More Home Runs

After soaring speeches Tuesday night by First Lady Michelle Obama and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, the bar was set high for Wednesday night's prime time speakers. They did not disappoint, to say the very least.

Leading off was the wonderful Elizabeth Warren, Dem candidate for Senate in Massachusetts. Her remarks were passionate and populist, hammering the elites who have "rigged the system" to their benefit. She reminded the audience of her biography: humble beginnings, mother at 19, teacher and consumer advocate. Her portrayal of the Wall Street CEOs strutting the halls of Congress, as if they had nothing to do with the financial collapse of 2008, was dead-on. If Massachusetts voters pass her up in favor of male model and defender of the one percent Scott "Centerfold" Brown, so much the worse for our country.

The featured speaker, of course, was President Bill Clinton, who positively knocked the ball -- along with innumerable Rethuglican lies -- out of the park. His task was not only to be the truth teller about whether we're better off now, but how it's necessary to let President Obama's agenda play out for another term. His delivery was personal and often folksy, and the content was full of data and information that showed the Rethugs to be lying about Obama's record and their own plans for the future. Some of the better lines:

“You gotta give [Paul Ryan] one thing: It takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did.” (referring to Medicare savings proposed by Obama)

“We simply cannot afford to give the reins of government to someone who will double down on 'trickle-down' economics."

“We [Republicans] left [Obama] a total mess, he hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in.” (summarizing the Rethugs' weak argument)

He also reminded the audience of the implacable hostility of Congressional Rethuglicans to the President, putting his defeat and failure over job creation and other national priorities. And, speaking of job creation, Clinton noted that in the past 52 years -- 28 years with a Rethug President and 24 years with a Democratic President -- Rethugs created 24 million jobs, while Dems created 42 million jobs. As someone noted in the after-speech gab fest, if you want to live like a Republican, vote like a Democrat.

The past two nights have reminded us of our beloved Washington Nationals: home run after home run, 12 in the last two games; last night the Nats had back-to-back home runs twice, an almost unheard of feat. Maybe they've been watching the Dem convention for inspiration.

(photo: Reuters)