Simple Man Politics

Hey ya’ll, how are you doing today? I hope this finds all of you healthy, wealthy, wise, and happy, or at least three of the four. As I told you on Monday I was going to do a piece on Joe Biden today. However, with what I saw yesterday and today with Michelle Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, I think I should dedicated today’s blog to them and their speeches at the Democratic National Convention. I will start with Mrs. Obama first and finish with Mrs. Clinton so lets get started.

Monday’s speech by Michelle Obama was definitely a spectacle to behold. Mrs. Obama was turned out in an elegant green dress, (my favorite color) her hair shining, and smiling at the crowd as she took her place at the podium. She spoke of her time with Barack, their working their way through school, her children, her family, and the values she was raised with, and those that her husband, and herself are raising their daughters with. She spoke of the problems most of us face like paying the bills, worrying about health insurance for the family, and worrying about their children’s education, portraying themselves as normal everyday people who understand the plight of the normal everyday working/middle class people who make up the vast majority of this great nation. It was quite a picture of their history that she painted for all of us to see. It was something I could respect having been there and done that myself.

After that she started speaking about healthcare and education and all I could hear was the talking points of the campaign it reminded me of Barack’s stump speech and I was very much surprised to hear what I was hearing then I was saddened then angered. I thought to myself that she had successfully woven this image of Barack as the patriarch of his family, of how he drove home with their new born daughter in his arms, and in the next instant she was talking about the government assuming the role of patriarch, his role for the family, by supplying healthcare for everyone of us, and how everyone should get a free college education on the government, basically a land of entitlements. As all of this passed before my eyes and ears I started to notice that she wasn’t really looking at the cameras to much or at other people, that she wasn’t comfortable on stage, or how it was so obvious she was reading from a teleprompter, and how at the end she had to cajole her children to talk to their father on the monitor. Then it hit me, she knew she was lying about what she had said and how she felt and last but not least that she hadn’t really given her husband that much of an endorsement. It was a good speech but in the end I don’t think it was as convincing as they had hoped.

Tuesday night I watched Hillary’s speech and I watched it very closely because of what I saw Monday night from Mrs. Obama. Hillary was cool, crisp, and very much at the top of her game. She spoke of her family and bills family, of raising Chelsea as well as talking of her and bills time in college, working within the Democratic party, Bills governorship in Arkansas, their time in the white House, and her time as Senator for the state of New York. She was very eloquent about her run for the party nomination for President this year, and all the barriers that have been battered down to get her there. She spoke the usual talking points as well about McCain being four more years of Bush’s eight years and all that entails in the Democratic Party view, and she spoke of party unity attempting to bring her supporters into line behind Obama. She did all that was expected of her and she did it well. I think though, that she fell short in her endeavors, and not for lack of trying. Through out her entire thirty minute speech she only mentioned Barack ten times, which I think was not near enough, and as sincere as she attempted to sound, I don’t think she came off as truly sincere. For all of that though she was infinitely better at the microphone than Mrs. Obama.

The early polls for both of these speakers have indicated that neither one of them was as successful as the Democratic Party had hoped and that complete unity at this time has not been achieved by either one of them and at the end of their respective nights neither one of them had proved Barack’s qualifications to lead this country. Look out because William Jefferson Clinton and Joe Biden speak tonight so no one knows what will happen. I think it will all be up to Barack Obama to sell himself to us on Thursday night. I don’t think he can do it by himself.

Have a great day and I will see you all on Friday for the wrap up of the DNC, CIAO4NOW!!!!!!