So, not much to say that nobody’s said before: Final grades for speakers:
Clinton, Hillary: C-. Robotic. Strident. Not that much content. “I know a thing or two about health care” fell flat to me.
Clinton, W. J.: A-. The rhetorical digs at the GOP worked, especially because the graciousness with which he turned the knife, and because it bracketed nicely; nobody else took shots at Bush until Kerry did.
Dean: D-. Terrible. Completely unexciting. “You have the power” had all the impact of a wet balloon. And I love the man. This may have been somewhat intentional.
Obama: A+. Brilliant. Thank you for being my Senator. You made me cry. I watched it again on C-SPAN, and even though I knew what was coming, you made me cry again.
Kucinich. C+. Strident. Fairly smart. Bounces too much when he speaks.
Granholm: D-. Missed most of it. I saw a few minutes and couldn’t watch the rest, it was terrible.
Sharpton: A-. Hit the moment, hit the president. I guess this is the exception to the statement I made under W. Clinton. Got just a little bit carried away, but it fit well. If you can wind the stem, do it.
Edwards: A-. Good intro by the wife. Good speech. Great impact. Really spoke to me.
Lieberman: D-. Why are you still in this party? Oh, because if you admitted you’re a Republican, you couldn’t get elected in CT. At least you’re not actually endorsing Bush, like Zell Miller.
Clark. A-. One issue guy, but man he hits that issue well. I liked it a lot.
Kerry. A-. You can be my president any day of the week, Mr. Senator. I think you should talk more about companies offshoring their corporate registration and less about jobs. Talk more about re-training. Talk more about the fact that free trade does help, when it’s not mis-managed.
One of my favorite comments on the whole thing:
Edwards’s speech met with a rather blunter response from a local in a Red Sox jersey at the end of the bar. Half-drunk and furious that the Democratic convention caused trash barrels to be removed from around the city, he repeatedly shouted at the television, “I want my trash cans back! Give me my trash cans back!” (Later he added a more high-minded twist: “And free health care!”)
More later, when I’m not running to catch a train. And I’ll cover the press some too.