29th July 2016, 7:11 PM
So the convention is over, and it was great! There were so many fantastic speeches throughout, and I didn't even watch nearly all of it, though I did watch the major ones. Hillary's acceptance speech was quite good, and I liked it a lot. She'll never be the naturally great speaker Bill or either Obama are, but she can be a good one, at least, and this was one of her best speeches I've heard. At almost an hour long it was on the long side, though still 20 minutes less than Trump's, but she filled that time well. Overall, this convention ends with me thinking more highly of Hillary than I did before, on most fronts, and I think she'll be a good president.
I am very concerned about the unlikelihood of our world doing anywhere near enough about global warming, but continued pressure and the obvious signs of things going very wrong (that we are already seeing, of course) should help encourage that -- and the platform is very strong here, we just need to follow up on that. But otherwise, it was great! Some parts were somewhat emotional, I must admit. One of many strong parts was when she said how some people find wonkish obsession over policy details "boring", but to the person for whom that policy really matters, it's not boring at all (and those details are vitally important). It was both a great statement, and a good summation of her basic personality. Her main theme words for this day, and maybe beyond, "Stronger Together", is good as well, since it both refers back to her long belief in working together for change, and is an absolute counterpoint to Trump's me-centric worldview. Oh, and the long video introducing her was great as well; Morgan Freeman is incomparable at that kind of thing!
One other thing I saw remarked on, and it's a good point, is how amazing it is that thanks to Trump the Democrats successfully presented themselves as the stronger party on national security, taking over that traditionally Republican mantle, but day four showed that off with a bunch of military and police speakers. The Muslim couple whose son died in the US Army were the most memorable for sure, and that was a moving speech.
General Allen's speech, though... hmm. He was basically shouting most of the time, intensely saying how great the US military is... while I agree that there are places we need it for, for sure, probably thanks to my parents memories of the Vietnam era I've always had mixed feelings about the military. Yes, because this is a dangerous world we can do great things and make the world a better place, and we must do that sometimes... but other times we do awful things, and you heard none of that side of it from Allen, except in his criticism of what Trump has said he wants to do (force the military to torture people, etc.). So yeah, the speech was too militaristic for me and I can't say I liked it, even if his main message -- pro-Hillary, anti-ISIS (he was involved in leading the anti-ISIS campaign I believe) and anti-Trump -- was good.
On a related note though, the protesters yelling things, of which there were some during certain speeches, such as Allen's and Hillary's. Apparently the core of the yellers were a few hundred Bernie delegates from California. For the most part, Bernie's yelling fans were annoyances, thanks to the counter-chants that effectively blocked the protesters, but sometimes nearly drowned out the speakers. Some were inappropriate, such as the ones aimed at the Medal of Honor-winning veteran. Considering his tone of voice and entirely pro-military speech, though, I understand why some aimed that chant at Gen. Allen, even though interrupting speakers like that is not good form. The worst were probably the regular ones aimed at Hillary, since that is the most important speech and I'd have liked party unity, but the much louder voices of the "hil-la-ry" and "U-S-A" chants and such showed them to be the small minority they were.
I am very concerned about the unlikelihood of our world doing anywhere near enough about global warming, but continued pressure and the obvious signs of things going very wrong (that we are already seeing, of course) should help encourage that -- and the platform is very strong here, we just need to follow up on that. But otherwise, it was great! Some parts were somewhat emotional, I must admit. One of many strong parts was when she said how some people find wonkish obsession over policy details "boring", but to the person for whom that policy really matters, it's not boring at all (and those details are vitally important). It was both a great statement, and a good summation of her basic personality. Her main theme words for this day, and maybe beyond, "Stronger Together", is good as well, since it both refers back to her long belief in working together for change, and is an absolute counterpoint to Trump's me-centric worldview. Oh, and the long video introducing her was great as well; Morgan Freeman is incomparable at that kind of thing!
One other thing I saw remarked on, and it's a good point, is how amazing it is that thanks to Trump the Democrats successfully presented themselves as the stronger party on national security, taking over that traditionally Republican mantle, but day four showed that off with a bunch of military and police speakers. The Muslim couple whose son died in the US Army were the most memorable for sure, and that was a moving speech.
General Allen's speech, though... hmm. He was basically shouting most of the time, intensely saying how great the US military is... while I agree that there are places we need it for, for sure, probably thanks to my parents memories of the Vietnam era I've always had mixed feelings about the military. Yes, because this is a dangerous world we can do great things and make the world a better place, and we must do that sometimes... but other times we do awful things, and you heard none of that side of it from Allen, except in his criticism of what Trump has said he wants to do (force the military to torture people, etc.). So yeah, the speech was too militaristic for me and I can't say I liked it, even if his main message -- pro-Hillary, anti-ISIS (he was involved in leading the anti-ISIS campaign I believe) and anti-Trump -- was good.
On a related note though, the protesters yelling things, of which there were some during certain speeches, such as Allen's and Hillary's. Apparently the core of the yellers were a few hundred Bernie delegates from California. For the most part, Bernie's yelling fans were annoyances, thanks to the counter-chants that effectively blocked the protesters, but sometimes nearly drowned out the speakers. Some were inappropriate, such as the ones aimed at the Medal of Honor-winning veteran. Considering his tone of voice and entirely pro-military speech, though, I understand why some aimed that chant at Gen. Allen, even though interrupting speakers like that is not good form. The worst were probably the regular ones aimed at Hillary, since that is the most important speech and I'd have liked party unity, but the much louder voices of the "hil-la-ry" and "U-S-A" chants and such showed them to be the small minority they were.
Quote: Honesty wins over these particular people a lot better than flowery speeches, which to people like them comes across more as fertilizer. I wouldn't worry about Trump using such shocking honesty as a weapon. I mean, of course he would, but the attacks wouldn't win over any more Trump supporters, it'd just be more fodder for keeping what he's already got. That level of honesty would be unprecedented and a breath of fresh air.Perhaps, and it'd be interesting to see someone try it -- would it help them, if people appreciate honesty about positions a politician has taken purely for political reasons, or would it hurt, as those politicians do that because people like to be pandered to?