know what you're thinking. It's surprising I didn't make a career out of academia with that notetaking ability huh?

Anyway...The beginning -- not just the very beginning, but the entire first 1/3 to 1/2 was all about her. There were so many more mentions of "me" than "him" or "Barack". I understand that a lot of people are still interested in her, but there was way too much of this. The unequivocal bulk of this speech should have been focused on two things. The first is telling every one of her supporters that they have to vote for Obama. I'm talking mother of guilt trips here. If you vote for McCain you're spitting in my face and in everything I believe in. If you vote for McCain you're literally showing that you don't care about women and women's issues.

The only bit like this was with the, "were you in it for me or for that mom with cancer" etc. part, which was fantastic. The speech should have been filled with stuff like that. The other thing she should have done was absolutely eviscerate John McCain. She should have directly addressed her role in his television spots, and portrayed him as a crazy old man. She should have talked about how his recent sabre rattling on the Georgia/Russia conflict revoked her commander-in-cheif "threshold" comment. Again, she did very little of this.

I know this is beyond cliched, and I hate putting people I've never met on the metaphorical couch, but I'm not buying it. I'm not totally convinced she wants Obama to win. I think she sees a 2012 Clinton inauguration as assured in the incident of a McCain victory -- and I don't think that's a miscalculation on her part. I think that feeling of entitlement has turned into resentment. It's not that simple of course, and I think any intelligent, ambitious, adult in her situation would have conflicted feelings, but I simply can't shake the feeling that she's not on board.
Rating: 2.5 LSs of 5