The US punditocracy was united in its praise for Michelle Obama's speech last night.
Roger Simon at the Politico asks "Could the Democrats be about to nominate the wrong Obama?"
Well, probably not. But Michelle Obama, Barack's wife, gave an awfully good speech at the Democratic National Convention here Monday night. While Barack can sometimes soar off into the clouds, Michelle tends to keep things down to earth.
Will Bunch at the Philadelphia Daily News notes that never before Michelle Obama had an aspiring first lady given "a memorable political-convention speech".
Los Angeles Times television critic Mary McNamara wrote:
One can only hope that someone had the foresight to hand out Obama/Biden '08 tissue boxes on the floor of Denver's Pepsi Center. Because between the cancer-stricken Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's surprising and heart-wrenching reassurances and Michelle Obama's graceful speech, the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention was punctuated as often by tears as it was by applause.
Some, including my boss Mike Tomasky, were more critical.
Tomasky wanted Michelle Obama to lay on the "schmaltz" even thicker, although he says he is "infuriated" that, given all the challenges facing our country, the Obama campaign has to spend an evening proving how normal and American her family is.
James Carville, a long-time Hillary Clinton supporter, said the Dems wasted an opportunity to slag on McCain and the Republicans. He said on CNN:
The way they planned it tonight was supposed to be sort of the personal -- Michelle Obama will talk about Barack Obama personally, Ted Kennedy was a very personal, emotional speech. But I guarantee on the first night of the Republican Convention, you're going to hear talk about Barack Obama, commander-in-chief, tax cuts, et cetera, et cetera.
