27th July 2016, 1:25 PM
Quote:Flowery, yes, but lacking a lot of substance, like most political speeches.
I thought that the substance, policy-wise, was the lengthy list of good causes Hillary worked for in the '70s and '80s. I didn't know all of that stuff, and it was an impressive and noteworthy list. By reminding younger voters of these things, he helps convince them to support Hillary. She was once vilified by the right as a "liberal activist" for a reason, after all, and he went through the list -- work desegregating the South, helping disabled kids go to school, fighting for better schools in Arkansas (better teachers who are actually literate, more pay, more school counselors, etc.), and more...
And between that element of the speech and the more personal stories, the other substance was in humanizing here against the absurd "cartoon villain" version of Hillary that the Republicans have brainwashed so many Americans into believing -- and if people watched that speech, I think it should at least start succeeding at breaking down that false caricature. Bill gave a fantastic speech, and it was needed given the false impressions so many have of Hillary.
Quote:It would have been good if instead of pretending like back room deals didn't happen, Bernie and Hillary both had come out and said "hey, I had this position before, but due to pressure from Bern, I and the party at large have switched on a number of key issues you care about". Also, admitting that some of the things she's done haven't been good, but she admits it and is willing to move on. That never happens with ANY politician, granted, but I'd love to see them completely defuse Trump's attacks by just owning up to the only things that have any meat on them.How would that defuse Trump's attacks at all? It'd just give him a new line of criticism... and as you say, nobody in American politics does this. It might be nice to see people be that honest, but I doubt it'll happen.
Quote:The important thing, the thing that the party needs to dedicate ALL their attention to (since Trump does a good enough job highlighting his own failures) is the good that Clinton and the party say they are committed to. Repeat those more liberal platform goals they've adopted over and over again, and don't be afraid to give specifics. THAT is what's going to win over the Bernie crowd more than anything, and THAT is what got people to cheer Bernie at the convention. Focus on destroying Trump, and you might as well focus on boxing a vat of pudding. Put the focus on the right place if you actually want to get that "crushing victory".Many of the DNC speeches have mentioned the quite liberal goals of the platform, though, so it's not being ignored. I'm sure that will continue. And while you definitely don't want your main focus to be only on Trump, he needs to be attacked at least some, and Bill didn't do that yesterday. It'll be interesting to see how much Obama goes after Trump today... Biden probably will, but how much will Obama?