The Dems Bring It

I had found the Democratic National Convention up to last night to be something of a desultory affair. Ted Kennedy and Michelle Obama were great the first night but the rest of the day seemed to lack much in terms of either buzz or substance. The second night was the same, though Hillary did what she needed to do. Any of her so-called supporters (there is growing speculation that a number of the PUMAs may well be McCain plants) who still won't line up, and who honestly claim to care about women's issues but support McCain are idiots and the party does not need them.

So the first two nights played a like a warmup act that went on a bit too long. But last night more than made up for it. Though it was a bit overwrought and byzantine, the Hillary appearance to call for the nomination by acclimation actually was a great touch. It further solidified Hillary's bona fides both as a major player and as an Obama supporter. The big three speakers did what they needed to do and more. In baseball terms Cinton and Kerry hit home runs into the upper deck while Biden hit a solid double. In grading terms we had two A's and a B+. Two nines and a seven. Three thumbs up. Etc. And the Obama appearance at the end, the second night in which he has slid into the proceedings, seemed to go over well. there are those who will gripe about tradition or overexposure, but that's a silly argument. The idea that the candidate should appear as if conjured for the cameras on Thursday night is a silly remnant of the days when parties did not necessarily know going into the convention who would win. As for overexposure, well, that trolley left the stop for both parties sometime back in the middle of 2007 and the start of the interminable election cycle.

I've no idea what sort of bounce to expect. The weirdly truncated VP naming/convention season makes little sense to me, so my guess is that neither party may get the boost that traditionally has come from such an affair. McCain is expected to announce his VP pick tomorrow, a savvy move that will draw him much more attention than a candidate would normally get the day after the other party's convention folds its tent. Then the GOP kicks in to its love fest next week. I would not eb at all surprised to see status quo ante reign in the polls, with each party's bounce canceling out the other's and a virtual dead heat ruling the day in the national polls with a reversion to last week's polling data or thereabouts come the second week of September.

What's Good for the Goose

So -- can I get this straight? When John Kerry ran in 2004 and placed Vietnam as a central theme in his record, Republicans went after him for doing so, arguing essentially that that biography was either not relevant or somehow was an attempt to avoid discussing the issues. So now here we have John McCain, whose entire premise is that he is on a biography tour. Where is that same criticism? Os is it a matter of Republicans only embracing biography when their side's biographical records are under discussion?

The Kerry Gambit?

Far be it from me to be cynical. But the thought that crossed my mind, despite the fact that John Kerry's announcement that he is not running for President in 2008 truly did seem heartfelt, is that he has a secret plan. He has decided that his goal is to end the Iraq war. Fair enough. We can quibble with the monomaniacal nature of personalizing such a quest, but criticizing politicians for their self-centeredness seems too easy. What I see going through Kerry's head, at least somewhere in the transom, is that he will mount this charge furiously, his work will have some effect, and the Democratic masses will look to him and demand that he run. They will enlist him. And when called, thinks Senator Kerry, of course he will serve.

The problem with this approach (other than that I am making it up out of whole cloth, I mean) is that Kerry is not the compellingly draftable type. But on top of that, if anyone has set himself up to stand, rather than run, for office, isn't it Al Gore? And if the Democrats are faced with a choice of spurned Democratic nominees to insist upon running, isn't Gore so obviously more appealing that Kerry is destined (in my concocted scenario) to feel spurned thrice?

I think John Kerry is a good man who has served his country nobly and well. He has many years to develop and grow as a Senator. Never becoming president need not be a mark of shame. I hope that his recent moves have come as a result of a realization that the Oval office is simply not in the cards, and not out of some cynical last-ditch gambit.

Kerry's Out: Weighing the Consequences

Chris Cilizza at The Fix has the winners and losers from Senator John Kerry's (merciful) decision not to run in 2008. As usual, Cilizza is pretty spot-on, I think. But I have a couple of quibbles:

He lists Senator Ted Kennedy as a loser, writing:

Kennedy had the perfect excuse not to choose between Obama, Clinton and Dodd. How could he not go with the home state guy? But now that Kerry is out, Kennedy is one of the most prized free agents in the Senate. Let the courting begin.

I'm not certain how this is a negative for Kennedy. Once beholden to Kerry, a sure loser in 2008, Massachusetts' senior Senator now, in Cilizza's estimation, can await the beginning of a long courtship process that will bolster his ego and affirm his already venerated status. Moreover, Kennedy is a skillful enough politician that he ought to be able to broker deals for himself and the people of Massachusetts for the next 20 months or so. How does that make him a loser?

In listing the late night talk show hosts as losers Cilizza gives a couple of examples of the "fodder" that Kerry provided. First on this list is that Kerry asked for Swiss cheese on his cheesesteak. I'm not certain how this qualifies as a gaffe. I realize that there are cheesesteak stalwarts out there, but I'm pretty certain that 90% of Americans, of any class background, would probably make some similar gaffe the first time they ordered at the window at Pat's or Geno's in Philly. I know I did. I cannot help but think that Cilizza must be a Philly guy whose regional solipsism got the best of him on this one.

In any case, Kerry had no shot, even with the reality that he would be able to stick around just based on his fundraising capacity. It is for the best that he will be able to work in the Senate as one of the opposition leaders. There is no shame in that, just as there is no shame in recognizing the direction of the tides in 2007.