Last night Hillary Clinton delivered a speech with a few good lines (like the "Twin Cities" one) written by her six -- yes, six -- speech writers. The speech certainly brought some much needed excitement to what had been a bland, somewhat lifeless convention and energized a convention crowd that had most likely fallen asleep during Mark Warner's cellphone pitch. Here's what the speech DIDN'T do:
It didn't deliver anything on a personal level about Barack Obama. It said, "Vote Obama." But the exact same speech could have been given by someone who had never met the man. There were no personal anecdotes, no nod to the audience saying, "It's okay -- he's a good guy. I shared a stage with him, I traveled with him, I've campaigned with him, I KNOW Barack Obama and I know, in my heart of hearts, that he is a great man and will make a great President."
It didn't do a thing to take away the "experience" worry people have. She never once said he was "qualified." Yes. We should unify and vote for him. But where were the comments saying, "I too, worried about what I perceived to be a lack of experience from Barack Obama -- I was wrong. This is a man who is uniquely qualified to be President of the United States of America."
It didn't do a thing to destroy the great "friendship" she has with the "hero" John McCain. It didn't even disavow the ridiculous ads the McCain campaign is running starring none other than ... Hillary.
Here's what the speech DID do:
Made Hillary look like a hero. Ensured many Dems would go through a bit of buyer's remorse. Made Hillary look like she's taking over as the head of the party. Forget Teddy. Forget Barack. Look at ALL she had done and ALL she had fought for over the "past 35 years" (such experience she has!). The speech successfully set up her run in 2012.
If she wanted to do anything to help Barack and honestly didn't want to spend "one more moment" wasting time thinking about Hillary, she wouldn't have DEMANDED a roll call vote on the floor from her delegates. And then, demand it not happen during a breakfast, off the floor, but ON the floor at 4:30 PM today.
If she wanted to do anything to help Barack, she would tell her "best" friend Terry McAuliffe to stick around and not LEAVE the Democratic convention after BILL speaks tomorrow. The first time Terry's left a convention early.
If she wanted to do anything to help Barack, she'd tell Ed Rendell to quit running around comparing Barack to "Adlai Stevenson" who, he says, like Barack, couldn't connect with the common man and won't get elected.
Hillary's speech is getting too much hype. I don't think it did a damn thing to help Barack. It helped Hillary. Just like everything Hillary does.