Gary Pearce posted on September 07, 2012 11:55
Bill Clinton won the Olympic Gold for oratory, Democrats won the conventions and President Obama enters the final two months with a stronger posse and better positioning than Mitt Romney.
Obama’s speech left some supporters feeling like Lynyrd Skynyrd fans who didn’t get to hear “Freebird.” The lift and lilt of 2004 and 2008 wasn’t there. But, as he said: “I'm no longer just a candidate. I'm the President.”
It was a Presidential speech. He didn’t need to beat Clinton. We know Obama can give a great speech. He has to prove he can be a great President.
Clearly, Obama’s team of surrogates is stronger than Romney’s. Obama has Michelle to make him warmer, Joe Biden to make him more blue-collar and Clinton to make the case with undecided independents.
Romney has his wife, but she can reinforce the “rich” label. His strongest surrogate is Marco Rubio. The rest seem more interested in auditioning for 2016 than helping Romney in 2012.
Democrats stuck the rich label on Romney. They drew the campaign lines they wanted: rich versus middle class.
They left Charlotte – which, by the way, won as host city – with a legion of passionate ground troops whose power is largely invisible to the media. The fundraising texts went out right after Clinton’s and Obama’s speeches. People whose tickets were only good for Bank of America stadium got treated to an online speech from the President Thursday afternoon. From what I can tell, the media missed that.
That’s why you can’t underestimate Obama in North Carolina.
On top of all that, the Democrats did something I never thought I’d see: seize the strong-on-defense standard.
Now come the Republican response ads. Then the debates. And then, no doubt, some X Factor.
Stay tuned.