WAS THERE A CONVENTION? – AT 8:50 A.M. ET:  We now have the new job figures – see post just below – and we are waiting for initial poll numbers to see if the president gets any kind of bump from his convention.

I was surprised by reaction to his speech, which was far more negative than I would have thought.  Many found it empty.  I found it both empty and way over the top.  He surrendered something very precious in that speech, the image of incumbency.  Presidents are supposed to sound like presidents, even when they're campaigning.  Obama, last night, sounded more like a first-time candidate for the office.

Perhaps the most devastating comment, made by several pundits, was that Joe Biden's down-to-Earth speech was better than Obama's effort.  I've never heard that one before.

Peggy Noonan has commented that the overall convention had the aura of extremism, and I'm inclined to agree.  No matter how much the party leaders tried to paper it over, that delegate army often bounced up against the fringe, most dramatically in the anger of many about the re-introduction of God into the Democratic platform. 

It is true that delegates to national conventions tend to be the true believers, and not the mass of voters, but these believers believed in government and, apparently, little else.

The president tried to pronounce himself a new FDR.  FDR wouldn't recognize this party.

September 7, 2012