The highlight of last night's Democrat National Convention should have been the acceptance speech by Tim Kaine, the nominee for vice president. It wasn't. Kaine gave an uninspired speech that sounded more like someone running for the town council than for vice president. I don't mean the content; that was the usual stuff for this convention. I just mean that Kaine sometimes sounded like even he was bored by the speech.
Then there was president Obama. Maybe it's just that I've heard Obama speak so many times, but this seemed like a tired speech as well. I remember Obama's acceptance speech 8 years ago in Denver. It was one of the best delivered speeches I ever heard at a Democrat convention. (No one on either side ever beat Ronald Reagan's speeches--any of them.) Last night, Obama did not seem honestly to really like Hillary Clinton. He said many of the right things, but he looked like he didn't mean them.
Joe Biden gave a real stem-winder of a speech. He was energetic, strong and seemed to mean what he said. The problem with Joe's speech was, however, the usual one. He got a lot of stuff wrong. Here's an example: Joe denounced Donald Trump for abandoning America's allies and cozying up to Russia. Someone should have told him that it was Obama and Clinton who did that. They started with the so called Russian reset that forgave Putin for invading the country of Georgia a few months earlier. They sat by an did nothing as Putin and Russia invaded and took over Crimea from Ukraine. They have done nothing to help Ukraine as Russian forces have taken the eastern portions of that country. When Trump says America may have to recognize Russian control of Crimea, Biden goes berserk, but it was Obama, not Trump, who let it happen. Trump is just trying to deal with the mess that Obama made.
Then there's those American allies that Biden says Trump is abandoning. It's a funny thing. One of our allies is Israel. Obama did all he could to embarrass and insult Israel's leader during Obama's first term. In the second term, Obama actually spent millions of dollars trying to influence the Israeli elections. That's not some idle charge; it is the bipartisan conclusion of a senate committee that looked into the matter. Obama has so maligned and mistreated the Israelis that a recent opinion poll in that country found that only 7% of the people there consider Obama a friend. Britain is another ally about whom Biden was speaking. Obama began his first term by clearing the Oval Office of anything British. When the UK was threatened by another invasion by Argentina of the Falkland Islands (something that would have been covered by the NATO treaty Biden now pretends to supports), Obama announced that the USA would be NEUTRAL. Where was Biden when that happened? And those allies in Eastern Europe who are threatened by the Russians, what did Obama do for them? When Obama took office, Poland and the Czech Republic were about to get American anti-missile systems to protect them and Europe from missiles fired from the Middle East. Since Russia did not like this, Obama abandoned the plan. The best way to describe what happened is that Obama abandoned America's allies to cozy up to Putin and the Russians.
All in all, it was not a very good night for the DNC.
Then there was president Obama. Maybe it's just that I've heard Obama speak so many times, but this seemed like a tired speech as well. I remember Obama's acceptance speech 8 years ago in Denver. It was one of the best delivered speeches I ever heard at a Democrat convention. (No one on either side ever beat Ronald Reagan's speeches--any of them.) Last night, Obama did not seem honestly to really like Hillary Clinton. He said many of the right things, but he looked like he didn't mean them.
Joe Biden gave a real stem-winder of a speech. He was energetic, strong and seemed to mean what he said. The problem with Joe's speech was, however, the usual one. He got a lot of stuff wrong. Here's an example: Joe denounced Donald Trump for abandoning America's allies and cozying up to Russia. Someone should have told him that it was Obama and Clinton who did that. They started with the so called Russian reset that forgave Putin for invading the country of Georgia a few months earlier. They sat by an did nothing as Putin and Russia invaded and took over Crimea from Ukraine. They have done nothing to help Ukraine as Russian forces have taken the eastern portions of that country. When Trump says America may have to recognize Russian control of Crimea, Biden goes berserk, but it was Obama, not Trump, who let it happen. Trump is just trying to deal with the mess that Obama made.
Then there's those American allies that Biden says Trump is abandoning. It's a funny thing. One of our allies is Israel. Obama did all he could to embarrass and insult Israel's leader during Obama's first term. In the second term, Obama actually spent millions of dollars trying to influence the Israeli elections. That's not some idle charge; it is the bipartisan conclusion of a senate committee that looked into the matter. Obama has so maligned and mistreated the Israelis that a recent opinion poll in that country found that only 7% of the people there consider Obama a friend. Britain is another ally about whom Biden was speaking. Obama began his first term by clearing the Oval Office of anything British. When the UK was threatened by another invasion by Argentina of the Falkland Islands (something that would have been covered by the NATO treaty Biden now pretends to supports), Obama announced that the USA would be NEUTRAL. Where was Biden when that happened? And those allies in Eastern Europe who are threatened by the Russians, what did Obama do for them? When Obama took office, Poland and the Czech Republic were about to get American anti-missile systems to protect them and Europe from missiles fired from the Middle East. Since Russia did not like this, Obama abandoned the plan. The best way to describe what happened is that Obama abandoned America's allies to cozy up to Putin and the Russians.
All in all, it was not a very good night for the DNC.
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