Is Bill Clinton on the ticket? Four more years of Obama and the presidential torch can be tossed to Hillary Clinton?

Hill

Partly, Bill Clinton has joined the cause to go down in history as a
man who engineered and led three presidential victories. It's
certainly on many people's radar that Hillary's next shot and perhaps
only shot at the White House turns up in 2016. Her next and only shot
has the best chance of succeeding if Obama holds the White House for
another four years. Staying in the public eye as Secretary of State
during four years of foreign stabilization should set her up for her
run nicely. With Iraq and Afghanistan moving toward stability, with
Europe working out its Euro zone woes internally, with Russia moving
towards more and more capitalism if not democracy, what could go
wrong. In North Korea, the strongman's son has recently happily
married. China might see America as better to control through loans
than through any other kind of hegemony. Iran has promised to not
build a nuclear bomb, but still builds underground bunkers and
retreats.

I wonder if the techniques that produced the Arab Spring might also
work to loosen up the Chinese hierarchy somewhat. When it comes to
keeping political order, the Chinese Communist Party has far exceeded
the record of any political state known to man.

I was moved and humored by Obama's acceptance speech tonight. I was
amused when Obama pointed out that Mitt had embarrassed the United
States at the Olympics, causing an incident with one of America's
closest allies. Obama did not describe the incident or name the ally,
expecting fact checkers and wonks to work out the detail. I was amused
when he chided the Republicans by joking, "Take two tax cuts, roll
back some regulations, and call me in the morning". However, the Fox
consensus implies that Joe Biden outperformed Obama, and Biden started
out soft spoken and awkward at times. Biden kept repeating himself,
reminding me of a bar buddy trying verbal tricks to keep my attention.
Bill Clinton outperformed them both.

What a minute. I thought it was only Putin who could put a surrogate
leader into power, Dmitry Medvedev, and then lead from the sidelines.
At times, I think the re-election of Barack Obama will be the second
coming of Bill Clinton?

We have to remember, not even the Clinton powerhouse could put Gore or
Kerry into the White House. Gore and Kerry came so close. No Democrat
wants a close finish and an atta boy for Obama.

Bill Clinton will have to throw everything he and his talented wife
have learned into 2012. Or as they say as the quarter runs out on a
video game, "all your powers will be lost." Bill Clinton learns best
from mistakes and failures, and Gore and Kerry both were decidedly
failures of Clinton to extend his legacy and influence.

Surely, every Democrat is hoping that Rahm Emmanuel and his new job,
Super PAC Priorities USA, can make a cash gusher appear in less than
two months. Can another two billion appear out of no where as each
side doubles down on its investment in victory.

If anyone thinks the election can slow down after the two conventions,
they have a shock coming.

Okay, I admit it. I visited Hope, Arkansas, Bill Clinton's first house and his library in Little Rock. I enjoyed Clinton's speech, and then flipped to Fox for Charles Krauthammer

Bill_clinton

I love how a speech, even a speech that will be studied for its
writing and its powerful delivery, can be spun in the matter of ten
minutes. I have always enjoyed the speeches of Bill Clinton, and I
consider his story to be a great American story. I have visited
Clinton's library in Little Rock. I have also visited Ronald Reagan's
library high on a ridge in California. I am trying to remain balanced
and see what I can see for the future of America. I am trying to study
the speeches and hear commentary from the red and the blue sides of
this election. I agree this is one of Clinton's greatest speeches.

Clinton spoke far longer than the normal duration of a nomination
speech. I am sure he was working from an established script, so the
organizers knew how long it would run. I cannot tell where Clinton was
ab-libbing, and Greta Van Susteren claims that the veteran statesman
gave a little more. I am wondering if Barack Obama had a good green
room where he could cool his heels.

It is possible that when Krauthammer called the speech indulgent, I
think there's matter to the charge. Yes, the speech did make Barack
Obama look to be a stand-in for Clinton's third term. Yes, I found
myself promising to look at the script so that I could follow the
spots where Clinton got too wonky. However, Clinton generated plenty
of excitement for the faithful, and they'll be energized to get out
the vote as soon as they arrive home. Can Barack Obama emerge from
Clinton's aura tomorrow? I'll have to tune into Barack Obama's speech.

Krauthammer claimed that the speech had to be brought indoors so that
empty seats would detract from the energy shown on camera, the energy
of the full speech. CNN talked about the fullness of the auditorium,
how the fire marshals had declared the auditorium full. I believe I
saw empty seats in the balconies. I am going to leave that one for the
flaks to spin Thursday morning.

The Democrats bring out not only Governors, the Democrats brought out mayors on the convention's first night.

Deval_patrick

I regret engaging the Republican speeches on silent televisions at my
local Tim Horton's. I read them in closed captioning on Fox and read
them again online. I haven't had time to listen to them on YouTube. My
impressions of all the speeches tonight surprised me. Deval Patrick
presented in a Martin Luther King style, without histrionics, without
bluster. Patrick had much better polish that I am willing to accord
any Republican speech I noticed. I sincerely want to know who led the
team that prepared these speakers. I found the speakers offering great
eye contact, appropriate gestures, and a controlled emotional speech,
and I need to know who shaped their delivery.

Plus, Patrick's material had better heart material. He visited a
successful school, recently unsuccessful, and was asked to delay his
applause by the teacher. Martin Luther King's great speech, "I Have A
Dream" is an amazing speech, but many students hear it again and again
each and every February. To deliver the speech to a visiting Governor,
the second African American governor accorded that honor, would not be
enough. I expected, forgive me, the usual MLK reading. Patrick broke
through to me by describing how the teacher demanded talking and
testifying from her pupils. The children could define the words, such
as creed, and explain the speech from a point of deep understanding. I
am not sure the Republican's had a single speech that worked with
heart material this well. I say that and realize I have to go back a
review the Republican speeches again.

The Republicans can talk all they want about ironing boards and
basement apartments. No one beats the story of Grandmother Castro
winning the money to pay for the birth of her successful twins by
cooking up a prize-winning batch of menudo. I'm sorry, but that story
sticks to my ribs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menudo_%28soup%29

President Obama, @BarackObama, Mitt has Clint Eastwood, Dinesh D'Souza and Glenn Beck working for him. You want #BettyWhiteDNC on that podium. You need @BettyWhiteDNC on that podium

White

Dear President Obama

When you have more than two hundred and fifty million Americans to
reach and you have billions of dollars in money entering a blossoming
nexus of communication media, from Facebook to Klout to Twitter to
YouTube, you have the conditions for a strange and powerful event in
the nature of human communication. The next two months are going to
blow American and the world minds. Clint Eastwood has ascended into a
new level of stardom, that new realm of meme star. Betty White might
be the only meme star big enough to compete on this transcendental
level. For you. I hope. Maybe you already have her under contract and
this online petition movement to draft White is a mere viral strategy?
One can only hope, Mr. President.

I certainly hope the Obama team has a film in the can, ready to reach
the multiplexes. You are going against two, each of them selling
tickets briskly at Cinema Carousel. Unelectable 2012 and Obama 2016
are going to be much more effective than your knocking on doors
strategy that helped you win the 2008 elections. These movies are
going to get people out of their houses and off the couches and
directly headed to a place and time in the real world. Think of it as
a drill for voter turnout November 2012. This is so much bigger than
Newt Gingrich and his army of cassette listening ditto heads.

If you have no film in the can, no simulcast planned, there's not time
to correct the omission. Has the Democratic Party been caught with its
donkey kicking it old-style? That Donkey needs characters like Beck
and D'Souza, which the Republicans have been growing in hot houses for
three long years.

Future Shock meets Powershift meets Revolutionary Wealth meets the
election no one can afford to win?
http://www.alvintoffler.net/

Dinesh D'Souza takes a few moments from teaching college to becoming a
media kingmaker?
http://www.dineshdsouza.com/

Broadcasting from Austin, Texas, Glenn Beck will be gathering the
faithful in simulcast at every multiplex with a satellite link?
www.glennbeck.com/tour/unelectable2/


Photography Credit
Betty White at the Time 100 gala in 2010
10 May 2010
David Shankbone 2010 NYC
http://blog.shankbone.org/

Why can't political speeches, such as Romney's acceptance speech, have specifics any more? So I write fourteen questions I'll have to answer myself?

David_austin_rose_benjamin_bri

  1. So really, what IS on Romney's iPod?
  2. Who lost the job paying $22.50 and hour and bennies and took two jobs at $9.00 dollars an hour and lesser bennies? Is he talking to Invisible Obama?
  3. Is Romney aware that John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who challenged us to go to the moon, accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party?
  4. Is Romney and his convention planners aware that in the old days, saying "Governor of the Great State of Michigan" meant also a camera moment of the delegation from Michigan cheering? Of course, I was watching Fox News coverage with the sound down.
  5. Who was the local florist, maybe in Bloomfield Hills, that supplied George Romney with his daily rose for his wife, Lenore? How did George keep the roses fresh on the weekend. Did he have a special refrigerator in his den?
  6. Who was the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, a woman Romney mentions but doesn't name?
  7. Name one woman at Bain Capital that you mentored and the name of the great company she now runs?
  8. What were the names of the sports teams the Romney children followed while young?
  9. Which son or which daughter called from college and what job were they considering close to home?
  10. Who were the "some of us" who were around the table when starting Bain Capital? Who was the partner who made the pitch to the Episcopal Church pension fund?
  11. Which renewables are part of your energy portfolio?
  12. Can we help families by "slowing the rise of oceans and healing the planet", both of which are activities that create or protect wealth, create and improve jobs?
  13. Could you tell me about one visit to a war memorial with the names of the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives?
  14. Why the decided lack of detail in this vital speech? What theory of speech writing did the writing team follow when leaving out details. Did they think that general statements have general appeal?
Mitt Romney speech in the Washington Post:

Mitt the whip makes it easy for Obama to go. Clint Eastwood makes every one's day with his Dirty Harry bit.

Romney_portrait

Mitt Romney had to shake every hand and hug every hugger along the
aisle while Marco Rubio had that awkward moment after finishing his
introduction. I guess the idea of all the handshaking came from a plan
to make Romney look connected to his movement. I felt he was awkwardly
delayed, unable to make people happy with good eye contact. I felt his
wife was watching him, quietly thinking, "Please, Mitt, don't bog down
along the aisle".

Pardon the phrase "Mitt the Whip", but his hand motion with his left
hand seem to be employing an imaginary whip. Those people trying to
keep the ocean low and heal the Great Lakes, watch out for the whip as
Romney puts all to work making smog and producing heat to melt the
polar caps for good.

The speech began, strikingly so, with a compliment to Obama. Every one
was so excited when Obama was elected and now Obama has to go because
he made no progress. Clint Eastwood pretty much got to say, "You're
Fired", instead of Donald Trump.

I am touched by his story of his parents, George and Lenore, and I am
moved that George left a rose on his wife's side table every morning
until the morning when he could not. I would like to know the name of
the florist who handled George Romney's account for roses. Convention
speeches always seem to fail on the detail. Mitt Romney alluded to the
monuments in every town that honor the men and women lost in the line
of duty. However, he could have mentioned one encounter with one of
these great walls. I really would like to know where Mitt Romney
contemplated the Americans who made the greatest of sacrifices.

Ronald Reagan, no matter how much one disagreed with his politics,
never made a speech that lacked literary and philosophical texture.
Mitt's speech didn't impress. Written with a simply vocabulary, Mitt
praised American Exceptionalism without using the word. I had to work
hard to pay attention. I had to reread it to see if it had more
backbone on the page than the speech showed in the delivery.

If this is what Mitt brings to the podium, I am going to miss the
George Bush father and son team. I also expect Barack Obama to score a
technical knock out in the debates to come.

Chris Christie believes in establishing respect before seeking love. Great. But what's up with the Republican gestures? Christie is a left handed boxer at the podium. @BobJagendorf

Chris_christie_at_townhall

Chris Christie believes in establishing respect before seeking love.
Great. But what's up with the Republican gestures? Christie is a left
handed boxer at the podium. @BobJagendorf

He's another of this current generation of Republican governors who
have chosen not to live in the state capital, to decline to inhabit
the governor's mansion. I can understand his attachment to Mendham,
New Jersey. He coached his sons in soccer there. He cheered his
daughter in the parades on the streets of Mendham.

I am wondering where the speech coaches hired by the Republicans learn
their craft. Ann Romney made multiple symmetrical air points. Isn't
that a gesture left over from Sarah Palin? It's like the Fonzi two
thumbs up, except its performed with the forefingers. The forefingers
are held up in a way that reminds me of pistols. Christie kept
punching the air and thumping the podium with his left hand. Okay, so
he wanted to be perceived as a pugnacious combination of Irish and
Sicilian cultures. I found the left hand punctuation of every point to
be lacking in nuance.

He's been Governor of New Jersey for less than three years. He
declared a financial emergency in New Jersey within three months of
assuming office. He defunded departments without support of the
legislature. He made a budget law after line item vetoes of one
billion in expenditures. He's a man in the cast of Governor Rick
Snyder of Michigan, who also cracked down on budgets in that state. In
his speech, he took lessons from his mother, and spun them into a
mandate for federal cutbacks and austerity. As he said, "I believe we
have become paralyzed by our desire to be loved." There's no pandering
from Christie. The polls have not yet elected Romney. Christie
dismissed the polls as being winds of opinion ignored by men and women
acting in principle.Clearly, Obamacare, public employee salaries are
in for change should Ryan and Romney be elected and Christie placed
into a cabinet post.

I wonder what seniors are to expect concerning social security and
medicare after the election of a Republican administration. I am
wondering what he means when he says that seniors will support the
sacrifice. The idea of American exceptionalism raised its head again.
I like the idea, but Christie doesn't explain it. Ryan often uses the
term without explaining it. I wish speeches allowed time to define
terms, even when listeners can be assumed to understand them.

As Christie declaims in his finale: "A second American Century where
real American exceptionalism is not a political punch line, but is
evident to everyone in the world just by watching the way our
government conducts its business and everyday Americans live their
lives" If you wish for me to vote for you, open up about your code
words.And maybe try out a few different hand gestures.

Text of Chris Christie's Speech at the Republican National Convention,
August 28, 2012.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80347.html

Chris Christie believes in establishing respect before seeking love. Great. But what's up with the Republican gestures? Christie is a left handed boxer at the podium. @BobJagendorf

Chris_christie_at_townhall

He's another of this current generation of Republican governors who have chosen not to live in the state capital, to decline to inhabit the governor's mansion. I can understand his attachment to Mendham, New Jersey. He coached his sons in soccer there. He cheered his daughter in the parades on the streets of Mendham.

I am wondering where the speech coaches hired by the Republicans learn their craft. Ann Romney made multiple symetrical air points. Isn't that a gesture left over from Sarah Palin? It's like the Fonzi two thumbs up, except its performed with the forefingers. The forefingers are held up in a way that reminds me of pistols.

Christie kept punching the air and thumping the podium with his left hand. Okay, so he wanted to be perceived as a pugnacious combination of Irish and Sicilian cultures. I found the left hand punctuation of every point to be lacking in nuance.

He's been Governor of New Jersey for less than three years. He declared a financial emergency in New Jersey within three months of assuming office. He defunded departments without support of the legislature. He made a budget law after line item vetoes of one billion in expenditures. He's a man in the cast of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, who also cracked down on budgets in that state.

In his speech, he took lessons from his mother, and spun them into a mandate for federal cutbacks and austerity. As he said, "I believe we have become paralyzed by our desire to be loved." There's no pandering from Christie.

The polls have not yet elected Romney. Christie dismissed the polls as being winds of opinion ignored by men and women acting in principle.

Clearly, Obamacare, public employee salaries are in for change should Ryan and Romney be elected and Christie placed into a cabinet post. I wonder what seniors are to expect concerning social security and medicare after the election of a Republican administration. I am wondering what he means when he says that seniors will support the sacrifice.

The idea of American exceptionalism raised its head again. I like the idea, but Christie doesn't explain it. Ryan often uses the term without explaining it. I wish speeches allowed time to define terms, even when listeners can be assumed to understand them.

As Christie declaims in his finale: "A second American Century where real American exceptionalism is not a political punch line, but is evident to everyone in the world just by watching the way our government conducts its business and everyday Americans live their lives" If you wish for me to vote for you, open up about your code words.

And maybe try out a few different hand gestures.

Text of Chris Christie's Speech at the Republican National Convention, August 28, 2012.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80347.html