Obama Convention Speech Not A Barn Burner
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The boss could have done better last night, but then again it’s been a busy few days at the Democrat’s National Convention and everyone was tired. Perhaps it was Clinton’s great speech, or Michelle’s, even Joe Biden’s, that made the president’s seem lame by comparison, but, it did seem, at least for Barack Obama, rather uninspiring.
(Newser) President Obama’s acceptance speech last night wasn’t a complete dud, but it wasn’t the finest speech of his career—or of the Democratic National Convention, or even of yesterday, say pundits. At 38 minutes, it was the shortest acceptance speech from an incumbent since Gerald Ford in 1976, Politico notes.
- The Democrats were having a great convention until the president delivered a “warmed-over rehash of his stump speech” with a “laundry list of familiar proposals,” writes Molly Ball at the Atlantic. His speech—which “seemed engineered as a series of defensive moves”—was “so befuddlingly flat as to make you wonder whether its lameness was intentional,” she writes.
- The speech wasn’t make-or-break for Obama, but he could surely have done better than the “fourth best speech of the Democratic convention” after Bill Clinton’s, Michelle’s, and Joe Biden’s, writes Yuval Levin at the National Review. Obama “laid out no discernible second-term agenda of his own,” and his attack on Romney’s “supposed plans to eradicate all of government while giving tax cuts to the wealthy” was the speech’s “sole coherent message,” he writes.
- Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post names his winners and losers of the convention, and puts Obama between the two categories. “At times, it felt more like a State of the Union address than a convention acceptance speech. It was workmanlike more than inspirational,” he writes. The speech wasn’t in the same league as Bill Clinton’s, “but neither will it be remembered as a colossal flop.”
- The speech was “forceful, animated, and error-free—but not among his most lustrous rhetorical moments,” write Niall Stanage and Amie Parnes at the Hill. The speech “highlighted Obama’s accomplishments, drew broad outlines of what a second White House term would bring, and was jam-packed with stark, sometimes mocking, contrasts between his policies and those” of Mitt Romney, but there wasn’t a glimpse of the “more elevated oratory that powered his historic journey to the Oval Office in 2008” until the final minutes.
Do you agree with the pundits? What did you take away from the president’s speech last night?
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I agree with Bill and Jason. All four speeches were inspiring and while Joe Biden’s did make me tear up, President Obama did a great job. The most moving moment for me was watching Mrs. Obama’s eyes fill with tears as all those veterans stood on stage. I keep pointing out to people that Mitt Romney didn’t even bother to mention the troops in his speech, while Democrats devoted an entire portion of the convention to them. Romney later stated in an interview with Pox Spews, sorry, Fox News, that he chose to only mention the things that were “important” in his speech. Nice.
I am with Jason on this. I have heard the Prez give more dynamic speeches but this speech was perhaps one of his better ones. This was more like a general telling his troops what was in store for them and what the costs were if they lost the war. It was direct, straight forward, and to the core of the problems facing this country.
I disagree. While Obama’s speech may not have been the best of his career, he got a few great one liners, he laid out his case for reelection and he slammed Romney and Ryan’s anti-government stances. Yes, Michelle got the heart and soul speech, Clinton might have had the best single speech of his lifetime and Biden did a great job of selling who Obama is as a leader, Obama didn’t need to rehash that stuff in his speech. Nobody could have beaten Clinton’s speech, if Obama does get a second term, that speech might be remembered with other great speeches in america’s history. Obama has a few like that under his belt already. This was him admitting the job is not done, that he needs more time. Yes, he is not perfect, no president ever has been. No matter who is in office, 1/2 the country is going to hate it. What does need to be remembered is that Obama is probably one of the smartest people to hold the office since Kennedy. Even a smart person can have an off night or make a dumb move once in awhile. His admin’s handling of medical marijuana or the detention law, major mistakes. He needs to do more for education, green energy, infastructure and job creation as a whole. He has done a lot so far, and if congress had his back the way they should have, he would have gotten more done. Overall he is a B- potus for term one, but the guy before, an F. (I would give Bush a Q, but I was nice enough to stick within normal school grades). If he gets the second term, he needs to be a solid B or B+. If he does that, the dems have a chance in 2016 as well.
I think he made it quite obvious to those abroad like myself and his own platform that a Romney choice would be suicidal to the United States of America. But, I knew that before he started the speech, being pretty liberal myself. However, I thought Joe Biden did a great job of showing us that Obama is the better pick – plus, apparently they’re great buddies. Watching the series ‘West Wing’ with Martin Sheen as President has taught me a fair bit about American politics. Long live common sense – whose common sense has yet to be determined. Good luck my American friends south of us, I hope you make the right choice so Canadians don’t have to build that mile high fence along the border. Just kidding!
Rick, before canada builds that fence, please let a couple of million liberals get over the border and we will help you build it for citizenship, lol.