Barack Obama Plays it Safe – Spectator Blogs

I’ll have a fuller, more considered take on Barack Obama’s convention speech in tomorrow’s Scotsman but my initial impression was that this is not one of those Obama speeches people will remember. Doubtless it will be included in some edition of his selected speeches but that will be because of the occasion at which is was delivered, not because it was a magnificent example of his oratorical prowess.

Perhaps the President is a victim of his own success. Expectations for an Obama speech are higher than for other politicians. Nevertheless, when one thinks of all the talking in Charlotte this week you can make a decent case that Obama was outshone by his wife, eclipsed by Bill Clinton and even, in terms of making a case for his re-election, second fiddle to Joe Biden on the night.

Biden in fact gave a speech that, though too long, was pitched directly too Obama’s weakest demographic: blue-collar, white men.