Damn, that man can woo a crowd

We just got done watch­ing the Demo­c­ra­tic National Con­ven­tion: Night of the Elder States­men. Al Gore spoke, and both Tiffany and I won­dered why he didn’t pull this speak­ing style out when he was cam­paign­ing for Pres­i­dent. So much went wrong with his cam­paign, but so much seems to have gone right for him since then. He was look­ing elder-statesmanly, was glib, unforced, funny, and rousing.

Jimmy Carter also did his best, though he really doesn’t have the tim­ing or the chutz­pah that Gore seems to have found in the last four years. He spoke, as he does these days, about a com­pas­sion­ate world screwed up by George Bush… then we fast-forwarded the TiVo.

But last among the elder states­men was Bill Clin­ton. And again, we only wish he could run against George W. Bush, because he would clean up. He was artic­u­late, homey, inci­sive and encom­pass­ing. He blasted George Bush and the Repub­li­can Con­gress, and hit on all the things I (we) hate about the cur­rent Admin­is­tra­tion. But just by being him­self, intel­li­gent, calm, appeal­ing to our bet­ter side, he reminded us both of how much we hate George W. Bush himself.

Tiffany had to go to bed she was so worked up about the Right. I think I might have actu­ally seen flames in her eyes.

I hope John Edwards is giv­ing his run­ning mate some tips on pub­lic speaking.