After a thoroughly enjoyable three-day Democratic convention, it's time to put up a few notable moments chosen because 1) they're worth watching, and 2) they're currently available as short clips on YouTube. There are many more notable moments but not notable enough to be clipped off and uploaded to YouTube yet, it seems.
If you didn't watch much of the convention here are, in no particular order, a few clips worth watching.
1) Gabby Giffords leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
In an emotional moment, the former Congresswoman who was shot in the head last year came out to lead the convention in the Pledge. The reaction of the crowd and her obvious joy make this one very enjoyable.
2) John Lewis reminiscing about his incredible past.
He gave the campaign slogan (and frequent thematic device at the convention) "Forward" deeper meaning with powerful reflections on the past and how far we've come.
3) Obama on foreign policy.
In 2008, Obama (though then a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations) was the relative neophyte on foreign policy, a subject that was at least theoretically one of John McCain's strengths. The student is now the master. In this clip from Thursday night, he points out his administration's remarkable foreign policy successes and gets in a few jabs and the complete lack of foreign policy experience on the Romney-Ryan ticket. Given that Romney completed neglected to mention our troops currently in harm's way or Afghanistan in his own acceptance speech, this bit stands in sharp contrast to his speech last week.
4) John Kerry (currently Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations) making the foreign policy case for Obama.
Kerry gave a surprisingly entertaining speech to push the foreign policy argument, working in both self-deprecating humor ("talk about being for it before you were against it," he said with a half-smile as he attacked Romney's ever-shifting opinions on Afghanistan) and even a reference to Rocky IV! But at a convention where, to put it mildly, Osama bin Laden's death did not pass without notice, Kerry had probably the line of the convention about bin Laden:
5) Clinton makes the economic argument for Obama.
In an extraordinarily policy-oriented and delightfully engaging (even folksy) speech that's rightly been described as a tour de force, Bill Clinton forcefully rebutted Republican criticisms and made the case for a second Obama term. In this short clip, he succinctly lays out the Republican and Democratic arguments and, with a playful grin, recycles a famous line from the Republicans' patron saint.
6) Ted Strickland gets rowdy.
In a speech some felt was too loud or too populist, Ted Strickland reminds us what the auto bailout meant for Ohio. An earnest speech from an earnest Rust Belter and I don't think he could've delivered his final line any better. Plus the strange little chuckle he does occasionally is pretty entertaining.
7) Barack Obama's closing argument.
I'll have more to say about his speech sometime this weekend. But in this short clip, he ends his acceptance speech and officially begins the fall campaign.
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