That old Bill Clinton magic

Bill Clinton has a unique ability to connect with an audience.  They turn him on and he turns them on.   It is a wonder to behold !!     He is simply and profoundly masterful.

Clinton has that rare ability -- which is pure gold for a politician or a president -- to be both substantive and riveting at the same time, both wonky and folksy.   He can reduce complex issues to a simple explanation, like no one else, then wrap it in a touch of light-hearted humor and down-home drawl;  and he leaves the spellbound crowd with some memorable zinger lines to carry away with them.  Here are a few:

"If you look at the numbers, you know that employment is growing, banks are beginning to lend again, and a lot of housing prices are even beginning to pick up.  But too many people do not feel it yet. . . .  If you will renew the president's contract, you will feel it. You will feel it."

After a slight pause to let his fervor work into the crowd, he added:

“Folks, whether the American people believe what I just told you or not may be the whole election. I just want you to know I believe it. With all my heart I believe it.”

In another riff about the Republican emphasis on individual responsibility, he said:

“If you want a winner-take-all, you’re-on-your-own society, you should support the Republican ticket.  But if you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibility -– a we're-all-in-this-together society -- you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”

Then talking about the Republican plans to cut taxes even further for the wealthy while cutting programs that benefit the middle class and make it possible for the poorer people to move into the middle class, he said the following:

"The Republicans want to double-down on trickle down."

"They talk about turning the economy around -- what they really want is to make a U-turn and go back to the past policies that got us into this mess."

He paraphrased the GOP message to voters as:

"We left him [Obama] a total mess, but he hasn't cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in."

Then he hit at Paul Ryan for claiming that ObamaCare cuts $716 billion from Medicare, while Ryan's own plan calls for the exact same amount of cuts, the difference being that Obama cuts waste and excess payments to insurers and hospitals, while Ryan cuts benefits for seniors.   On top of the difference in who feels the $716 billion cuts, seniors or insurance companies, Clinton chided Ryan for:

"You gotta give him one thing. It takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did."

Republican news analyst Alex Castellanos said on CNN:

"Tonight when everybody leaves, lock the door. You don't have to come back tomorrow. This convention is done. This will be the moment that probably re-elected Barack Obama."

He may be right.

There have already been some of the best speeches at this convention . . . ever.   From keynoter Julian Castro to first Lady Michelle Obama, to fighter for middle class consumer protection Elizabeth Warren, and now The Big Guy himself.    Can Obama give an equally stirring performance?   He is certainly capable of stem-winder type speeches.

And the crowd will be pumped and ready.   I almost feel sorry for the Republicans, because their efforts last week in Tampa were so paltry, their policies so unfriendly to all but the wealthy.  If their followers ever begin to realize what they're voting for, they're going to depart in droves.

Ralph