General reactions:
Hillary: Pretty good speech. Twin Republicans, Bush and McCain, appearing in the Twin Cities next week, was a good line. Not sure about the selection of “orange” as her color scheme for the night.
Obama: Where’s Obama? I haven’t seen the whole thing, but it seems like Obama is too much in the background and the Clintons too much in the foreground.
Quote of the night: Charles Barkley on the possibility that he might pay more taxes under an Obama administration::
“Well, I think that if you’re rich — I thank God I’ve been very successful — if you’re rich, you’re always going to be rich. If we pay more in taxes, I got no problem with that. If you’re making that kind of money, a couple hundred thousand dollars here or there are not going to change your life.”
Overall (so far): I realized this is a vain hope, but couldn’t this be more about the Democratic Party and what it stands for, rather than Personalities? The Main Theme reported by the media thus far is the “battle” between Obama and Clinton “camps”. Can they unite? No doubt as a matter of imagery and egos this is a big deal and a big story. But in terms of how either would try to govern it’s a non-event. There’s just not that much difference. The Big Difference is between the parties. That’s what the Democratic convention should be about. Is that too much to expect?
Hilary had another good line with “the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits.” Note that she didn’t specify orange pantsuits, which clearly should not be allowed to travel at all!
I think that Eugene Robinson’s commentary in this morning’s RG shares some of your disappointment in the convention thus far. He says that the Democrats need to “Snap out of it” and stop being so tentative and insecure. Robinson says it seems that the Democrats are waiting for the stars to align just so. He goes on to say:
“People, the stars don’t line up any more auspiciously than this. George W. Bush is to presidential unpopularity what Michael Phelps is to aquatic velocity. The Republican candidate for president is a wooden, uncharismatic denizen of Washington DC, whose ‘maverick’ image belies the fact that he has supported Bush on practically every big issue.”
“The economy is sagging, the financial system is in crisis and gasoline prices remain punishingly high. In recent polls, eight out of ten Americans have said the country is on the wrong track. You don’t need a soothsayer to read omens like these.”