Clinton and Barack Obama have been the highlights so far. I’ll hop on the Clinton speech bandwagon…but he can only represent the past at this point, no matter how eloquent or effective his oratory is. Obama, provided that he wins and does a fine job as a senator, just has to be the major face of the Democratic party (and perhaps on a ticket within 12 or so years). To put it bluntly, the black vote is essentially the most dependable voting bloc for the party - and at some point the ceiling has to be broken.
Al Gore and Teresa Heinz-Kerry gave fine if not superb speeches. Al Gore had some funny lines too.
(By the way…Tipper Gore…grrrrrrrrrr).
Hillary Clinton’s speech has been panned a bit, but she had an awkward role. She was originally not scheduled to speak, and then asked to introduce her husband on short notice. She should have been given her own platform tonight.
Also, I wish they highlighted some of those other women senators. Two (Lincoln and Landrieu) are from the South - and might help turn Louisiana and Arkansas - the most likely southern states for Democrats these days. Why they had the worst public speaker I can think of (Mikulski) talk for them instead was a shame.
Ted Kennedy’s speech began poorly, and I almost turned it off after he slurred suburbs into servants. But it improved at the end, and frankly he should have only given a ten minute pep-talk.
Gephardt and Dean zzzzzzzz…thank goodness they were not nominees (though I suspect a nominee puts much more into his speech than a guy who’s there to pad out the roster).
I didn’t see the young girl speak.
On one hand, I wished that Ron Reagan Jr. dropped the pretense of giving a “apolitical” speech and made an explicit endorsement of Kerry’s entire campaign. But other than being the son of a president, I’m not sure if he has any political credentials of his own to base an endorsement on. His presentation was fine, and he seemed to have quite a few people in tears.
If anything, his speech drives me to look into the stem cell topic more - because , I have serious questions about the use of embryonic cells but I am far too ignorant on the topic to make a judgement one way or another on its ethical merits. Maybe I should start by searching some threads here…
By the way, is anyone else watching the old speeches on C-Span? Truman’s 1948 speech was something else. He opened by declaring “I’m going to win this election and make the Republicans like it” or something of that nature. He then argued that farmers and workers who didn’t vote Democrat were “the most ungrateful people in the world”, and closed by calling for a special session of congress to put the Republican platform up for a vote, calling the other party’s bluff. His swagger was outstanding, and a stark contrast to the mushy platitudes of today.
It was also a bit rich when he complained about the congresses’ “Anti-Catholic and Anti-Semitic” displaced person’s legislation, since we know know he harbored anti Jewish feelings at various times in the presidency, and as a young man even flirted with Ku Klux Klan membership.