Like the humorist, Will Rogers once said: 'he did not belong to an organized political party because he was a Democrat.'
The issue of of Jerusalem is an entirely different matter and may illustrate gall but does not reach the level of radicalism vis a vis the elimination of the word God in their platform.
Political party platforms are an anachronism and no one really believes they mean much and certainly the candidate does not feel bound by them but they provide insight into the thrust of the party's direction and degree of organization.
This episode, in a practical sense, is much to do about nothing, but psychologically it sends a message to fence sitters that you might not want to hook up with such anti-religionists.
Furthermore, the politics of envy is not a sound basis for selecting a president or re-electing one. (See 1 below.)
---
Iran's military boasts his nation is capable of doing damage to America's navy.
I have no doubt Iran can sink and/or destroy an American ship but I also have no doubt the consequence would be the destruction of Iran's air force, electrical grid and military infrastructure.
Peacocks should not tangle with eagles! (See 2 below.)
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Words versus statistics. I continue to bet on the latter as being determinant. (See 3 and 3a below.)
Old Bill proved he is loyal, he is willing to swallow hard for his moment of glory and what some listeners thought as he did his thing (See 3b and 3c below.)
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We have heard a lot of talk about how well Obama's recovery has been because things were rapidly deteriorating just as he became president and he staunched the flow of blood.
I would argue that Obama's recovery program has been a disaster and that household income and net worth has declined as a result of his policies and that government debt has ballooned as a result of his and The Fed's actions.
Obama is proud of the fact that he saved GM and turned it over to his union friends. GM could have gone through bankruptcy and come out in much the same fashion and the government would not have been on the hook.
As long as The Fed keeps interest rates low and does not allow the system to disgorge the bad loans etc. the recovery will continue to be labored and therefore, unemployment will remain high.
Low interest rates may be good for the stock market but eventually they will produce a decline in the value of our currency and thus more inflation is ahead.
As long as we continue to place our faith in a fiat currency with no backing of value, politicians will be free to spend until the entire system blows up and that is what Obama's recovery is all about and it is only a matter of time before it happens.
If Obama is re-elected and continues with his policies of spending, The Fed will have to accommodate his actions and that means putting more money (oil) on the flames.
I cannot predict when the explosion will occur but history is on my side.
Mine may be a lonely voice but I am convinced my thinking will prove prophetic.
---
Dick
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1) Obama and the Infernal Serpent
By Jeffrey Folks
The president may not be aware of it, but envy has always been regarded as a sin. Envy of the rich is actually one of the seven "deadly sins," according to Christian belief. The idea that envy is "deadly" is so deeply rooted in Western civilization that only a politician profoundly ignorant of that tradition, or dismissive of it, would fail to regard envy as wrong.
For the ancients, envy was such a harmful instinct that it was represented as a mythological figure of destruction. One of the earliest Greek writings, Hesiod's Works and Days, describes envy as nasty-mouthed, physically repulsive, and rejoicing in human suffering. It is the sort of evil that Hesiod associated it with the decline of civilization ruled by a corrupt race of "iron" men (not the gold or silver of the past). Even 2,800 years ago, it was understood that envy is an evil that arises in the late stages of great civilizations, when political life begins to focus on how to redistribute goods rather than how to produce more goods. Great writers have always understood this fact.
In his great compendium of classical mythology, the Metamorphoses, Ovid depicts the foul goddess Envy eating the flesh of snakes, a food appropriate for such a venomous deity. The horrid figure of Envy is lethargic, her teeth are covered with green mold, and venom drops from her mouth. Envy is unsmiling, except when another suffers pain. And what Envy most dislikes, according to Ovid, is the success of another person. Envy's punishment is that it can never be at peace because its scope is limitless. The sight of anyone's success, anywhere, is enough to disturb the envious heart (summarized from Metamorphoses, Book II, lines 768-782).
According to the classics, envy is pure evil. It is the only one among the deadly sins that is purely negative (pride, lust, gluttony, anger, sloth, and greed are sinful and equally deadly, but they are not spiteful). For this reason, envy is the hallmark of those who are spiritually empty -- those, for example, who cannot run on their own records and so resort to an attack on others who do have a record of accomplishment. As the English poet Charles Churchill put it, "[n]o crime is so great to envy as daring to excel."
For those who are eaten up with envy, Mitt Romney's success at Bain Capital seems nothing less than criminal. Not only did Romney excel at business, but he also succeeded in organizing the 2008 Olympics in Salt Lake City and in governing the very liberal state of Massachusetts with at least a modicum of sense. He is the kind of man whom the ancients would have regarded as noble and virtuous. For Obama, he is just an easy target for the politics of wealth envy.
The ancients understood envy better than we do today. Envy was always associated with snakes because it is a destructive emotion that creeps into one's heart. It is sluggish, gradually overturning one's nobler feelings and replacing them with venomous hatred. Like our current occupant of the White House, whose speeches have become harsher as the campaign draws on, envy is ruthless and unsmiling.
Once unleashed, envy knows no bounds. It slithers into men's hearts, poisoning their relationship to others, destroying families, ruining friendships, and making the governance of society impossible. That is what has now been unleashed in America. Employing the tactics of Saul Alinsky, Obama approaches every political problem with the intent of isolating his target and exploiting the destructive emotions of envy and distrust.
All of Obama's talk about "fairness" is nothing but an attempt to gin up a sense of grievance and exploit it for his own purposes. The rich should be taxed more, he says, not because it would bring in more revenue or because they are not taxed enough already, but because they need to be punished. We hate them because they have succeeded and we have not. Even 2,800 years ago, that kind of populist demagoguery was understood to be dangerous.
It's not just the classical and Biblical writers who regarded envy as a deadly sin. That notion was echoed in the writing of Western Europe and America until quite recently. Consider the work of John Milton, the greatest moral writer of our civilization. "Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile stir'd up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd the Mother of Mankind," Milton wrote in Book I ofParadise Lost. That infernal serpent was none other than Satan, who tricked Eve into partaking of the apple of knowledge. I won't go so far as to suggest a direct parallel here, but it is true that our current president is counting on the women's vote to win re-election.
What I would say is that envy is not an acceptable reason to re-elect a president, or anyone else. Instead of stirring up hatred and division, Obama should be uniting Americans. Times are hard, harder for some than for others, but we are all citizens of one nation, and no group or class should be singled out for blame. We are a noble people, and envy is beneath us. Now is the time for great and virtuous leaders to govern in the best interest of the nation as a whole.
That, unfortunately, is not the message we're hearing from the Obama campaign. At a July 27 campaign event in McLean, Virginia, Obama informed the audience that he does not "believe in top-down economics." He believes in "middle-out economics and bottom-up economics." That's to say, those "at the top" are the enemy. They "didn't build" their businesses or their careers, no matter how much effort went into it. (Try telling that to Donald Trump or Lebron James.) The rich have no right to what they have earned. It's "us" -- the middle and lower classes -- versus "them," the rich. That is Obama's message at every stop.
Within classical Christian civilization, that appeal to wealth envy has always been regarded as crass, and rightfully so. The candidate who runs on wealth envy is stirring up foul emotions that are even more destructive to the poor than they are to the rich. What does the young man from Camden or East L.A. conclude when his president tells him that his poverty is the fault of the rich? He concludes that there's nothing he can do about his poverty. He might as well drop out of school, quit work, do drugs, and be done with it.
That is the kind of destructive emotion that envy unleashes. Every writer in the Western tradition has regarded envy as contemptible. It is only among the followers of Saul Alinsky that envy is regarded as a good, because for them, it is a useful tool for gaining power.
Envy, according to the British philosopher Robert Burton, is nothing less than "a foretaste of hell upon earth." Obama's campaign rhetoric offers more than a glimpse of what that infernal world would be like.
Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and article on American culture including Heartland of the Imagination (2011).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 2)Commander: US Navy avoids Iran - Iran Fully Capable of Targeting, Destroying US Warships |
A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said the US navy is deeply fearful of Iran's naval power in the Persian Gulf, and added that Iran will not leave the US warships undamaged in case of a military move against the country. "I assure you that if the US warships do a foolish action, they won't leave the area (regional waters) unhurt," Commander of the IRGC Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said in a gathering in Iran's Northeastern holy city of Mashhad on Wednesday. He stated that the US Navy is afraid of Iran's naval power, and said the US warships have even rerouted their line of voyage in the Persian Gulf in order to keep distant from the Iranian naval forces. Earlier in July, Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi announced that the country has drawn a plan for closing the world oil lifeline, the Strait of Hormuz, but meantime stressed that Iranian forces will not shut the waterway before they receive the needed permission from the Supreme Leader. "We have a plan for closing the Strait of Hormuz, but executing the plan needs the permission of the Supreme Leader," Firouzabadi told reporters on the sidelines of an annual gathering of the IRGC commanders at the time. "The Armed Forces have their own plans for every subject, but the decision to close the Strait of Hormuz lie on the Commander-in-Chief (Ayatollah Khamenei), who also receives consultations from the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC)," he added. The general dismissed the western states' claims that Iran is not able to block the Strait of Hormuz, and said, "They allege that we are bluffing in a bid to appease themselves." "Of course, we don't want to block the Strait of Hormuz, but we have a plan for closing it, which is a clever and wise one," Firouzabadi said. Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the oil-rich Persian Gulf if its nuclear program is targeted by air strikes that Israel and the United States reserve as an option. An estimated 40 percent of the world's oil supply passes through the waterway. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3)Speeches, Balloons and Bad Economic Indicators By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL
President Obama's challenge this week here at the Democratic convention is being framed around his ability to rebut Mitt Romney's accusations that he's not up to the job. Mr. Obama' bigger challenge may be rebutting the economic data that underline Mr. Romney's point.
The Democratic bash, coming as it does the first week in September, is coinciding with a flood of economic indicators that are largely bringing bad news. Democrats got their first taste of this unwelcome news story on Tuesday, when the Institute for Supply Management released a report noting that U.S. manufacturing shrank for the third straight month in August, with contractions in orders, production and employment. Its index of manufacturing activity, which fell to 49.6, from 49.8 in July, is now at its lowest in three years.
The Commerce Department on Tuesday also released a report showing that construction spending in July fell by the most in a year, dropping 0.9%. The decline was the first since March, was opposite of economists' predictions and showed both the private and public sector cutting back on investment. Meanwhile, the kickoff of the convention coincided with the gross national debt on Tuesday officially topping $16 trillion, an event that Alabama Sen. Jeff Session, the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, called a "grim landmark for the United States."
And there's more to come. On Thursday, ADP will release its monthly report on private employment. The administration is required by the end of this week to reveal in a report to Congress where exactly it intends to cut the defense and domestic budget to comply with the $1 trillion sequestration. And just 10 hours after Mr. Obama gives his big speech here, the U.S. Labor Department will unveil its payroll data and unemployment rate for August. If those numbers are middling, or poor, it will immediately shift attention away from Mr. Obama's words.
As the election enters its crucial last months, it has become uncomfortably clear to the president and Senate Democrats that their refusal to deal with the coming tax and sequester cliffs has potentially laid the groundwork for a continued slew of ugly economic news. The business community, paralyzed with the uncertainty of potentially huge tax hikes and haphazard budget cuts, is pulling back investment—waiting to see what the election brings. For the Obama administration, that means another two months of fielding reports like this, and trying to reconcile the numbers with its argument that it is the protector of the middle class.
3a) The President's Fountain of Youth Is Drying Up
In 2008 young voters chose Obama over McCain by 66% to 32%. Today he leads Romney by 49% to 41%.By KARL ROVE
Thursday night at the Democratic convention, President Barack Obama could continue relentlessly assaulting Gov. Mitt Romney, put the best face on his own record, or offer a substantive vision for the future. But no matter what themes he emphasizes, we know his acceptance speech will target groups that propelled him to victory in 2008 and remain critical to his re-election, especially Hispanics, women and young people.
The good news for Mr. Obama is that he has maintained his 2008 margin among Hispanics. The bad news is that less than half (42%) of Hispanic respondents said they were "very interested" in November's election, according to an Aug. 20 NBC/WSJ/Telemundo poll.
The news is worse among women. Despite a summer of Democratic attacks on the GOP for waging a "war on women," the president's "unfavorable impression" rating among women is up 11 points since April to 50% unfavorable/46% favorable in this week's ABC/Washington Post poll
This has depressed his overall favorable/unfavorable rating to 46%/49%, only slightly better than Mr. Romney's 43%/48%. The percentage of women with a "favorable impression" of Mr. Romney is up eight points since April.
Then there are voters ages 18 to 29, among Mr. Obama's most important supporters in 2008. The roughly 23.7 million "millennials" who voted in 2008 were 18% of the electorate, up 2.9 million voters over the previous presidential race. They gave Mr. Obama 66% to Sen. John McCain's 32%, according to exit polls. This margin of roughly eight million votes was a major chunk of Mr. Obama's overall edge of 9.6 million.
But youthful enthusiasm for Mr. Obama has waned. In October 2008, 78% of voters 18-29 told Gallup they would definitely vote that year. Now it's 58%.
There's also evidence that fewer younger people are registered. A November 2011 study from Tufts University found that 43% of the decline in Nevada's voter rolls since 2008 came from voters ages 18-24. Similarly, while North Carolina's rolls rose by 93,709 over that period, more than 48,000 younger voters were dropped from the rolls, 80% of them Democrats.
Mr. Obama's lead over Mr. Romney in the latest JZ Analytics poll among voters ages 18-29 is 49% to 41%. If young voters turn out this fall in the same numbers as in 2008 and give Mr. Obama this eight-point margin, it will take 2.8 million votes from Mr. Obama's total and add more than 3.3 million to Mr. Romney's tally.
Why does Mr. Obama dramatically trail his 2008 performance among younger voters? His failures to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, abruptly end U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, or make global warming a centerpiece of his agenda probably affect only a small number of young liberals.
Mr. Obama's biggest problem with millennials is almost certainly his failure to reignite the economy. Robust growth is needed to create the new jobs they need.
The anemic 2.2% annual growth since 2009 has resulted in 12.7% unemployment among young men and women ages 18-29, according a July poll by Generation Opportunity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization mobilizing young voters. Over 1.7 million young adults have become so discouraged that they have dropped out of the workforce. Youth unemployment would be 16.7% if they were factored in.
College graduates often find no one is hiring in their chosen career. Student loan debt is at record levels. According to a Pew Research Center survey in December, 53% of all young adults ages 18-24 said they "live with parents now or moved back in with parents temporarily because of [the] economy."
The July poll by Generation Opportunity reported that 84% of young Americans are delaying important decisions or feel their plans are in jeopardy. More than a third—38%—are delaying finding their own place. Some 31% said they are delaying starting a family, and 23% said they are delaying getting married. Dangerously for the president, 76% believe the lack of job opportunities—not the lack of government—is shrinking the middle class.
On every front, Mr. Obama is on the defensive, fighting to keep states and voter groups in his winning coalition. He can absorb some erosion from his 2008 totals, but not much. Right now the signs are ominous for him.
Mr. Romney—with his young and personable running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan—can make real inroads with frustrated and disappointed millennials who supported Mr. Obama four years ago. These young voters are willing to give Messrs. Romney and Ryan a hearing. The Republican ticket has 61 days to persuade them that the GOP is the party of opportunity and ideas.
Mr. Rove, the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, is the author of "Courage and Consequence" (Threshold Editions, 2010).
3b)Clinton Makes Case for Obama
Former President Appeals to Independents, Blasts 'Winner-Take-All' RepublicansBy LAURA MECKLER and CAROL E. LEE![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-UL341_0905rn_G_20120906001544.jpg) AFP/Getty Images
President Barack Obama waved alongside former President Bill Clinton after Clinton's speech during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Democrats led by former President Bill Clinton gave a rousing defense Wednesday of President Barack Obama and Democratic philosophies, promising to bring changes to an economic system they said was often stacked against the middle class.
Former President Bill Clinton rallies the crowd at the Democratic National Convention, and calls out Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his comments on making President Obama a 'one term president.' Photo: Associated Press.
PEP TALK: Former President Bill Clinton nominated President Obama as the Democratic party's candidate Wednesday evening, saying Mr. Obama's policies would strengthen the middle class.
The Democratic message on the second day of the party's national convention came in two forms: A sharp attack on Republicans from Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, and a broad argument from Mr. Clinton that Democratic-backed government programs had both helped Americans and produced prosperity.
Mr. Clinton, who remains one of the nation's most popular political figures, threw his weight behind Mr. Obama in a televised, prime-time speech that faulted Republicans for the stalemate in Washington.
"If you want a winner-take- all, you're-on-your-own society, you should support the Republican ticket," Mr. Clinton said. "If you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibility, a we're-all-in-this-together society, you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden."
Together, the speeches made for a muscular response to arguments from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that high unemployment and deficits showed that the president had failed, and that Mr. Obama's call for higher taxes on the wealthy and new government spending would inhibit economic growth.
Streaming Updates![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-UD683_stream_D_20120813084324.jpg)
Get the latest news, tweets, photos, video and more on the 2012 election, from the Journal's reporters in Washington and around the nation. Perfect for mobile phones, too.
"Are we better off than we were when he took office?" Mr. Clinton asked. He and the crowd then answered: Yes.
"No president, not me, not any of my predecessors, no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years," Mr. Clinton said of the U.S. economy. "But he has laid the foundation for a new, modern, successful economy of shared prosperity."
Republicans seized on the gap between Mr. Clinton's call for bipartisanship and Ms. Warren's speech, which amounted to a battle cry for liberals to rein in corporate executives.
Photos: Democratic National Convention
Harry E. Walker/MCT/Zuma Press
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts toured the stage Wednesday afternoon.
Former Michigan Republican Party chairman Saul Anuzis said: "They're trying to make the case that somehow Obama has been cooperative and tried to work in a bipartisan manner. It's close to being a fantasy and a joke."
Mr. Clinton's speech drew cheers as he went point by point through attacks on Mr. Obama leveled by Mr. Romney. Mr. Obama then joined Mr. Clinton on the stage, and the two men hugged and faced the crowd and cameras.
Delegates then nominated Mr. Obama in a roll-call vote.
Former Democratic President Bill Clinton talks about the benefits President Barack Obama has brought to health care with his reform bill the Republicans call 'ObamaCare.'Photo: Associated Press.
Former Democratic President Bill Clinton says he was successful at closing the deficit because he brought 'arithmetic' to Washington, and Mitt Romney's plan just doesn't add up. Photo Credit: Getty Images.
Mr. Clinton reminded viewers that he had balanced the federal budget and produced surpluses during his administration, while the GOP had increased the federal debt both before and after his two terms as president.
He defended Mr. Obama from GOP attacks that he had raided Medicare to pay for his plan to expand health insurance coverage. Mr. Clinton noted that Rep. Paul Ryan, the GOP vice presidential nominee, includes the same savings in his budget plan. "It takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did," he said.
Mr. Clinton also said Republicans were wrong to accuse Mr. Obama of "gutting" a landmark welfare reform law, a measure signed into law by Mr. Clinton in 1996. Republicans say Mr. Obama removed the requirement that most people work in order to receive benefits.
The claim is "just not true," he said, because states that win federal waivers from work requirements will be required to put 20% more people to work.
Related Video
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi addresses the 2012 Democratic National Convention and touts the accomplishments President Barack Obama and the Democratic party have had over the last 4 years. Photo:Associated Press.
Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren slammed Wall Street and harshly criticized Mitt Romney in her speech at the DNC, saying "People feel like the system is rigged against them. And here's the painful part: they're right." (Photo: Getty Images)
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan highlights President Barack Obama's record on education, the race to the top program, and his respect for teachers. Photo: Getty Images.
Former Republican White House Chief of Staff John Sununu gives a contrasting analysis of the Democratic National Convention, criticizing the Democrats and highlighting former President George Bush's term in the White House. Photo: Associated Press.
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley joins Alan Murray to discuss the achievements of the Obama administration in the past four years and why the president deserves a second term. (Photo: Getty Images)
New York University Political Scientist Patrick Egan discusses the many new ways the public watches conventions, post convention bumps in the polls, and the core audience the conventions are reaching for. Photo: Getty Images.
Mr. Clinton cited Mr. Obama's steps to rescue the auto industry, enact a health care overhaul and increase access to student loans as practical steps to support the middle class. He ticked through provisions of the health bill and said, "Let me ask you something: Are we better off because President Obama fought for health care reform? You bet we are."
Mr. Romney's campaign argued that Mr. Obama, as president, had not followed in Mr. Clinton's path.
"Bill Clinton worked with Republicans, balanced the budget, and after four years he could say you were better off. Barack Obama hasn't worked across the aisle–he's barely worked with other Democrats–and has the worst economic record of any president in modern history,'' said Ryan Williams, a Romney campaign spokesman.
Ms. Warren, who is seeking a Massachusetts Senate seat, said Mr. Romney and powerful forces have undermined U.S. workers.
"People feel like the system is rigged against them. And here's the painful part: they're right,'' said Ms. Warren. "The system is rigged. Look around. Oil companies guzzle down billions in subsidies. Billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. Wall Street CEOs…still strut around Congress, no shame, demanding favors."
In a barb aimed at Mr. Romney's wealth, Ms. Warren said: "I talk to nurses and programmers, salespeople and firefighters—people who bust their tails every day. Not one of them—not one—stashes their money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying their fair share of taxes."
Another new sensation in the party, Sandra Fluke, addressed women's health care. She said the election would produce "a country where our president either has our backs or turns his back."
State of the Race![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-TR538_ELECTI_D_20120709105200.jpg)
3c)
***
It's hard to stay an undecided voter after hearing President Bill Clinton's nominating speech. His message was clear -- the road to recovery is l-o-n-g.
The best national economy in my lifetime was during Clinton's terms in office. People were spending money and banks were actually lending it. People had jobs. Homes were constructed and businesses started. We need that economy again -- not just for us, but for future generations of Americans as well.
I want the country of shared opportunity and shared responsibility, the "we're-all-in-this-together" society that Clinton spoke of tonight. That's the kind of country I want for my child and future grandchildren.
***
Few doubt the power that Clinton has to fire up an audience. Clinton alternated between charm and attack, but he offered very few details as to why voters should choose to stay the course with Barack Obama and renew his contract -- other than to blame the current economic situation on the prior administration and hatred and a lack of cooperation from Republicans.
I like Clinton, but I disagree with him. Neither I nor the country is better off. I was employed four years ago. It was claimed that 4.5 million jobs have been created by Obama; FactChecksays only 300,000 new net jobs in four years, an amount that's embarrassingly too little too late.
-- Lyn Brooks
***
Bill Clinton's remarks Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention were both inspiring and heartfelt for this voter. I was a young child when Clinton was in office, but I remember the feeling when he was in office. It was that same feeling that urged me to vote for Barack Obamain 2008, and it was the feeling I got again Wednesday night: hope.
The former president's words hit especially hard, since under his administration, poverty andunemployment rates were reduced, and the wealth gap for minorities closed.
As a voter, I think the Democrats' platform will do more to lift people out of poverty and save even more from ever having to get that far. My vote has thus far been in favor of President Obama. Bill Clinton's speech only helped solidify that.
-- Eric Bauer
***
Clinton reminded me and millions of other voters that President Obama stopped the nation's descent into a full-blown depression and that he has added 4.5 million private-sector jobs. The former president also pointed out it was Obama who kept the American auto industry from collapse while Mitt Romney was willing to let the chips fall where they may.
Although Clinton's speech wasn't as emotional as Michelle Obama's, it was just as persuasive. Did it influence my vote? Probably not, but I feel that Clinton's influence will have a positive effect on Obama's campaign.
***
Bill Clinton arrived on the DNC floor with vigor and energy, and he renewed the Democratic message, imploring Americans to decide what kind of country we want to live in. Do we want a winner-takes-all society, one in which we're all on our own? Then we should support the Republican ticket.
Or as he put it: "If you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibilities -- a we're-all-in-it-together society, you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden."
***
I sincerely doubt anyone could find fault with Bill Clinton and his presentation at theDemocratic National Convention. Charisma and excellent public-speaking skills served him and the attendees in good stead. He covered issues from Medicare to student loans. I appreciate his acknowledgment of the rise in housing prices in some locations, an indication that the economy is indeed on the rebound.
He stated that "in the real world, cooperation works better" and that it is better than conflict.
Cooperation is needed to repair the problems with our economy. The speech was good and the statistics enough to sway me more toward the Obama-Biden ticket. The point about arithmetic working in Washington and affordable education for our children strikes close to this teacher's heart.
-- Lori Gunn
***
He reminded me of what was so fascinating and irritating about him in the 1990s.
That thing was Clinton's total and relentless lack of shame. How else can one explain his quoting Ronald Reagan, a man who favored cutting taxes and increasing defense spending, to attack modern Republicans for wanting to carry out the same policies?
Clinton's apologia for Obama and his various failures was eloquent, enthusiastically delivered, overly long at about 50 minutes, and divorced from objective reality.
He executed the speech with an air of astonishment, whether at the perfidy he was accusing the Republicans of or at the fact that the people in the hall were buying what he was selling. He was having the time of his life and it showed.
***
I must admit I was looking forward to hearing Clinton's speech. He has always been a great speaker and has that twinkle in his eye that allows even the most cynical person to fall into the "convinced" category after hearing him talk.
His approach was exactly what I expected -- very well-spoken with a loose sense of humor and the charm he has maintained since the early 1990s. All that said, he did not "sell" me on voting for President Obama this November. Neither did he "force my hand" on voting for Mitt Romney. It may be time to look at a third option.
***
Bill Clinton, who you might say has a way with words, delivered the most powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention so far. He is also arguably the coolest president in American history.
-- David Garrett Jr.
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