Last week was the Democratic Convention, and the party leaders addressed the faithful with varying degrees of success.
The biggest winner of all was certainly Bill Clinton. Although unlikely to return to politics himself being a former president, his rousing speech and stirring commentary raised his likeability factor once again with the political left. Although he may never again serve in office, daughter Chelsea Clinton told Vogue Magazine last month that she will not rule out a run for political office in the future. With her dad stumping for her, able to attract large, friendly crowds, this week may have proven to be a boon for Chelsea (pictured) in regard to taking on the family business.
President Obama is also a slight winner this week, as his speech was seen by most pundits as being presidential, with a strong delivery by the 44th president. However, the content was largely a normal stump speech with few surprises.
Julian Castro, the 37-year-old mayor of San Antonio, delivered the keynote address for the Democrats, which was well-received on its own accord. The only thing that outshone Castro during his speech was his three-year-old daughter, Carina, who started flipping her hair like an overly-dramatic actress when the cameras focused on her during her father’s speech. The film of this happening went viral on the internet, and became one of the most-watched clips from the convention. Several politicos are comparing Castro’s speech this year to the one delivered by Barack Obama eight years ago which catapulted him to national prominence.
In the edition of this column when Julian Castro was named as the keynote speaker, I named him one of that week’s winners for being in a position to leapfrog his career in politics with a strong performance at the Charlotte convention. He delivered when given the chance, and is a winner again this week for his rapid climb within the Democratic Party and politics in general. In fact, he may just be the biggest winner of all from the events that occurred during the DNC Convention week.
Although the days around the convention were one of the few weeks without any well-known politician making a major political goof, recent polls are beginning to show that President Obama is receiving a post-convention bounce in popularity, however slight, whereas Republican challenger Mitt Romney did not appear to get a bounce from his party’s convention the week before. With the race between the two largest contenders so close, even a few percentage points’ difference between Romney and Obama could tip battleground states one way or another, and with them, the election.
This is a week where we got a glimpse of the future of the Democratic Party in Castro, we may have a new yet familiar face on the political scene in Chelsea Clinton should she decide to run for office soon, and we can only hope to catch more adorable moments from young Carina Castro and her demonstrative hair-flipping ways.
(U.S. Navy photo)
