Reunited and It Feels So... Mediated

It's too bad that Mark Warner's keynote address was totally overshadowed by Hillary's moment, because Warner has a good speech, and one that I think would reach out to moderate Republicans and swing voters. Warner's a business guy -- he started Nextel -- and created an argument for change not on political grounds but on economic grounds, linking the Democratic Party and Obama not so much to an argument against Bush or McCain but to a point of view that offers better solutions to the problems they've exacerbated or ignored. Warner said:

We believe in success. We believe that everyone should have an opportunity to get ahead. And with that success comes a responsibility to make sure that others can follow.

I think we're blessed to be Americans. But with that blessing -- with that blessing comes an obligation to our neighbors and to our common good.

So you give every child the tools they need to succeed. That means quality schools, access to health care, safe neighborhoods, not just because it's the right thing to do -- of course it is -- but because, if those kids do better, we all do better.

And it doesn't really matter. You can be soft-hearted or hard- headed. Both are going to lead you to the same place: We're all in this together.

That's what this party believes. That's what this nation believes. That's what Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe.

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I love how the media, long before the convention started, decided that Hillary's speech would need to unite the party under Obama and then, seconds after her speech ended, proclaimed that the party was now united. Nothing wrong with creating a narrative arc when you need one.

TV pundits last night called the speech a strong endorsement of Obama, but I didn't really feel that. It was a good speech, with lots of zingers and catchphrases (the one about the Twin Cities was a particular brand of Clintonian awsomeness), but it still seemed to me an endorsement of the current Democratic ticket generally than Obama in particular.

Still, she really ran the night, overshadowing the keynote (which was where Obama shone through four years ago) and the frequant reaction shots of Bill led to a certain amount of relishing the party as it was ten years ago. I think we need to move past that, and it's my hope that Bill keeps his speech short and subdued, allowing Biden his moment.

Bill Clinton is uniquely qualified, as Toni Morrison's "first black president," to put an Obama nomination in historical perspective, and there's some degree of torch-passing that needs to happen, too, but I think a larger theme to this convention needs to be -- for the sake of the media's narrative -- the old guard offereing benediction to the new. I would like to get a sense of the Clintons stepping aside tonight, even if -- as I hope -- they continue to be pit fighters for the campaign.