DNC Day 2: Fluke, Warren and Clinton make compelling case for Obama
theGRIO REPORT - If night one of the Democratic National Convention was about the power of women, night two was all about using policy particulars and a popular former president...
Taking off the message that the country needs Barack Obama as president for another four years, was former President Bill Clinton, who anchored the night. Clinton gave a lengthy and dense policy speech, with a number of unscripted moments that fired up the supporters and delegates in Charlotte. The use of President Clinton in this role of attack dog and chief Obama validation advocate is politically savvy, and it’s a wonder why the Obama campaign didn’t make more use of him earlier. Clinton is in the unique position to be able to explain the exact reasoning for why the president’s economic policies are the right calls given the parallels to his own in the last successful Democratic administration.
“We Democrats — we think the country works better with a strong middle class, with real opportunities for poor folks to work their way into it with a relentless focus on the future, with business and government actually working together to promote growth and broadly share prosperity. You see, we believe that “we’re all in this together” is a far better philosophy than “you’re on your own.” It is,” Clinton said to a raucous crowd.
When Clinton makes the case for four more years of Obama saying, “the Republican argument against the president’s re-election was actually pretty simple — pretty snappy. It went something like this: We left him a total mess. He hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough. So fire him and put us back in,” it resonates not only with Democrats but possibly with independents because the lack of specifics last week at the Republican convention in Tampa left a wide opening that the former president walked right through.
Clinton listed off policy after policy he and President Obama agree on when it comes to continuing to rebuild the nation’s economy while at the same time listing and then meticulously knocking down almost every false claim – from welfare, to Medicare, to Medicaid – that Republicans have used to attack President Obama’s record.
While night one was all about the personal, night two was all about the policy, delivered in three different forms, from three different speakers, but all in support of President Obama’s vision for the country. On Thursday, the president will try to bring it all home and set the pace for the rest of the campaign as we head into the three debates next month.
Follow Zerlina Maxwell on Twitter at @zerlinamaxwell
