Part 2–The Political Conventions: DNC Report Card (Obama’s Post-DNC ‘Bounce’)
Editor’s Note: Gallup releases post-DNC “bounce” poll . Click here for details about the single-digit DNC bounce for President Obama.
Click here for Part 1–The Political Conventions: RNC Report Card
Reviewing the DNC Speeches
Doug Simon, President & CEO, & Mike Bako, Marketing Manager, D S Simon Productions, review the speakers at last week’s Democratic National Convention.
Grading the DNC Speeches
By Mike Bako, Marketing Manager, DS Simon Productions
The political heavy hitters were out in full force for the DNC in Charlotte last week. The Democrats had a stacked line-up to make the case the case for a another four years of President Obama.
Leading off in the key role of opening night speaker was first lady Michelle Obama. Like any good lead off hitter, she set the table in terms of theme and what was to come over the next three nights. The First Lady set the course for presenting a three-dimensional vision of her husband as a leader, a commander in chief, and as someone who could relate to the struggles of many Americans.
Michelle Obama has a track record of being comfortable in front of a microphone and on stage so it came as no surprise that she did an excellent job. She almost did too good of a job. The running joke over the next two nights of speeches became that Barack Obama was the guy married to Michelle Obama.
She gets a solid A for not only providing a unifying message that the party could rally around but also for putting a human face on the president and his administration.
Former President Bill Clinton had a tough act to follow on the second night of the convention and amazingly enough he topped and exceeded what went on during the first night.
He gets an A+ for delivering the speech of either convention.
In what will go down as one of, if not the best speech he has ever given, the former president made a compelling and enthusiastic case for four more years of President Obama. His use of stories, humor, attack, and passion had the convention hall in a frenzy and lit up social media comments during and after the speech.
The speech was also significant in the fact that the democrats had their most recent former president front and center making the case for President Obama, while the republicans had their former president, George W. Bush, in hiding and barely made mention of him. The tone of the democratic convention was one of being for their candidate while the republican convention had the tone of being against their opponent.
The deck was almost stacked against President Obama as his turn came on the closing night. Not only did he have two all-time speeches to follow, but he also had the weather playing against him.
There would be no repeat of his 2008 speech in Denver in front of 75,000 supporters. That was hoped for this go around but rain forced his speech indoors and it was hurt but the location and lack of theatrical elements.
Obama’s speech was solid in delivery but what you hope for with a closing night speech is more than just solid.
I give President Obama a solid B, but it could have been so much more.
I do not think that the President went far enough in terms of pointing out the stark differences between his way of thinking and his policies for turning the country around and those of a Romney/Ryan ticket. He did hit hard and heavy when it came to foreign policy issues and the gaffes that have been made by Romney when he has spoken about our biggest threats and who our allies are, but he did not take that same tone throughout.
It was a solid speech but a speech that had too many missed opportunities to be called excellent.
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Published: September 11, 2012 By:
