Did Hillary do all she could?

[adefonzo]

Unfortunately I have to go to a training this morning, so I can't opine on this issue just yet, but I wanted to get the coversation started so that I could (hopefully) read up on some responses later on.

I stayed up last night to watch Hillary's speach, and without getting into the speach itself just yet, the thing that has really amazed me is the differing opinions that I have seen on tv last night between the different networks, and read this morning in (so far) two different newspapers.

The differences of opinions on her speach span from one end of the spectrum to the other...and I am curious to hear about what some of you folks think.

[ka19]

The republican spin-miesters are saying that she failed to say Obama was "ready to lead".

But I think, other than the republican spin-miester types, anyone who watched the speech recognizes that her endorsement of Obama far exceeded even the most optimistic expectations for this speech.

I was expecting something half hearted, but she really went after her supporters and said essentially "if you don't vote for Obama, then you don't stand for the same ideals that I stand for."

The purpose of the speech was to unify the party and that is exactly what it was well geared to do.

[lisas84]

There's so much spin on both sides, I'm dizzy and nauseous.

[novillero]

I have not watched the spin or looked at any articles yet. But I agree with KA19. She had a certain mission, especially since the media has been playing up disunity. I am willing to bet that the 40% of Hillary supporters that were supporting McCain (or whatever the % is/was) is much lower now.

It was a good speech. Of course, her pant suit left something to be desired...

Teh convention picked up a lot of steam last night. I think Bill Clinton who is speaking tonight will play the leadership card.

First night - introducing and humaizing the Obamas to the world
second night - uniting the party.

and I would suspect ...
third night - ready to lead
fourth night - leadership. (hopefully some real platforms and not just generalities)

[admin]

Sadly enough, I do not watch either convention. They are all fluff and orchestrated propaganda.

[fiberisgoodforyou]

Aug 27, 2008 11:37:11 GMT -5 lisas84 said:

There's so much spin on both sides, I'm dizzy and nauseous.

What gave me ahjidha was listening to all the talk about Recession, Price of Gas, Drilling, Tax the Rich, Help the poor, health care, education and how we are all going to hell-in a handbasket..., and its all George Bushes Fault!!!!

An then I smiled as I realized it was these very speakers who represented the majority in Congress for the LAST TWO YEARS, who had the power to write legislation to and to correct all they claimed to be wrong with AMERICA, that THEY who had/have the power to over turn veto's for the last two years? and what about their long forgotten FIRST ONE HINDERED DAYS? {bel;ow is from a 2007 PEW Report}
As the Democratic-led Congress approaches the 100-day mark, pluralities of Americans approve of the way that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are handling their leadership roles. However, the public gives Democrats mixed reviews for delivering on their campaign promises and for their policies and proposals. Slightly more disapprove of the Democrats' policies than approve (42% disapprove vs. 37% approve).

Few Can Cite Congressional Accomplishments, that nearly seven-in-ten Americans (69%) cannot name anything important the new Congress has done.

The Democrats' domestic policy priorities have gotten little notice; just 2% cite legislative action on raising the minimum wage as Congress's most important accomplishment.

The Democrats' stepped-up pace of investigations has not drawn much in the way of negative reaction. Just 31% believe Congress is spending too much time investigating possible government wrongdoing, while slightly more (35%) say they are spending too little time on this, and a quarter believe that the time spent on investigations has been appropriate.

Liberal Democrats nationwide tend to be more satisfied with the congressional leadership compared with their more moderate and conservative counterparts. Overall, 76% of liberal Democrats approve of the policies and proposals Democratic leaders have put forward, compared with 58% among moderate and conservative Democrats. Liberal Democrats also give the party higher marks for keeping its campaign promises (68% compared with 57% among moderate and conservative Democrats).

Pluralities of all Democrats say they would like to see Congress spend more time investigating possible government wrongdoing, but 36% of liberals within the party say the leaders are handling this about right, compared with 28% of the party's moderates and conservatives.

Democrats are critical of how the Congressional leaders are dealing with Iraq – overall just 29% of Democrats say Congress is doing an excellent or good job in this regard. Liberals are somewhat more positive (35% excellent/good vs. 26% among moderates and conservatives), but majorities of both subgroups give Congress poor ratings in this regard.

Thats a sample of the DEM Majorites record, thats how they rate as leaders. They put on a nice show, to bad the three breadcast networks are not showing the Gavel to Gavel coveraqe, just the 10:00-11:00 Money-Shot talking heads are getting tube time!

[adefonzo]

Well...let me start by saying that the quote of the night came from (surprisingly enough) Tom Brokaw, who said after the speech and everyone commenting on it, (paraphrasing here)"We have to remember that all of what we hear here and all of what we will hear next week, is scripted and staged rhetoric". I was assuming he intended to use the "grandiloquent or insincere speech" definition of rhetoric, which is why I loved the quote so much.

Despite what some may think, I am not some horn blowing, flag waving Republican. In fact, normally I would have agreed with Brian and not even watched the convention...but this year I am interested if for no other reason than I am still waiting to hear from Barack Obama what his actual plans are to bring about this wonderful change that he and all of his supporters keep talking about.

As for Hillary, you're right, Ka19, it was predominantly the Republican pundits who were bringing up some of the supposed shortcomings in her speach...but I think there is a validity to what some of them have said...

What has been the biggest handicap against Barack Obama throughout his campaign? His lack of experience and the doubt that many have in his ability to be a strong Commander in Chief.

Democrats have been blasting the McCain campaign for the ads they have been running lately in which they show Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton talking about Barack's inexperience...but the fact of the matter remains that no one is making stuff up...Biden and Hillary said all of those things...and Hillary said them on several occassions...so I don't see how the Democrats can get angry at McCain for showing the world what Obama's running mate, and now his biggest supporter have said about him in the very recent past.

Now...when you couple that with the fact that neither Biden nor Hillary Clinton have come out and made any statements to make anyone even think that they have changed their opinions...I think it still leaves a very huge question unanswered. Do they believe that Barack Obama has the experience to be the President of the United States?

Folks...we're not talking about the next winner of American Idol here...and while I know that we have not had a President that we can be proud of for many many years (and yes, I count Bill's years in there as well even though I voted for him the first time around)...that doesn't mean that we can just elect someone who is a very eloquent speaker to handle the day to day rigor of being the President of the United States of America. And no...I am not saying that I am sure McCain is the man for the job either.

Anyhow...considering the fact that there is still this very large question looming out there...and considering the fact that the Republican campaign has basically been having blast pointing out that Clinton spoke often about Obama's inexperience...and considering the fact that Hillary did not mention once in her speech last night that she has come to believe that Barack Obama is the right man for this job because he has the ability to be President of the United States ...I have to agree that the speech was not a complete "home run" as so many supporters have said it was.

Hillary's speech last night was very much about Hillary and her place in history as being the first woman to come "oh so close" to being elected President of the United States. Her support for Obama sounded as if it was there because he is the Democratic candidate, not necessarily because she feels he's the best person for the job. She went through a whole list of issues, prefacing them with "I ran on the platform of..." and then only at the end did she say that now Barack Obama will be the one to bring those ideas to the White House...it was as if she graciously stepped aside and handed the man the ammunition he would need to run a successful campaign.

It was interesting to see an interview on CNN after Hillary's speech, of one of her supporters. The woman was adamant about the fact that Hillary should still be the Democratic nominee, and she intends to still put her vote out tonight for Hillary. She said that she will not vote for McCain in November, but as of right now, she is more likely to stay home than vote for Obama because he has done nothing to prove himself to her. It was very interesting to see that type of reaction immediately following such a "unifying" speech.

One last thing. Admittedly, I have not been watching all of the campaigning and all of the speeches over the last year or so...but when the camera flashed to Michelle Obama in the audience during Hillary's speech (as it did several times), I did not see a woman who looked very happy with what she was hearing. I could be wrong...that could be a very normal expression for her...but to me, she didn't look pleased at all.

Anyhow...I am still waiting to hear what real solutions Obama plans on bringing into Washington to bring about "Change we can believe in". Considering my usual distaste for 99.9% of all politicians, if he could prove to me that he has a real plan, he might even win my vote!!

[adefonzo]

Oh yeah...one other thing...

NEWSFLASH....

[glow=red,2,300]THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN IS BETWEEN BARACK OBAMA AND JOHN MCCAIN...NOT BARACK OBAMA AND GEORGE BUSH!!![/glow]

I really am tired of hearing the Democrats running a campaign "against the last 8 years" rather than coming up with real plans and solutions for what they will do when they get into the White House.

[admin]

Aug 27, 2008 16:46:35 GMT -5 adefonzo said:

Oh yeah...one other thing...

NEWSFLASH....

[glow=red,2,300]THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN IS BETWEEN BARACK OBAMA AND JOHN MCCAIN...NOT BARACK OBAMA AND GEORGE BUSH!!![/glow]

I really am tired of hearing the Democrats running a campaign "against the last 8 years" rather than coming up with real plans and solutions for what they will do when they get into the White House.

That is a very good point. This is also the platform that got the Dems the majority of congress in 2006. I had hoped that they would do something, but they have not done much. At that time, the Republicans had earned the loss they got. Fast forward and many polls are actually showing the democrat congress has a lower approval rating than Bush.