It was apropos that amidst the Democratic National Convention, we saw a Hollywood liberal, interviewed by Sean Hannity, evade and bounce around simple facts like President Obama’s promise to cut the deficit in half by… 2012 — or the success of the Reagan years. Double-speak was a major theme of the Convention: among other things, we had Harry Reid whining and moaning about Tea-Party/GOP obstructionism and lack of “compromise”— never mind his own constant failure to allow important and vital legislation on the Senate floor… (He then trashed Romney for a lack of transparency—still acting like Obama’s a paragon of it. Amazing.)
Telling moment: the DNC platform got a lot of grief for removing references to God and Jerusalem. On Wednesday, they put that back in… which begs the question: whose brilliant idea was it in the first place to pull that frankly secularist stunt? Are the Democrats really that unstable? (Well… we know that already, but—)
Next: Charles Krauthammer was on to something, pointing out the rather tiring constant invocation of “personal struggles” the first day. We saw a pattern— inspirational stories of success, dignity, and hard work, with nothing handed to you but from family… but we must have government give you a hand up! Particularly with San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, the Democrats try to have their cake and eat it, too: soaring words of can-do spirit and individualism… and then turning around and advocating increased “investments” (read: government) for purposes of “multiplying success” and “opportunity”. Never mind that government intervention— bailouts, regulations, and general dependency— is in opposition to that. The specter of Obama’s “You didn’t build that!” hung over every Democrat tale of individual achievement.
I felt sorry for the military mom who introduced Michelle. She honestly believed that Obama’s doing his best for military families— no one seems to have told her of the deep cuts he’s made top priority for the military.
Michelle Obama has clearly learned a lot from her “first time in my adult life” slips from ’08— she spoke of the inspiration of America and Americans, and the opportunities she and her husband had found. She was good… but it was more about her than Barack. (She did say, with a straight face, that Obama doesn’t think in terms of party. Okay….)
Wednesday saw faux-victims (Sandra Fluke, who’s taken advantage of Rush’s self-acknowledged blunder to become a Leftist celebrity) and faux-Indians (Elizabeth Warren, who has less alleged Cherokee blood than I actually do)… and then—
Bill Clinton compared each party’s presidential job record since 1961— conveniently leaving out that his job-record success involved a GOP Congress, cuts in the capital gains tax (read: rich evil Wall-Streeters)— and welfare reform, which he’d initially opposed. Following this, Ol’ Bubba lectured on the need for bipartisanship… which, frankly, was all too fitting for a decidedly hyper-partisan president. (I personally got a kick out of his trying to be nice towards the GOP— while the hall took it as a joke.) His Reagan quote, hopefully, will remind viewers that Conservative economic policies worked… while Obama’s haven’t. Bill did what he does best, of course… dissemble and twist facts to spin a good yarn about “Dems good, GOP bad” (throwing red meat to Leftist “defenders”), invoking his classic “Ah feel” archetype… but in the end, his praise of Obama was faint, and his picture-painting rings hollow. And, shades of 1988, Bubba went on… and on… and on…
Interestingly, the lovely Scarlett Johansson did not tell young voters to go all Obama— but simply to vote, and let their voices be heard. Hmm… subtly expressing disenchantment, perhaps?
John Kerry lectured Mitt Romney on (of all things) flip-flopping… and laughably talked as though Obama’s tougher on Iran than Mitt would be. Joe Biden extolled Obama as a maker of “tough” choices (news flash: growing government is not a tough choice!)… seeming obsessed with bin Laden, GM, bin Laden, GM… and we’re not in decline!
Finally… the President did his usual thing: accusing the GOP of being vague on solutions… and then he did exactly that, with platitudes of “shared goals,” “investments,” “opportunities,” etc. He spoke of energy independence— despite having vetoed the Keystone pipeline. Whereas Romney spoke as a leader of all… Obama was hyper-partisan, dropping talking points and straw men in classic fashion. He did say “endowed by our Creator” this time, though.
(White House photo)
