Towards the end of his brilliant speech, Joe Biden just buried the conservative talking-points of how only they understood, and stood for, the private sector:
…A future, where we promote the private sector not the privileged sector"
And boom - the 'private sector' was reclaimed as the place for ordinary and responsible citizens to find their opportunities, pursue their dreams, co-operate with others, move to, or stay in, the middle-class with others celebrate their success with others. The 'private sector' is now again squarely part of the "we're in this together" society, which was so masterfully laid out during the convention
Purged are the ugly notions of greed, recklessness, enforcing your success at the expense of others, of "slamming the door shut behind you" - dumped into the bracket of the 'privileged sector' - a much better label than the "1%-ers", and something that will give a headache to some middle- to lower-income conservatives who now will feel a little misplaced and alienated, when they ask themselves whether they feel part of the 'privileged' ones.
Watching the speeches of the DNC on YouTube handed me a bag of envy on the oratory skills of the speakers. Boy - are German politicians dull and hapless in comparison!
Julian "Gee, why didn't I think of that?!" Castro - you can hardly counter that 'entitlement' meme better than with "investment - opportunity - prosperity". Does it get any simpler and better?
Sandra Fluke - walks on stage, calls a spade a spade and a bigot a bigot, makes the Republican candidate shrink to the actual size of his values, and lets Charles Krauthammer spiral out of this current parallel-universe into a different one.
Michelle Obama - if you still should have wondered after Julian Castro's speech, what opportunity might be about - you sure knew afterwards. "…you don't slam that door shut" is a quote to stay. A signature American speech - a masterpiece in English that would make you cringe in German. Alternatively makes you cringe, if you're Charles Krauthammer.
Bill Clinton - Shrunk the size of the Republican ticket to ze-ro, all the while having a good time and keeping people informed of the facts. There he goes again…
And then, Joe Biden.
Actually I think, he topped even Bill Clinton. Sharp. To the point. Believable.
And - oh - that pause and that smug and wicked gaze before calling Romney and Ryan out on their lack of courage to tell the American people what their 'tough decisions' might actually mean. Well - and the he reclaimed the private sector for good citizens and the Democrats again and purged Republicans into their bracket of the 'privileged sector'.
Here's hoping that we will here from private vs. privileged sector a lot more in the coming weeks.