Whew wee!
I followed the Democratic National Committee's convention in Boston this past week, and well, it was full of Joe-mentum!
Listening to William Jefferson "definition of is is" Clinton makes one long for presidents that motivate and invigorate their audiences. Or presidents that speak in complete sentences. Since this country hasn't seen that for four years, it reassured us that yes, the time for a leadership change is now, and that George "W" Bush's place in history will ultimately fall between Richard Nixon and Herbert Hoover, both Republicans.
John Edwards set the stage for Kerry's Thursday appearance. Edwards seems like a good VP candidate: one with hunger and intelligence to make a difference. On race issues, he said:
This is not an African-American issue, this is not a Latino issue, this is not an Asian-American issue, this is an American issue.
This reminds me of a certain other Democrat, who only 40 years ago, said:
There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.
And while Johnson mastered domestic policy issues, his handling of Vietnam tarnished his place in history. Is it a bit coincidental that the two presidents from Texas have thrust America into murky,unpopular wars? Both used similar machismo rhetoric in addressing their enemies and plans for operational victories. That kind of mindset scares me to vote for another presidential candidate from Texas. But that's a whole other blog entry.
Back to the convention. Kerry gave a great speech on Thursday night, emphasizing his military record, and using the similar call and response method used by Clinton earlier in the week. It was quite effective. For the first time, Kerry seemed presidential. I can picture him as president. His speech was mostly a laundry list of issues picked from polling data, which is fine with me. But he had an air of leadership about him, that I haven't seen until now. That can only help him until November, especially as "W" pisses off more and more constituents with his rightist, conservative, overtly-religious policies. I actually stood and applauded when Kerry mentioned messing with the Constitution.
If you happened to watch CNN's coverage, then you heard the show director cursing when the balloons weren't falling fast enough, and the confetti fell prematurely. I was a bit aghast, and wondered who was responsible for putting him on the air. That was a bad decision, or a major screwup. I laughed heartily while also being stunned.
Now it's on to the Olympics and the Republican National Convention.
Posted by Ben at July 30, 2004 02:27 PM