I've only had half an eye on the Democrats this week while I've been holidaying in California but here are some observations...
Michelle Obama would make a formidable First Lady
She was captivating during her speech on Monday night. She is very beautiful and her dedication to her family appears very genuine. She is also thought to have very strong political views. It will be fascinating to watch her if she becomes First Lady. Would she be more like Laura Bush or Hillary Clinton?
Hillary Clinton was 'awesome'
I used to think that Barack Obama would be a stronger candidate than Hillary Clinton. I don't think that anymore. I've come to admire Senator Clinton's gutsiness. If she had begun her bid for the White House as strongly as she ended it (with her big wins in Texas, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania) she would be her party's nominee and Barack Obama would have more time to gain the experience that would make his White House ambitions more credible. Her best line from her Tuesday night speech attempted to sum up Bush's economics: "Money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis." Not necessarily fair but effective.
The best argument for Barack Obama...
...was made in Wednesday's WSJ by Dan Gerstein. Here's the key section: "[The American people] don't know the Barack Obama who was booed by the nation's biggest teachers union for openly advocating taboo reform policies such as merit pay for teachers and charter schools. They don't know the Barack Obama who rejected the cheap gimmick of a national gas tax holiday and trusted the intelligence of voters to see it as such. They don't know the Barack Obama who risked alienating his antiwar base by supporting a compromise plan to reform the Bush warrantless wiretapping program. They don't know the Barack Obama who in early 2007 worked on a bipartisan basis to pass one of the toughest ethics reform bills in a generation, as well as co-sponsoring legislation with Republican Dick Lugar in 2006 to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists. And they certainly don't know the Barack Obama who went into a black church on Father's Day to bluntly chastise his strongest supporters and challenge them to take more responsibility for the children they bring into this world. Which is to say they don't know what an independent-minded, orthodoxy-challenging, gutsy leader he can and will be, or that he has the strength as well as the judgment that's needed to bring the country together, deliver the new politics he's promising, and be the president for all of America that George W. Bush never could or would be."
A moment for the history books
Yesterday was a historic moment. Barack Obama became the first black American to be his party's nominee. That's a cause for celebration and it speaks well of America. As The Economist notes, it'll be some time before it happens in Britain. John McCain's video tribute to the moment was perfectly-pitched.
Tonight's Obama speech
Suli Shah was impressed with the speech. I wasn't. It was too negative. John McCain got 22 mentions, 21 of them negative. It was too much like a laundry list of unconnected promises. The staging worked, however. It wasn't too 'Sheffieldy'. He should talk a lot more about his promise to cut taxes for 95% of working Americans - incredible as it will seem to many given his ambitious spending agenda. Watch the full speech on PlayPolitical.
And now it's McCain's turn
Tomorrow we'll know who McCain will choose as his running mate. I predict it'll be Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota.
