Is the Media Going Soft on the Democrats?
It was the nineties all over again: the media all but swooning over Bill Clinton as he was shaking and baking and rocking and rolling, with some carping about his self-indulgent ways but sheer gratitude that he is such colorful copy.
The rave reviews that followed the former president’s stemwinder at the Democratic convention came a day after a journalistic standing ovation for Michelle Obama’s highly personal speech.
The question must be asked: Are the media getting swept away in Charlotte in a way they most certainly weren’t in Tampa?
A case can certainly be made that the Bill and Michelle speeches achieved an emotional intensity that no speaker at the Republican convention was able to match. Mitt and Ann Romney’s addresses drew favorable reviews, but his especially did not feel like a breakthrough moment. The only star attraction that really got the media buzzing, and not in a good way, was Clint Eastwood.
And the compelling nature of Clinton unleashed prompted many conservative pundits to praise his performance, with GOP strategist Alex Castellanos going so far as to say it probably sealed Barack Obama’s reelection.
That seems a bit over the top, but let’s say there is a broad consensus that Clinton delivered a classic bit of political theater.