Joe Klein: About Last Night: Wow

[babylonsister]

http://swampland.time.com/2012/09/05/about-last-night-wow/

About Last Night: Wow
By Joe Klein | @JoeKleinTIME | September 5, 2012


First lady Michelle Obama takes the stage before speaking on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 4, 2012.
Callie Shell / for TIME



The streets and hotel corridors of Charlotte are still vibrating this morning after Michelle Obama‘s remarkable effort, the Democratic Party’s remarkable opening convention night. There was just a quantum leap of energy from the tamped-down Tampa Republicans last week, real joy in the hall as opposed to the barely concealed anger that has tainted the Republican Party these past few years. And the message was clear:

“{The President} reminds me that we are playing a long game here, and that change is hard, and change is slow, and it never happens all at once,” {Michelle Obama} told the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. “But eventually we get there. We always do.”

snip//


My immediate boss, Nation Editor Michael Duffy, made a significant point this morning (editors are known, occasionally, to do that) about the rhetorical contrivance at the heart of the speech: The First Lady set herself up as the doubter, nervous about her new role, anxious about how the Presidency would change her husband and the lives of her children. But she was the one who had grown over the past four years, gaining a sense of the nature and importance of the mission. Her husband, by contrast, was calm, steady, reliable, unchanged by the office. It’s not a new point, but when Michelle Obama said that the presidency “reveals” who you really are, the contrast to Mitt Romney was immediate and inevitable without her having to say it–we really don’t know who Mitt Romney is, what he actually believes, whether he’s the moderate who governed Massachusetts or the Tea Party toady who campaigned for the Republican nomination.

snip//

The Republicans have also demonized the Obamas, in blatant and subtle ways. Paul Ryan’s obnoxious line last week about him and Romney knowing what places like “Wisconsin and Michigan are like” during good times was countered by Michelle Obama talking about what it was like to grow up black and hopeful–and responsible, and morally rigorous–in Illinois in good times and bad. And the Republican “We Built That” individualism was countered by the First Lady saying that “We know that when you walk through that door of opportunity, you don’t slam it behind you. No, you reach back” and help the next ones coming up.

I watched the speeches on television last night, as I almost always do–it’s best to see them the way most people do–but reports from friends who were in the hall say the atmosphere was extraordinary…and so I think I’ll break my rule and go into the hall to listen to Bill Clinton tonight. He’s got a tough act to follow. But you know he’s going to be worth the price of admission.

[fleur-de-lisa]

1. Best quote ever . . .

"We know that when you walk through that door of opportunity, you don’t slam it behind you. No, you reach back” . . . best quote ever!

[applegrove]

2. +100

[Cha]

3. And, by reports, FL Michelle wrote the

speech! She's such an inspiring person and she's our First Lady. I want 4 more years of her and that just as inspiring husband of hers.

[magical thyme]

4. the other best quote ever

Talking about when Obama could have made a lot of money but went into community service because he "doesn't measure success by how much money you make, but by the difference you make in people's lives."