A Speech to Remember

On election day in 1992,  I drove from my beloved Pittsburgh apartment to my polling place with "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" on a loop in my Chevette's cassette player.  And I played it really loud on the way home.  What a day that was.

To that same song--his convention theme song (a mystery until it played after his acceptance speech)--Bill Clinton walked onto the stage at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and gave the speech of his life.

And that's saying something.  There have been a few comparative clunkers through the years--his famous first convention speech (in which he got the biggest applause for the line, "in conclusion...") and his second Inaugural.  But he could make speeches even on the most pedestrian occasions (including ones that a relative handful of people heard, only on C-Span) shine.  And he made some very important ones for himself--especially at his nominating convention but at various times on the big stages throughout his presidency.

As many commentators said--and as I suggested was the golden opportunity waiting to be taken--he gave a detailed policy speech and rebuttal of GOPer lies, contrasting with the GOPers refusal to be specific about anything.  He did it with clarity and charm and some perfect one-liners (which to be fair were scattered in a number of speeches throughout the day--all showing signs of having been at least edited by the same speechwriting team.)  There was something Mark Twain about how he summarized the GOPer argument against Obama: "we left him a perfect mess but he didn't clean it up fast enough, so fire him and hire us back."

He made the key arguments, but more than that he gave them the weight of his own presidency.“No president — no president — not me, not any of my predecessors, no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years,” Clinton said. “He has laid the foundations for a new modern successful economy, a shared prosperity, and if you will renew the president’s contract, you will feel it.”

 I wasn't too crazy about how he handled himself in the 08 primaries, and I disagreed with some of what he did as President (though I usually wound up defending him to friends.) But this brought back fonder memories. Memories also of how he drove the GOP literally crazy. They really hated him.  Now he's got a 69% approval rating, even higher among women.

So two nights, two outstanding, historic speeches.  As Jonathan Bernstein wrote, "Bill Clinton tonight showed them all how it’s done. He gave a master class in how to combine folksy and poetic language, stinging one-liners and policy nuance, empathy and rip-roaring partisanship. It was as good as it gets."  Other commentaries: Joe Klein,  Michael Tomasky, Dan Amira (with a video of the entire 48 minute speech.)

Though Tuesday lacked the freshness of the first day, there were other highlights: Olympic Gold Medalist Gabby Douglas leading the Pledge of Allegiance and Brandon Marsalis playing the national anthem, Planned Parenthood prez Camille Richards (who I didn't know is the daughter of beloved Ann Richards), Sister Simone Campbell (one of the nuns on the bus--I'm not a Catholic anymore, but she made me proud of having been one), Sandra Fluke, Elizabeth Warren.  And remarkably the energy in the hall seemed to stay up all day.

So of course this all leaves everybody wondering how vp Joe Biden and especially President Obama are going to top this or even measure up tomorrow.  Not a bad problem to have.