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The DNC! (And… Palin?)

So I read transcripts and caught sounds bites of Michelle Obama’s speech, and I thought “OK, someone more informed than me thinks this is needed. Fine.”

Then I watched Hillary on day 2, and I let out a sigh of relief. Besides the odd introductory video… On message, clear, articulate, and a solid endorsement of her primary season rival. Good job, Hill. But I braced myself for Bill.

I missed Bill and only caught the tail end of Biden. But from all accounts, Bill came through, stating in no uncertain terms how Obama is the man to win this election. I wasn’t particularly impressed with Biden’s oratorical skills, but his prime time rivals at the event are the best in the biz, so I let it slide. Biden did deliver on his campaign season cachet: as the voice of experience and able bodied McCain thrasher.

I still bit my tongue, fearful that the last day would bring something unexpected. It didn’t. Obama delivered covering all of his bases in the process. In particular, I was looking for enough “specificity” to silence that particular criticism. He succeeded, insomuch as anyone can go into policy during a nationally televised speech. (McCain himself doesn’t – you talk nitty gritty and you loose the crowd.)

I don’t self-identify as a Democrat and aren’t registered as one, but at this pace I might just be able to put enough faith into the party to switch my affiliation. I never imagined I would agree politically with a major party candidate, but the pandering of the Democratic Leadership Council seems to have gone by the wayside, replaced by someone who means and believes what he says – and has the political platform for me to truly appreciate that quality.

Highlights include Hillary’s “Twin Cities” barb and Biden making the absolutely sublime point that the #1 qualification for the presidency is not experience, but good judgement. The stage last night at the stadium was not over done, contrary to the McCain camp’s exaggerations.

To top it all off, McCain announced his Veep choice today in an attempt to divert the country’s attention. But he made an odd choice, a woefully inexperienced and obscure governor from Alaska currently embroiled in an ethics investigation. Two years ago Palin was mayor of a town of 9,000. Now she’s the GOP VP nominee, solely to pick up a few lost stragglers hellbent on voting for something without a penis. A spokesperson from the McCain camp described this choice as a “maverick picking a maverick.” Apparently, McCain’s maverickness is based around a nonconformity to reality.

This week has gone much better than I could have expected.

Biden!

“I refuse to sit back like we did in 2000 and 2004,” Biden said after Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, when the first indications that Republicans were planning a campaign of unrelenting negative attacks on Obama’s alleged softness or naivete on national security of the kind that worked so tellingly on behalf of George W. Bush against former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John Kerry.

“This administration is the worst administration in American foreign policy in modern history — maybe ever,” he declared in what may have been a preview of his main point of attack on Republican candidate Sen. John McCain and his staunch support for Bush’s hawkish and unilateralist foreign policies over the last seven and a half years.

“Rather than whine about how mean Republicans are when they hit (Democrats) on national security, as so many Democrats do, Biden has a real talent for responding with an appropriate mixture of mockery and contempt,” wrote Greg Sargent, a blogger on the influential www.talkingpointsmemo.com website.

I’m excited that Biden’s the Veep choice. Kaine and Bayh both had their strong points, but also significant drawbacks (inexperience and hawkish Iraq stance respectively). Biden will be able to campaign effectively and he’ll be a draw for some undecideds, but he’ll also be an asset once in the White House.