Battle of the Conventions

Helen Shibut

            The conventions are over, and I’m sure you’re all very upset that you’ll have to wait an entire four more years for more.  But don’t worry—the 2012 fun isn’t over yet!  We still need to pick a winner, or shall I say,  a not-the-worst loser.  Take a look at my scoring.

+2  The Republicans get a couple points for Romney’s above-average-for-him speech in which he finally mentioned his Mormon faith and gave some background about his family.  He was obviously trying to combat those pesky rumors that he’s actually a robot, and I think he dispelled that fear for many Americans. I really wish Romney had used Clint Eastwood’s talk-to-the-chair routine.  That would’ve really showed off another side of him.

-1  The Republican Party blatantly brought out of every woman they could drag to Tampa in an attempt to get rid of the War on Women stigma.  Ann Romney’s speech was solid—in fact, most of the speeches were—but I couldn’t help agreeing with Nancy Pelosi (shiver) when a few days later she asked at the DNC “Where are the women?” speaking of the Republican Party.

-[a lot] Where was Ron Paul?  A tribute video isn’t enough for the man who made the gold standard and Audit the Fed cool to a bunch of college students, who usually have to see the Internet being attacked to care about politics. And what was with the bigwig Republicans not even counting (or for that matter, seating) all his delegates?  Clearly the party thinks smart people don’t vote.  I hope third parties and write-ins send them a big message this November. 

Total Score: somewhere in the negatives

+1 Obama’s speech wasn’t his best, but it was better than most of what we saw at the RNC.  He focused on the question of whether he or Romney could be trusted to do a better job (a legitimate question) instead of whether he’s actually been making progress. He mocked the Republicans over unpopular tax cut proposals.  The audience loved it, but I still think he got upstaged by Michelle.  Good for her.

+3 Bill Clinton made his most ringing endorsement of Obama yet.  Clinton apparently has gained significant popularity since his time out of office, and even though the economic policies he promoted while in office look nothing like Obama’s, he managed to tie them together into one big package of hope and responsibility.  Forward!

-5 Maybe this is unfair because of my more general opinion of Elizabeth Warren, but I thought her speech was tired and depressing.  However, she made the very true statement that Americans have been “fooled by student loans and cheated on mortgages.”  She neglected to mention who was responsible for the trickery (who dolled out those loans and mortgages?), but framed America’s problems as evil pranks pulled by big, fat capitalists. 

Total Score: -2, which is probably enough to beat the Republicans this round.  But really, is anyone a winner in these convention charades? Madison Liberty doesn't endorse candidates of any party, and neither of these conventions made me resentful of that rule.