I don't think I've ever really watched one, so nothing to compare it to.
Obama was an excellent speaker. THK was also good. MSNBC fawned all over Ron Reagan. It was disgusting. He made a good speech and I apprecited his insistence on comparing embryonic stem cells to _living, breathing people_. He didn't even compare it to an embryo. Good move.
Whatever scorn one would like to heap on Americans, whatever cynicism you want to bring to your analysis, however much one would like to lambast Americans for not understanding that the shiny faces of Peace Corps volunteers are just the velvet glove for the hammer of an imperialist, capitalist nation... the speakers, I think, appealed to what they believe is a good side to america (the country of people, not the nation-state) and a goodness in american people.
Obama and THK both spoke to possibility and hope--that thing Doug's been getting on everyone about. THK opened her speech by speaking in five different languages and focused on internationalism. Obama said stuff that would make a lot of people ralph because it reinscribes the myth of upward mobility and a melting pot america.
Nonetheless, these are the things that rec'd huge cheers from the crowd. Whatever the party leadership does, I think the rank and file really wants to believe this stuff.
THK stood up to the republicrats' attempt to smear her over the "shove it" remark. She rec'd huge cheers from women for that. Her outspoken feminism was damn refreshing. Her refusal to be cowed by these mofos was also refreshing. Maybe she can lend John her balls.
Kelley
"We're in a fucking stagmire."
--Little Carmine, 'The Sopranos'