Bubba overshadows Biden

It was an interesting night of speech making.

Bill Clinton mostly followed Hilllary's formula -- a full throated endorsement of Barack Obama without vouching for the man personally.  In some regards, it's understandable:  there's simply too much water under that bridge to make a personal endorsement ring true.  Notwithstanding his doctorate degree in insincerity, even Bill Clinton wouldn't have been able to pull that off. 

But Bubba just couldn't get himself to concede that Obama had passed the Commander-in-Chief test on his own.  His most telling line of the night: "With Joe Biden's experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama's proven understanding, insight and good instincts, America will have the national security leadership we need."  A devastating indictment.

But the main event was Joe Biden's speech, which was both awkward in spots and compelling at times.   On the one hand, he drew sharp contrasts to John McCain, something Democrats really hadn't done all week (though even the jabs were mild compared to what the Republicans will do to Obama next week).  The party faithful wanted to see McCain taken down a few pegs, and Biden certainly delivered.  But several times he stumbled over his applause lines, and in spots seemed out of sync with the teleprompter.   In short, there was nothing truly memorable about the speech --  no lines that anyone will be talking about at the water cooler, or emailing to a friend, or even remembering.   He did show himself to be a capable hatchet man, which will certainly come in handy on the campaign trail, but aside from that it accomplished little else.

I'm still amazed that three days into the DNC, we've heard almost nothing about Katrina, Dick Cheney, trillion dollar deficits, fabricated intelligence, Abu Dhabi, etc.  Staggering.

Comments

[Mitch]

i actually thought Clinton's speech was spectacular.

[sm]

I have to disagree with what you identified as a "devastating indictment" from Bubba's speech. For the sizable portion of people who question Obama's experience and whether what he 'has' amounts to enough to fill the Commander-in-Chief shoe, I think (and yes, as an Obama-Biden supporter) that the quote you referenced is actually what people need to hear to help assuage such doubts. Perhaps I'm not being enough of a realist or pragmatist, but I think that Bubba's pointing out how Obama and Biden together make the best and strongest Pres. and VP pair was a supportive rallying cry-- and not an insult to Obama or a dig because Hillary didn't get the nomination. At least, that's how it came off to the average viewer. Another well-known person simply declaring that they believe Obama has more than what it takes to do the job clearly isn't enough to convince naysayers or skeptics-- even if it's coming from Bubba himself. So rather than wasting his breath saying that outright, he highlighted strengths of Obama and Biden to make a positive point (from which I took no underlying negativity).

[Nick Ragone]

I guess that's one way of looking at it. I can't imagine Bubba ever describing his partnership with Al Gore in similar terms, however.