Saturday, September 6, 2008

Bill Clinton's speech

This is terribly late, but I finally got around to watching Bill Clinton's speech at the DNC a couple of days ago. I liked it. I don't think it was his best speech, but even a slightly-above-average speech from Bill Clinton is better than one from almost any other politician.

Before the convention, many people wondered if the Clintons would get behind Obama. My instinct was yes; it is in their best interests to have Democratic president rather than a Republican one.

One thing I picked up from Bill's speech is that he is a fighter. He loves to mix it up politically. He loves a challenge, particularly if the challenge involves both politics and policy. He lives for this stuff. This campaign will be one of his last best chances to do that. During the primary, he was fighting Barack Obama on behalf of his wife. Now that that is past, he has joined with Obama, put his ego aside, and joined the fight. For him, it's unfortunate that Hillary lost, and he has a few emotional bruises (bruises, not scars - the wounds weren't that bad) from the campaign, but he is a man who heals quickly. He's over that.

I'm sure that he's realized that electing Obama represents a repudiation of Bush, which means some sort of redemption for him and his presidency. One reason people will vote for Obama is that they remember the good times they had under Clinton. So this is an opportunity for him to remind both voters and professional Democrats he is one of two Democratic presidents who won reelection in the 20th century.

Now on the to the fight against Republicans.

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