Review of night 1: If this is the dream, let it die
August 26th, 2008
When I first started saying many months ago that election 2008 would look a lot like elections 2000 & 2004, I did not have many supporters; but the evidence keeps mounting in support of my stance and last nights Dem Convention opener reminded me of the previous conventions in tone and style, not to mention a striking lack of message. James Carville is getting headlines for making the same observation about the opening event but you don’t need to be a political expert (just someone who isn’t a die hard Democrat) to see there was little to nothing substantive or even in style coming out of Denver.
The lineup was hard enough to understand. Opening a convention on a night of “unity” with a cast of characters that are widely distrusted by conservatives and conservative leaning independents was puzzling. Giving them absolutely nothing to say other than “please like me, I am not terrible” was absolute insanity. As for specifics, I understand why Michelle Obama had to work so hard to convince America she loved it, but the pure fact that she did only reminded viewers that there was doubt she left open in the first place. Few Americans probably know much about her and last night she reminded them what they did know, they might not have liked. Her “I am a wife, I am a mother, I am a sister” sentiment was triumphed by MSNBC and many Dem commentators but I predict it will be easily forgotten by Thursday.
Nancy Pelosi, possibly one of the most hated figures not just in the right but increasingly by all observers, did little to help herself, though smartly she was kept off of the network time, at least for now. Caroline Kennedy, while I know its blasphemy to say, brought the entire presentation to a screeching halt in my opinion. If you didn’t get into the “emotion” of the moment simply from your love of Kennedy alone, you were left with a presenter who needed one large injection of energy and another of personality. Her delivery dull, her face unmoving, it was anything but exciting.
All the speeches, especially Ted Kennedy’s, were laden with cliches and empty rhetoric. There were no specifics, no policy, no attacks, no substance to speak of. Just the typical talk of Obama’s “oneness” and declarations that like Neo in the Matrix he will somehow free us all from our troubles. Despite the attempts it is still hard to see many Americans latching onto a biography that starts in Hawaii, detours into Indonesia, journeys into the Ivy League and ends in vast wealth and power.
There was a very healthy dose of asserting America was somehow lost in a maelstrom. While it is a point of view many in America may share it is difficult when looking at the lengthy national divides and periods of depression in our nation’s history to take such a disillusioned stance.
In short, night one in my humble opinion, was a waste of time that gave little to the audience outside of the convention hall. We will see what night two brings.
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