Bill Clinton was on fire tonight. The text of his speech is here.
Between the two of them, I think they reminded the party why so many Democrats really love the Clintons. .
Michael Crowley at The New Republic saw it as a redemptive moment as well---well, for all but the most hardened of the haters, though he seems to think that the moment probably won't endure.
But R.J. Eskow wrote at HuffPost:
After tonight, those scars will probably heal. After this speech, any lingering bitterness toward the former President will probably be replaced by a 'come home, all is forgiven' glow. Obama supporters may differ with Bill Clinton on somepolicy issues, but Bill Clinton has restored his position as the patriarch and elder statesman of the Democratic Party.
"That makes two of us," Bill said of his endorsement and Hillary's. "In fact, that makes eighteen million of us." That was the punchline, the payoff line, and it delivered the emotional wallop everyone was waiting for. Bill went much further than Hillary did in praising Obama, and it made all the past rumors of bruised Clinton/Obama egos feel like nothing more than a dramatic build-up to a satisfying denouement.
Bill may have also been putting out a little "this is how it's done" vibe toward his successor, too. He was the old master, nailing line after line. Well, fine. Obama's going to have to step up his game anyway to nail that 80,000-person crowd. He could do worse than to deliver a line like Bill's about showing the world "the power of our example and not just example of our power."...
I suspect this speech will fully restore President Clinton's personal stature within the party. After a bruising and bitter campaign, Bill Clinton is on his way to once again being a unifying Democratic figure. The more he helps Obama, the more he will renew his own reputation.
Tonight Bill Clinton did what he had to do - for the party, for Obama, and for the Clinton franchise. You gotta hand it to him: He just made one more comeback.. (HuffPost)
At TMV, Joe Gandelman---no fan of Bill--has done a news round-up, so we won't reinvent the wheel. Go here for the reactions of various reporters to Big Bill's Moment.
Also---hee hee---Patrick Edaburn reports that because Bill Clinton's speech ran overtime, Bill Richardson got bumped.
Karen Tumulty wrote (in a post called "That, Democrats, is how it's done"):
Well. Whether you like the Big Dog or not, he definitely brought it tonight. It's like these last 18 bitterly-fought months didn't even happen. If I were a cynic, tonight's speech might even make me wonder if all of that chatter about how ticked off Clinton was by the Obama campaign's "instructions" earlier this week was all a set-up to make the unrestrained support of Obama that much more powerful. (Swampland)
I've kind of been wondering that myself.
So far, Clinton's given the only speech at this convention that was as unrelentingly tough as the series of high-profile addresses at the GOP Convention in 2004 that undercut Kerry's case and candidacy. Then again, he's had practice at this. That sounded a lot like 1992. Which might not be such a bad historical model for Democrats. (Swampland)
At Salon, Joan Walsh wrote:
It was clear all day Wednesday that pretty much no matter what Bill Clinton said, the supposedly sulking former president could never be gracious enough, even after his wife moved to nominate Obama by acclamation partway through the roll call a few hours before he spoke. For the second night in a row, then, one of the Clintons had been assigned an impossible task, with lots of risk for failure but little reward even for doing it right.
But now the cable doomsayers are 0 for 2 with their hand-wringing Clinton predictions....
He [delivered] the most stirring endorsement either Clinton has delivered: "Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world. Ready to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States."
Clinton also helped Obama by delivering a speech that ought to help the party realize that a stirring, partisan, activist economic message is its big winner. Leading off by arguing, to wild applause, that "people have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power," he pointed to "the example the Republicans have set," and zeroed in on declining wages despite higher productivity, healthcare troubles, rising poverty and income inequality. He got one of his biggest hands by blasting "the assault on unions." He concluded: "America can do better than that -- and Barack Obama will." (Salon)
Ezra Klein was impressed.
Leveraging that peculiar credibility that comes from being one of four living Americans to have held the presidency, he didn't simply give Obama his support, but his endorsement. He said that Obama was not only ready, but right. The Obama camp could have asked for nothing more. Clinton could have delivered little more....(American Prospect)
....though Klein seems to have think that the little more he could have delivered would have been to cast himself as a loser in the primaries instead of a "past-president." Man, some of these people just cannot be satisfied.
Even so, the mild cavilling ends in a just tribute to Clinton's power to persuade:
And, lastly, no one can humanize policy like Clinton. The speech he offered could have been a joint release from the Economic Policy Institute and the Center for American Policy foreign affairs department. But somehow, when Clinton reads it, policy slips free of the weighty terms and looping sentences that press it down, and drifts upward to read easily as part of the human condition, engaged with our everyday experience. It's a remarkable skill, and one that no other current politician possesses. (American Prospect)
At The Reaction, Michael Stickings was expecting a rousing speech, but found his expectations exceeded. Liveblogging the speech, he wrote:
"Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States." Huge. And exactly what needed to be said, and said by the person most qualified to say it.
And he's effectively connecting Obama to specific domestic and foreign policies. President Obama will...
My respect and admiration for Bill Clinton are skyrocketing tonight.
"Yes, he can, but first we have to elect him." Great, great line. And seemingly a spontaneous one.
Even the Wonkette curmudgeons---ever prepared to be as negative as possible, particularly to the Clintons---hawked up a grudging bit of praise:
He has a great talent for explaining things in a way that make sense to stupid people. This is a vital talent for any American politician, and one we fear is lacking in Barack Obama, who “trusts in people’s intelligence” or whatever. Like this bit that Clinton just said about “the Republicans want us to reward them for the last eight years with four more” — reward and punishment, even morons get that. Labrador retrievers get that.
Finally, here's the ultimate tribute: ANDREW SULLIVAN--who responded "tepidly" to Hill---WAS IMPRESSED. True, it begins unpromisingly.
Readers know my personal disdain for Bill Clinton.
Really, Andrew? He always speaks so well of you. But never mind. It goes on:
But longtime readers will also know I have always defended his solid centrist, smart record in office and defended him against his most over-reaching enemies. Tonight, I think, was one of the best speeches he has ever given. It was a direct, personal and powerful endorsement of Obama. But much, much more than that: it was a statesman-like assessment of where this country is and how desperately it needs a real change toward reform and retrenchment at home and restoration of diplomacy, wisdom and prudence abroad. Yes, he nailed it with this line:
"People around the world have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." (Daily Dish)
He then goes on to praise him with faint damns for a bit, but still! And he concludes:
Clinton reminded all of us of what is more broadly at stake. He did it with passion and measure and eloquence. And surpassing intelligence.
We've seen the worst of Bill Clinton these past few months, Tonight, we saw the best. And it's mighty good. (Daily Dish)
Finally, my favorite bit, proving that people who said Bill Clinton doesn't know how to lose graciously had it all wrong:
What a year we Democrats have had. The primary began with an all-star line up and came down to two remarkable Americans locked in a hard fought contest to the very end. The campaign generated so much heat it increased global warming. (HuffPost)
Way to reframe it for those still feeling the pain and make it seem all right.
Memeorandum has Sullivan's piece.
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