I was feeling sorry for John Kerry having to follow Bill Clinton in the speaking lineup, but he electrified the audience as I have never seen him do before. As [Time's Michael] Scherer just said to me: Zell Miller without the mean.
Time's Amy Sullivan also loved the Bill Clinton speech, since the "Big Dog" brought the red meat:
Well. Whether you like the Big Dog or not, he definitely brought it tonight. It's like these last 18 bitterly-fought months didn't even happen. If I were a cynic, tonight's speech might even make me wonder if all of that chatter about how ticked off Clinton was by the Obama campaign's "instructions" earlier this week was all a set-up to make the unrestrained support of Obama that much more powerful.
So far, Clinton's given the only speech at this convention that was as unrelentingly tough as the series of high-profile addresses at the GOP Convention in 2004 that undercut Kerry's case and candidacy. Then again, he's had practice at this. That sounded a lot like 1992. Which might not be such a bad historical model for Democrats.
The only odd note? Who the heck picked "Addicted to Love" as the song to play the former president off the stage? Appropriate, and awkward...
The blog headline again showed emotion: "That, Democrats, is how it's done." Sullivan also noted the emerging pattern of praising John McCain before proceeding to bury him politically. Sullivan thinks it could use more of an Invasion of the Right-Wing Body Snatchers tone:
But Democrats might find it would be more effective if they explained why they're so disappointed with their friend John McCain. How did this great guy they admire so much became a candidate whose positions appall them? It wasn't a fluke, it wasn't like he had a personality transplant. And the answer would seem to fit perfectly into a powerful Democratic narrative. John McCain changed because that's what he had to do to win the Republican nomination. That's what the reigning conservative ideology and interests demanded of him.
You can imagine a version of this that still allows them to keep the tone of friendship: this conservative politics is so damaging, it even swallowed up our good buddy, John. Or something.
