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On
National Security Night, Clinton Keeps
His Gun Holstered and Biden Fires Away |
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August 28, 2008 Bill Clinton let it be known
beforehand that he wasn't happy making his
speech on national security night --
preferring to talk about the economy and,
hence, his legacy. You could tell. National
security rated only passing mentions.
He spent the majority of his speech wheeling
through the things he obviously feels more
comfortable talking about. The economy. Social
Security. Global warming. Africa. Eradicating
malaria and HIV/AIDS. Hillary. Becoming a
debtor nation. Affordable health care. The war
on unions. Income disparity. Tax policy. Lost
jobs. Crime rates. The American Dream. Hope.
All of them good things. But things that don't
move the needle on what is perceived as John
McCain's greatest strength: keeping us safe.
Indeed, when Clinton talked about the nation's
safety, he was perfunctory -- general when
specifics were called for, despite the fact
that the Bush years have given us so many
tragic specifics to remind the American people
of.
He didn't even try to make the case about all
the ways McCain would make us less safe --
giving him a virtual free pass on this vital
question.
Yes, the former president forcefully made the
point that the charge of youth and
inexperience being leveled at Obama was the
same charge leveled at him in 1992. But he
never made the case why Obama would be better
at keeping us safe, beyond saying he would try
diplomacy first.
So while it was good to have Clinton
unequivocally voice his support for Obama and
lend his considerable authority to the case
that Obama is ready to lead, his speech felt
like a squandered opportunity. A squandered
opportunity that reinforced the notion that
Democrats either don't know how to talk about
-- or don't have the stomach for talking about
-- national security. It felt very pre-9/11.
The first half of Biden's speech -- which was
passionate, emotional, and very effective --
was centered on the economic concerns of
working class Americans. Even when he turned
his attention to his attack on McCain ("That's
not change; that's more of the same"), the
first issues he went after him on were his
support of oil companies and the 19 times he
voted against raising the minimum wage. And
the first things he praised Obama for were his
tax policy, and his plans to transform the
economy, make college more affordable, bring
down health care costs, put more cops on the
street, protect social security, and fight for
equal pay for women.
Just when I started to wonder if he too hadn't
gotten the memo that this was national
security night at the DNC, Biden finally went
after McCain on this crucial issue.
He deemed Bush's foreign policy record an
"abysmal failure" and indicted McCain as
"complicit" in it. Most important, he
repeatedly, effectively, and with great detail
made the case that on the key national
security issues of our time - including
Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan -
"McCain was wrong and Obama was right."
It was a powerful indictment of McCain -- a
heaping, close-to-9-minute serving of the red
meat that has been sorely missing from the
convention menu this week -- and effectively
made the case that national security is
actually John McCain's weakness.
That's a point Democrats need to relentlessly
hammer home from now until Election Day. Even
when it's not national security night. |
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