Aug
28
A Divided Party
John Judis observes:
“After securing the nomination in June, Obama’s first priority had to be healing the rift between himself and Hillary Clinton. Candidates who can’t put nomination battles behind them well before the convention usually lose. Think of Goldwater in 1964, Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980, and Walter Mondale in 1984. There are only two candidates I can remember who succeeded in overcoming intraparty rifts during the convention-John Kennedy in 1960 and Ronald Reagan in 1980-and they did it by nominating their primary opponents to be vice president.”
This was highlighted again last night by Joe Biden’s speech. It was typical Biden - long-winded, gaffe-ridden, melodramatic. It was not the speech of a man who has a large national constituency and is comfortable on a stage in front of tens of millions of viewers. Obama would have instantly healed any rifts in his party, and probably would also have a sizable lead over McCain right now, if he had picked Clinton instead. (And if he had to pick a Biden, he should have gone with the senator’s son, Beau, the Delaware attorney general who has a record of military service and gave an excellent introduction to his father last night.)
Also, is it just a coincidence that the two most effective speeches of the convention so far - Bill and Hillary’s - are the two speeches the Obama campaign had the least control over?
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