Conventional Wisdom Part II

I'd like to apologize in advance to those who might have been looking forward to an Obama bashing. I don't dislike the president; I disagree with him on a number of policy issues, but I don't dislike him. I also don't buy into that whole "radical Muslim Socialist trying to destroy America" line of thinking. I think that he is a decent person who tried his best but was in over his head.

Truth of it is, I almost voted for him in 2008. Like many Americans, I was disillusioned with the status quo.  In the end, I felt that McCain would have been better if we were attacked again. And, looking back at it, I don't think we'd be a whole lot better off had McCain won. Even though I didn't vote for Obama, I was very proud of our country. In my lifetime, we went from one African American having a dream to another one making it a reality.  

I thought that the convention was predictable. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise since political conventions are highly choreographed productions. At first, I thought that I was watching an abortion rally. I never thought there were so many euphemisms for abortion. I once heard Chris Matthews ask, "if there's nothing wrong with abortion, why not just say it".

Sometimes, it seemed as if the Democrats were running against the incumbents. All I heard was how those evil, rich Republicans were messing up this country for the other 99%. It's as if it were 2008 all over again. Guys, the last three and a half years weren't make believe, they actually happened, and you folks were in charge of it.

 I realize Bush left a mess behind, but, let's be honest, the reason Obama won in the first place was because he was the one this country felt was best able to fix things. If the economy didn't implode in September 2008, I've got two words for you: President McCain. You can't blame the doctor if you get sick,  but if you don't get well, you sure can.

I appreciate that Bin Laden is dead (good call on Obama's part) and that GM is still alive. Although GM would have also come through a normal bankruptcy without the government risking tax money on it. This move was to save the UAW, not GM. It's not as if we would be riding horses right now.

As for the speakers, I thought VP Biden did a nice job, once we got past his poor record on marriage proposals. I always liked Biden, he reminds me of "W"; a plainspoken guy who is far more intelligent than he comes off. Of course, you can't overlook the master salesman himself, Bill Clinton. After listening to him talk about his successes, I thought that  Obama's new campaign motto should be "Backward".

Obama did a decent job trying to justify the last three and a half years. Given his record, he had the difficult task of making the case that things would've been alot worse if it weren't for his policies. That's a much tougher sell. He also did his best to demonize his opponent.

In the end, I thought the Democrats did what they had to do. Given the nation's economic state, Obama should be way down in the polls. Clearly, he's not.

 Now the fun begins. Can a good campaign offset poor governance? It's been done before, can Obama pull it off this year? Does Mitt Romney have the ability to capitalize on the poor economy?

We'll see!