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Edited on Sun Aug-31-08 02:18 AM by CreekDog
With everything riding on this convention going off smoothly, most of us here were in panic, half in panic that the Clintons would ungratefully take over the convention (we were wrong to be). About a third thinking that the Clintons had earned their due, Hillary from her strong following within the party and close runner up for the nomination and Bill Clinton as a successful 2 term Democratic leader in good times that he can take credit for.
Obama, supported Bill's address and letting "the president say what he wants to say" and he supported Hillary's position at the convention. Perhaps he had to, I kind of think he did, but he had an air of confidence about it and we all see why. Obama has an incredible executive ability, he has chosen people and organized them impressively.
Of course, the Clintons both did an amazing job with their speeches, retaining their dignity and position and yet strongly endorsing Obama in a credible way. They needed to do this for their reputations, but it was much like Obama needed to give them their time in the convention for the sake of unity. In the end, everybody acted like adults and good Democrats putting the party ahead of all else so that our values would win.
Some of us worried this summer that Obama's coolness meant that he didn't have the fire to attack and win. Well, we underestimated him in that respect too. We have really stumbled onto someone and something special and we really have to credit Obama's mastery of this process for pulling it off. You know, we run of the mill supporters have been wrong so many times about Obama in doubting him, and yet somehow we trusted him at enough key times for him to win. That's no accident folks, it's the result of hard work, careful planning and some amazing innate knowledge of how to relate to enough folks to win votes.
Finally, regarding his acceptance speech, which was moving in and of itself as well as for what it represents, perhaps others noticed the edge to his speech, the specifics and the slightly different posture taken. It was quite different than many he'd given in the campaign that moved many of us and different than the 2004 speech. With respect to that, many friends and family that voted for Hillary liked Obama but thought he was "in the clouds" and not specific enough, like Hillary often was. Obama approached this by giving Clinton due credit for his presidency and even used Bill Clinton's own slogan to bolster it. And of the Clinton supporters, it's no accident they were big fans of Bill and Hillary for all their wonky speeches. And Obama adapted his speech and showed great respect to them in this speech in enough of a dose, with enough specifics and hard edged attacks to convince them and still be gracious enough inspire us true believers. I would argue that he reminded those of us who had hard feelings about the Clintons that we really should be grateful to them for many reasons.
To me, this convention showed how strong a candidate Obama is and it also brought Democrats back to the Clintons, and made things right between the formerly opposing wings of the party. I'm not saying that dynamic is gone, but the unity that came out of it was impressive.
I really am in awe. Of course, I worry, but in my heart of hearts I know that the right person is running the campaign, Mr. Obama himself, and has made better decisions than I would have made all along and his achievement is testament to that.
We picked the right person for this job. I'm going to do my best to sleep well right up through the General Election. We've chosen an amazingly talented person to lead the fight to regain power and that's something to feel both good about and feel confident about as well.
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