Centerfield

One problem with the Clinton speech--it might upstage Kerry. Already, I hear rumblings of "Ah, man, can't we just send Clinton back to the White House?" How can Kerry compete with "Clinton the Orator." Clinton might not be running nor might he win if he was running right now, but it puts more pressure on Kerry to prove why "send me" means send Kerry. Hey--are all the bloggers posting at the convention democratic in persuasion are any of them libertarian or replubican--or do bloggers tempt to be unbiased, like *cough* the traditional media attempts to be?

Did you notice this rhetorical device (not new, but very clever given the occasion)?

Clinton first to associated himself with the wealthy, then proceeded to talk about how the GOP tax cuts were giving HIM so much money. Any listener who has little taste for Clinton can't help but cringe at the thought of money going into Clinton's pocket at the expense of you and me.

Subtle and effective.

I wonder how many of the leading Dem candidates and speech-writers have been talking with George Lakoff -- the way the GOP has heeded the advice of Frank Lutz?

Mathew, we can see the power of rhetoric in capturing an idea in a repeatable phrase. I've been talking 'wisdom' for quite a while, but to come up with that phrase, it takes a master (not Clinton himself, proabably -- whoever assisted with his speech.)

I wonder if we'll see posters of Kerry with the phrase "Send me!" That would be quite effective, too.

Putting Bill Clinton on the first night, with that speech, was very effective. I think anybody who listened to it, who has not decided on who to vote, will---at the minimum---pay more attention to the convention and to Kerry than they may have.

I don't think Kerry has to worry about Clinton upstaging him. He speaks in three days and I believe people will have (sufficiently) forgotten about Clinton by then. However, I do believe there is a greater chance of Edwards upstaging Kerry with his speech the night before.

I didn't see Carter or Gore's speech, but the clips and observations I heard through the media were disappointing, to me. Seems like they didn't go along with the notion of avoiding the more personal negative politics.

Then Clinton gets up and gives a barn-burner of a speech that shows how you can be tough, with regards to your opponents, while still focusing on policy. He conceded his opponents were sincere in their belief about what's good for America -- just wrong.

Clinton and Edwards are the only two Democrats I know of with that capacity -- to go after their opponents strongly without making it sound personal.

It's very lucky, for the Democrats, that Clinton's speech was in prime time and the one that got people's focus.

I think Will really gets at the crux of it. Clinton and Edwards really do both have that ability to speak a positive message in which the criticism is not overt but only implied.

I had read Clinton's remark about strength and wisdom in the context of the ongoing GOP effort to grow the meme that the democrats keep saying they'll be positive but then they pull out the hatchet on Bush. But the citation from Clinton's speech was a huge disconnect with their claims because Clinton didn't even mention Bush or the admin. If the GOP is stuck arguing that the message is negative because of what it implies, their job is made MUCH harder.

I have seen hints that this is going to be a big part of the democratic strategy going forward and that it is so far pretty well-coordinated––that they won't be bringing up Bush by name, instead focusing on statements such as Clinton's that accentuate the positive with only implied criticism. I think this is why the GOP seems to be trying so hard to decode it. If the dems are able to stick to it, it will frustrate the Bush camp.

I've been a big fan of Clinton for a long time, but
last night's speech was better than anything he'd ever done before. I even wrote him a thank-you note during his speech last night. And, since I couldn't find an E-mail address for him, I had to print it off and send it through the post.