The GOP Convention -- Wednesday

The Republican convention has completed another night and it was amazing. The highlight of the evening was the speech by Paul Ryan, the nominee for vice president. Ryan managed in a short while to sum up the faults of the Obama presidency. It was once of the clearest and most accurate assessments of the failed four years of Obama that I have heard. Ryan also made clear that Mitt Romney and he understand the nature of the crises that America faces and the failed reasoning that underlies the disasterous Obama program. He also made clear the nature of the program to be followed to fix the problems. Obviously, not all of the details were there; he only had a half hour to speak. What was totally clear, however, is that Ryan is extremely intelligent and knowledgeable, that he is logical and incisive, and that he is someone who most Americans would be proud to have lead them. I could go on with praise of the Ryan speech, but two overarching points stand out at the moment. First, the contrast between bumbling Joe Biden and Paul Ryan is stark; no sane person could have watched Ryan speak tonight and observed Biden over the last four years without concluding that Ryan is head and shoulders above Biden in quality and character. Second, my sense is that the speech will be a major boon to the Romney campaign. Millions of voters now understand that Romney picked a serious problem solver to be his running mate. Unlike Obama, Romney did not settle for a buffoon who added good optics to the ticket. Ryan is a first rate addition who will make governing much easier. It speaks extremely well for Romney's ability to deal with the problems facing the country.

Beyond Ryan, there were also speeches by Condi Rice, Susannah Martinez and Mike Huckabee. Huckabee spoke first. There are few men who can connect with the a big segment of the GOP base better than governor Huckabee. He was just as effective tonight, delivering a major speech in support of Romney.

Condi Rice came next. As with Ryan, it was clear from the speech that Rice is a major intellect. She addressed foreign policy, an area little discussed in the convention so far, and Rice's indictment of the Obama failures was on point and devastating. Even so, the strongest portion of her speech was her discussion of American exceptionalism and the need to preserve it.

Martinez was another star. She is not the orator that Rice and Huckabee are, but the recounting of her story was still riveting.

On the whole, it was a great night for the GOP.