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If they're smart, the Democrats are doing some recalculating today. Minor speakers—even good ones, like Obama's charming and forceful half-sister—aren't getting much airtime. With the most oxygen-depleting couple in American public life set to take the stage tonight and tomorrow, the pundit scrum will only get more aggressive. So the convention organizers may look back on tonight as their best chance to flesh out Obama's life story—one they partly fumbled.

I don't mean Michelle Obama's speech. Crafted with evident care, she talked about love of country and love of family, seeming impressive without becoming overbearing. This comes, I think, from a hint of nerves. The speech looked like it had been rehearsed down to the last hand-flutter. But the earnestness was winning: what normal person wouldn't be tense in that situation? Her delivery shifted from bold and declamatory to intimate and casual, in a trajectory that seems awfully familiar. Though it didn't have as much fire, her speech resembled her husband's big address four years ago. Pace the Clintons, here, at last, we might get two for the price of one (hold the psychodrama).

The letdown came from the soon-to-be nominee himself. Beamed onto the stage from a campaign stop in Kansas City, he flashed the characteristic allure ("Now you know why I asked her out so many times," he said of his wife's speech). Just then, Sasha, the youngest Obama and the one most likely to steal a scene—she high-fived Dick Cheney at daddy's swearing in— got her hands on a microphone, and used it. You want to show us Obama family life? Here is the perfect opportunity, gift-wrapped in front of a national network audience: not even the pundits can stop it now. But for whatever reason—technical snafu? Producer off-camera wildly gesturing to wrap things up?—Obama cut the father-daughter exchange short. The Democrats didn't waste the day, at least not as much as the people covering the convention might lead you to believe. But boy did they miss a chance.

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Posted By: Desert_Rat_1945 @ 11/05/2008 10:35:05 AM

Why do the talking heads feel they need to 'explain' to the viewers what was meant when the candidate said, 'blah, blah, blah'. I am an adult with a normal IQ. I don't need someone explainging everththing to me like i was a child. Just SHUT UP already.
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Posted By: txwoodworker @ 08/29/2008 4:06:51 PM

If you watch this stuff on anything but C-Span you are depriving yourself of the right to think for yourself.
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Posted By: cheetahs11 @ 08/29/2008 12:37:03 AM

Yes, and to show their true unity, Bill and Hillary Clinton were conspicuously absent during Obama's historic speech tonight. The ONLY night that I wanted to see Hillary there, to show the nation that there was indeed unity, she wasn't. Those two aren't fooling anyone. The last two nights were simply about the Clintons. A sad statement for me to say because I am a huge supporter of BILL Clinton and the job he did as president. Not too proud of him this past year though. He and Hillary have been very divisive for the Democratic party and if Obama loses, I will place the blame firmly on them. I truly thought their respective speeches were a positive step towards bringing much needed unity, but now they just seem to ring hollow. All they did was bring drama, turmoil and attention to themselves when it should have been on Obama. Sorry this is a bit off the subject, but it kind of goes with this post.