The Convention

I thought the Convention yesterday was quite successful. Gore was funny (which should be no surprise for those who know him), Carter was dignified, and Clinton was persuasive. Each laid out a set of reasons to reject George Bush, but I think they were not trying to convince people that Bush needs to be rejected (independents already don't like him), but to connect voters' reservations about Bush to reasons they should support Kerry. Carter enunciated a soft-spoken but devastating critique of the Bush Administration's foreign policy, and he has tremendous prestige due to his post-presidency.

And Clinton? I think in some ways it was one of his best speeches. He looked great, and dazzled the crowd. He explained (exhaustively) why conservative policies are flawed, and how Democratic policies are what people really want. And Kerry can capitalize on Clinton's legacy in a way Gore wasn't.

I do have one criticism thought. Clinton has never been good at self-discipline, and it showed again last night. He gave what I thought were 3 speeches- there was the speech about Kerry's character ("send me"), the one about Kerry's vision ("a more perfect union"), and the speech enunciating Kerry's policies, where he laid out the choices that Bush has made, leading up to the choices that Kerry would make, and that we in turn should choose Kerry.

All the elements of a truly great speech were there (like Cuomo in 1984, Kennedy in 1980), but it was thematically a bit confused.

But that's okay. Clinton in still the man.