The debate over Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Democratic Convention speech will go on for days, but one thing our graders agree on — President Obama, and first lady Michelle Obama, delivered powerful and complete endorsements.
John Zogby
An elderly Catholic priest was beheaded in Normandie this week, a horrific reminder that global terrorism is a fact of our lives.
The Democrats have met and have put on a show of unity and seem to be emerging from their convention with at least a bounce of some sort. No doubt this is still a close election and the president’s successor, Hillary Clinton, still faces negative polls, a huge level of distrust, and a searing campaign ahead. But the president gave a speech that reminded Americans why they elected him with majorities twice. Like Ronald Reagan he opted for a message of hope, a careful (but not overdone) delineation of what he has been able to accomplish, and an eloquent plea for a third term. He did it well.
Now the battle lines are drawn between those (70 percent) who feel the country is headed to hell in a handbasket and the 50 percent who like Mr. Obama (not to mention the 66 percent who like Michelle Obama).
This is the president’s report card — not Trump’s or Hillary Clinton’s. In this regards, Mr. Obama goes to the head of the class. And he did it with class.
Grade A
Jed Babbin
It was a pretty easy week for President Obama. All he had to do was to make himself heard over all the caterwauling Sandersnistas in the Democratic convention hall in Philadelphia. His speech (in which he said the word “I” about one hundred and twenty times, about average for him) was a well-received talk in which he said he was passing the baton to Hillary Clinton.
Other parts of Team Obama did better and some did worse. First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech was roundly praised as the best of the convention. Secretary of State John Kerry, on the other hand, seemed to say that air conditioning was as dangerous as ISIS.
Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tried to steal the show with a major press conference (Hillary hasn’t had one this year.) Trump’s remarks, which seemed to say that the Russians should try to hack into the DNC’s servers to find more Hillary emails, setting Trump up for a bashing by almost all of the DNC speakers on Wednesday night. Clinton’s acceptance speech was apparently written in 1994.
Grade C
Jed Babbin is an Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him @jedbabbin
John Zogby is the senior analyst for Zogby Analytics and author of “We Are Many, We Are One.” Follow him at @TheJohnZogby
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
