Death Cab at the DNC: Hillary’s Speech and the Real Trick She Pulled Today
On the stereo: “Gamma Ray,” Beck
Last night’s speech from Senator Clinton was very good. It felt competent and sincere; it was well delivered; the move to distribute white “Hillary” signs to the floor, the text in her handwriting, was brilliant. It was about 85 percent of what I’d hoped for.
My mother and I have been texting back and forth this whole week, all about the convention; about what I see versus what CNN or MSNBC are covering, or C-Span, when she gets fed up with the punditry. It’s a funny thing — like, I’m wanting to know what’s going on in “the real world,” like what’s happening in the media, how our message from Denver is getting delivered (or hijacked, as is so often the case). And she, of course, wants to know what’s happening here, in “the real world.” But this isn’t the real world: We don’t control the message. That’s Rupert Murdoch’s job, unfortunately.
So I was sad to receive the following text from her last night, after my glowing text to her about Hillary’s speech: “Not blown away.”
How? What did the Senator miss? What failed to translate, in the media assessment of the night? Granted, Hillary Clinton had the toughest job of the week: To convince the electorate at large that she is fully, completely behind Barack Obama, and to demand (without demanding, of course) that even her most militant supporters follow her lead and cast their votes for him. And she did that, I thought.
I missed the floor vote today, as our performance at the SEIU rally went a little long, and there were lots of nice folks to talk with (holy fuck, Chuck D introduced us!!). But as soon as I got in my shitty rental car to head for […]
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