The Quick Reviews on Hillary Clinton's Speech

"She hit it out of the park," says Al Hunt, late of the Wall Street Journal and now of Bloomberg.

"I don't know how it could have been better," MSNBC's moodster-to-the-max Keith Olbermann.

"She did what she wanted them to do," historian-cum-plagiarist Doris Kearns Goodwin, who also noted that nobody can really deliver votes any more.

"She made a rousing case for Barack Obama," New York Times' Adam Nagourney.

"She certainly put on a performance tonight that looked real," Slate's Jacob Weisberg.

"She was like Harriet Tubman, keep it going....It was like a relay race, she was passing the baton," MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

I'd say that Sen. Clinton has had the best performance so far, by a wide margin, both in terms of attacking John McCain and the Republicans head-on and defining a nauseatingly comprehensive set of plans for raising taxes, getting mad at companies for "shipping job overseas," and pushing universal health care (or more accurately, even more expensive and less effective health care).

Will Bill Clinton bring the rain tomorrow night? And can Joe Biden keep the blood pumping until Obama takes the stage? Eh. Time for sleep.

Comments

SxCx | August 26, 2008, 11:25pm | #

When she said "I endorse Barack Obama", it looked like something invisible molested her entire body.

Dagny T. | August 26, 2008, 11:42pm | #

I thought the Harriet Tubman thing was the only questionable moment. It seemed a little crass to invoke the struggle to escape slavery when talking about the struggle of Dems to stop screwing up politically.

Other than that, it was pitch-perfect pageantry.

SIV | August 26, 2008, 11:47pm | #

I'll give the speech a three fingered fork gesture salute "up"

Hillary makes a better villain.

Western Union | August 27, 2008, 1:34am | #

nobody can really deliver votes any more.

Heck, we don't even deliver telegrams anymore.

Seitz | August 27, 2008, 2:06am | #

Schweitzer was better, and since my dad is from Montana, I already like the guy. Too bad nobody saw him. But Hillary did pretty much exactly what she needed to do. If there are PUMAs that still won't support Obama, they're truly unreachable dead-enders. The Democrats can live without them.

David Martin | August 27, 2008, 2:50am | #

Are you serious? More expensive and less effective health care than we have now? I don't know where you get your health care, but mine's pretty darn expensive. Though at least I've got some I suppose...A mixture like Japan is the best I've seen - the state, individual and govt all pay a share. And the results speak for themselves...

indrani | August 27, 2008, 3:33am | #

Hilary pretty much redeemed herself and made a case for her future, four years on. She's a master politician and played to all galleries. We all heard a bit of what we wanted to hear. I still needed to 'feel' her heart, but that was not to be. So for now, her support for Barack will do, albeit she made a strong case for her own campaign history which was far too long.A great time to be an American and a Democrat!Wishing you all a radiant future under Barack...

joe | August 27, 2008, 8:09am | #

Probably the best speech she's ever given. I had actually hoped to see even more shots at John McCain, but it's clear that she was going for a specific audience - people who supported her and might vote for John McCain - so she couldn't make her attacks to personal.

The live blogger at fivethirtyeight.com - a polls and electoral college site - wrote that we'll know Hillary's speech was a success if the Republican pundits are all using the line "This shows that she should have been vice president" today.

BDB | August 27, 2008, 8:53am | #

Joe, haven't they been saying Hillary should have been VP for like the last week anyway?

R C Dean | August 27, 2008, 10:15am | #

I just saw some clips, but what struck me was her body language when she said Barack's name - she kind of recoiled a little.

I'd be really interested to know how many people actually saw her speech. I get the impression that nobody out in The World really gives a crap about the convention; that its all inside baseball for a micro-percentage of junkies, despite the heavy media coverage.

joe | August 27, 2008, 10:59am | #

BDB,

If the speech didn't get the job done, they would have stopped using that line, and gone into "the convention is a failure" mode.

RC,

Neilsen reports 22 million viewers, a 20% increase from last time.

BDB | August 27, 2008, 11:19am | #

I'd like to know if anyone is even going to watch the Republican Convention.

Being held on Labor Day week with a hurricane coming? I doubt it.

Ashley | August 27, 2008, 12:24pm | #

Re: Harriet Tubman — Hillary Rodham Freud: “…she could have been so happy…”

R C Dean | August 27, 2008, 12:27pm | #

Neilsen reports 22 million viewers, a 20% increase from last time.

More than I would have thought.

Being held on Labor Day week with a hurricane coming? I doubt it.

Labor Day week? Whatever - there's nothing else on, and lots of people will be home, what with the kids in school and all.

A hurricane - what a missed opportunity. The Repubs should have held their convention in FL - the ratings would be sky-high (for a convention) if people thought they might get to see one of the two premier collections of nerds and narcissists washed out to sea.

joe | August 27, 2008, 5:10pm | #

Me, too, RC. Twenty-two million? That's big.

Imagine what the numbers are going to be tomorrow night.

What is it with McCain and the hurricanes?