Aug 27th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Bill Clinton
May I just observe that while Barack Obama relies on having well-written speeches to make his oratorical performances impressive, Bill Clinton is just relying on pure skills of awesomeness to make texts that are pretty disjointed on the page seem incredibly compelling.
52 Responses to “Bill Clinton”
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August 27th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
not only may you, but truer words were never spoken. and when it comes to pure skills of awesomeness, there aren’t many better than bill clinton….
August 27th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Word.
The speech did lurch from topic to topic a bit but it rocked anyway. I felt like I needed a bucket of popcorn.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Bill Clinton is really good at understanding how to reduce complex topics down to really useful sub-parts which the crowd can comprehend at the speed of the speech.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
I will defend Obama by pointing out HE writes a lot of those speeches and he is actually quite good at delivering them (ever heard of a good speech poorly delivered).
And in this case, I agree on Bill C.’s power as an orator but I would point out the actual content, however disjointed as it was, was so much what we wanted to hear from him that it made his job easier.
But he did do a hell of a job and we are all grateful. Interestingly, he struck all the notes people were complaining Hillary was missing last night (about readiness and so on).
Smart of them.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
ridiculously awesome speech. Vintage Bill.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Bill Clinton’s speech was good… GOOD NEWS FOR MCCAIN!!!
omg lol
August 27th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I’ve forgotten how much I’ve missed Bill Clinton. If only his wife hadn’t been the other major candidate in the primaries.
Meanwhile, Kerry’s hitting the points that Democrats should have been saying all year. A lot of the substance is better than Clinton’s, but I’m afraid it’ll be lost because (a) he can’t speak like Bill Clinton, and (b) John Kerry can’t get no respect.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Is there a version of “Rock Band” for political oratory? There ought to be. WJC would be a really high level.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Kerry’s speech was excellent. It’s too bad he’s apparently a national joke, or something.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Thank you Bill, and welcome to the fight. This time I know our side will win.
And holy God in heaven, where was this John Kerry in 2004?
August 27th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I actually think Clinton can give well written speeches. He chooses to give these seemingly porrly written speeches because he thinks it makes it easier for the audience to absorb and more likely for them to remember.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
“Bill Clinton is really good at understanding how to reduce complex topics down to really useful sub-parts which the crowd can comprehend at the speed of the speech.”
For his entire career, his success has centered around his being able to talk policy to civilians and reach them.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
on the other hand, when i read a transcript of it tomorrow, it will just seem like a disjointed, incoherent speech.
smart speakers rely on more than their own delivery skills. if it all depends on your timing, facial expressions, and tone of voice, then you didn’t write carefully enough.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Chiasmus:
The power of our example, not the example of our power.
Great line, Bill!
August 27th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
on the other hand, John Kerry, who followed Clinton, was unexpectedly great. pure red meat.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Great speech by Kerry, it’s too bad he had to follow Bill. They should have put him on before Clinton. Everybody but CNN is still talking about that speech, ignoring Kerry.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Second the “where was this John Kerry in 2004?” comment.
And for that matter, the Hillary Clinton of Tuesday?
If Kerry had been that passionate and aggressive in 2004, she wouldn’t even have had a chance to make hers, because we’d be trying to re-elect Kerry right now. And after Edwards’ disgrace, Obama would be VP-in-waiting to lead for the 8 years afterward. This is actually the scenario I wanted to play out this time 4 years ago… (minus the Edwards affair, no one saw that coming)
August 27th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
you may. and may i say amen.
the guy drove me crazy when he was president. so talented and so willing to waste his opportunities. still, i can see why he was so testy during the primary: he’s have been a formidable and much defter opponent for obama.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Unlike many of his speeches, CNN reported that Clinton wrote this one entirely himself. Bill knows how to riff better than anyone…
August 27th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
(ever heard of a good speech poorly delivered).
Most of Lincoln’s contemporaries panned the Gettysburg Address for this reason.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Second the “where was this John Kerry in 2004?” comment.
It takes a brutal loss for a lot of Democrats to realize that every piece of conventional wisdom and advice they get from their campaign consultants is complete bullshit.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Kerry WAS that powerful in 2004. I saw him in Philly and he was that good. Friends in Madison said the same thing. Where were you?
(OK. Not so awesome with the Swifties.)
August 27th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR MCCAIN!!!
August 27th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Clinton’s speech in 2004 was better. It was actually a crafted piece of oratory, unlike this which was totally forgettable. And why must all of our people “honor McCain’s service and sacrifice” or whatever. McCain is openly saying that Obama puts his political ambitions before the country’s best interest–we should be vilifying him in similar terms. Biden did it too.
Kerry did give a very good speech, but not necessarily better than the excellent speech he gave in 2004. (Minus the “reporting for duty” thing.)
August 27th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Re “Bill Clinton is just relying on pure skills of awesomeness ”
—————
You’re just fucking lucky he didn’t show up two hours late.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Don Williams wins, alkali a very close second.
Buchanan pwned by Maddow again and forever.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
So apparently even John Kerry is more excited about Barrack Obama than John Kerry.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Just the phrase “pure skills of awesomeness” required some skills to coin. Props.
There’s just nobody close, is there? That was ridiculously good. It kind of makes you shocked she decided to go into the same biz at all, ya know?
The power and value of this speech will ring all fall.
Unity starts now — it was always about Bill. I think Barack knew it, too.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
There’s two Bill Clintons, see. Angry Bill is insufferable. Tonight Happy Bill showed up and Happy Bill can make the mothership land when he wants to.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
What El Cid ced.
All these speakers have to break it down, slow it down, and MAKE . . . THEIR . . . POINTS.
Much of this was fine. Some great. Beau Biden was great. Bill was great. Kerry was good.
But where is the Hollywood and Broadway talent to make this a super production, with timing and story arc and such? Where are the actual Democratic music stars to play the interlude music? And is there a mole in the planning committee choosing some occasional lame songs?
August 27th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Clinton has a domineering largeness that, when he is on, and in a buoyant mood, is capable of commanding a very large room. He has a way of using his hands and arms to embrace the room, to make the crowd seem smaller than he is, and to invite the crowd into his own world. He is so comfortable in that role, and when it clicks there is no wall between him and the crowd. And he’s a natural showman who feeds on applause and adulation.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:01 am
There has to be a mole in the planning committee–they played Bill Clinton out to “Addicted to Love.”
August 28th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Addicted to love is better than addicted to war.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Bill Clinton was the biggest political talent I expect to see in my lifetime. Too bad his lack of self-discipline caused him to leave a legacy far short of what a man of his abilities could have achieved.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:15 am
“There has to be a mole in the planning committee–they played Bill Clinton out to “Addicted to Love.””
Incorrect, but nice try. “Beautiful Day” is more like it.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:37 am
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- The Dawg Abides.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:56 am
I’d like to nominate “Since You’ve Been Gone” (Aretha Franklin) to replace that damn Fleetwood Mac song.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:06 am
The Clintons have indeed Redeemed theirselves. However, Media wants you to think that Dems Convention was a bust (no red meat – vegatables are so much more healthier so the system, however) But, what the Dems did accomplish and which is stronger than all the meat in the world is UNITY, because a house divided cannot stand! Watch out and be on Guard for those who want to Divide because make no mistake about it a united group is Powerful, Strong, Unstoppable.
For accurate news converage “watch C-SPAN for convention coverage and get yourself psychically cleared. Stop watching cable news channels. The MSM is desperately working to program us morning noon and night. And creating despair amongst those who are openly hopeful about 2008 politics is very easy. Just bust the bubble that gives you room to believe that change can happen and the rest falls away. Including your own sense of self-empowerment. Believe it.”
August 28th, 2008 at 9:29 am
“Bill Clinton is really good at understanding how to reduce complex topics down to really useful sub-parts which the crowd can comprehend at the speed of the speech.”
This is true, but what makes him exceptional is that he does the impossible: his “reductions” don’t significantly misrepresent the arguments, and he often accounts for counterarguments. He is actually persuasive in a way that I find unique among politicians. (Last night isn’t the best example of these skills, but as good a performance as could be asked for.)
August 28th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I thought last night really redeemed the convention. The previous two nights were definitely a bit weak, but last night was just awesome.
Biden and Kerry, especially, brought the attack to John McCain, but they did it the right way. They made no personal attacks and no belittling jokes. Instead they painted a clear picture of John McCain being wrong and Obama being right. I thought it was brilliant because as they tore McCain down they built Obama up. We’ll see what the polls and the chattering class say, but to me it was clear that last night was as good as these conventions get.
Also, it’s nice to see that Yglesias is getting over his Clinton grudge after all.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I loves me some Big Dawg. I think Obama is better at those big, goose-bumpy moments, nobody is better at relating policy to people’s lives in a way that really connnects. And he can deliver a devastating put down in a way that seems irrefutable-we’ve heard all week about more of the same, etc., but the line about how it wasn’t until 2002 that the Repubs were really able to fully implement all the stuff they’ve talked about for years, and now we see the result. That’s not a dig at one man, that’s discarding the whole Republican philosophy in two sentences.
Loved it.
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