HRC and WJC

No one who spends more than about three seconds with me when a conversation concerning The Clintons erupts will ever mistake me for a partisan of their particular brand of politics. The social and financial constraints they and their ilk wish to inflict on this nation are irrational at best, and downright dangerous at worst from both a fiscal and national security standpoint.

And yet.

And yet, I have truly enjoyed the past two nights of the Democrat Convention.

Tuesday night I listened to Hillary Clinton. Revisionist history aside, I found myself appreciating her speech. Some of the details and interpretations of her experiences in the 1990s don't agree with the days I lived through at that time, but I've come to expect and accept that I will be hearing those fairy tales when listening to these people speak.

What impressed me the most was how she delivered the speech. There were times Tuesday night when I heard echoes of former Texas governor Anne Richards giving her famous "silver foot in his mouth" keynote address at the 1988 convention. With the tonality and pacing, there were several points I kept waiting for Hillary to deliver the line. More than that though, I was truly amazed at just how far the junior Senator from New York has come during the past eighteen months that have been this campaign. The lady at that podium was composed, confident, and poised to a degree that the shrill voiced cackler never could have pulled off.

I still couldn't find much to agree with her about. She did a great job of selling Hillary, which was to be expected. She endorsed Barack Obama, which was required, though it came across sounding more like "since you screwed up and didn't pick me, Barack Obama is at least a whole lot better than that McCain guy."

On a side note, Chelsea really needs to go back to the day job. She is definitely not film narrator material, as she proved during the introductory video for her mother.

Then came Wednesday night.

William Jefferson Clinton took the stage and it was clear that he had come home. He not only looked like he was in his element, he clearly reveled in the adulation. Sure, he made a pretense of trying to get everyone quiet and back in their seats, but he didn't resent a minute of the time they spent worshiping him.

And then he finally began to speak. First, he is to be commended for giving a truly unequivocal endorsement of Barack Obama as a strong leader ready and capable of assuming the mantle of responsibility that comes with the Oval Office. Whether he was sincere in expressing those words or not, Bill Clinton sounded like he meant them. The anointing of Barack Obama was far stronger than many pundits believed would be the case before Clinton spoke.

Listening to Bill Clinton speak, I could not help but be impressed. Much of the time I was loudly disagreeing with him from the couch, pointing out lies and inconsistencies much to the consternation of my wife who was not nearly as personally invested in the evening as I was. And yet, I also found myself liking hearing him deliver the speech and on some levels wanting to believe what he was saying.

In that respect, I was transported back to the days of Ronald Reagan. Even for those who disagreed with what he might be saying, it was almost impossible to not feel good hearing Reagan say it. Bill Clinton possesses that same oratorical capacity to make his audience want to be on his side. I found myself thinking much the same thing when reading Clinton's autobiography. The section on the presidential years was mostly tedious since it was so well known and predictably self serving. Even so, the narrative voice of Bill Clinton was unquestionably appealing. From the earliest pages, he was the stereotypical Elder Southern Gentleman telling a tale. Anyone would be excited to sit out on the wrap around front porch with him, sipping lemonade beneath the slowly spinning ceiling fan while Clinton spins whatever entertaining yarn he wants you to hear.

Politically The Clintons and I have fewer points of commonality than disagreement. Even so, while I don't think I'll ever want to knock back a bourbon with Hillary, Bill Clinton is one of the few politicians of either party I would truly enjoy spending an evening with, having a couple of beers and maybe watching the West Virginia Mountaineers or Maryland Terrapins steamroll the Arkansas Razorbacks.