What can Obama say to get your vote?
(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Even for a guy who's used to delivering impressive speeches, tonight is big.
Barack Obama will address 80,000 people at Denver's Invesco Field as the first African-American nominee ever for a major political party, on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. No pressure.
Millions more will watch him on TV – and to many of them, Obama is still an unknown. The Democratic nominee has said there are two things he wants to accomplish tonight – to make the choice between himself and John McCain as clear as possible and to tell America what he stands for.
Obama wrote a first draft of his speech longhand last week, and then worked on it with his speechwriters. He looked to previous convention speeches from people like John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton for inspiration.
Friends say Obama has become sensitive to criticism that his speeches lack content. So look for specifics on how he'll fix the country's problems tonight. But he also must connect with his audience on an emotional level. There will be lots of time for policy. Tonight he's got to make people want to vote for him. To do that, he's got to touch their feelings.
Here’s my question to you: What can Barack Obama say tonight to convince you to vote for him?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Did Clintons deliver for Obama?
Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
It was pretty easy to see last night why Bill Clinton was elected president. When he's on, there's nobody better.
The former president came out swinging, declaring that Obama is "ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world." He rather cleverly pointed out that when he was running in 1992, critics said the same things about him as they say about Obama. "Too young, too inexperienced." Clinton said those criticisms didn't work against him then, and they won't work against Obama now because "he is on the right side of history".
Like his wife, Clinton called on Hillary's 18 million supporters to vote for Obama. But he went even further than Hillary had, praising Obama's ability to inspire people, his intelligence and curiosity, his "clear grasp" of foreign policy, the strength he gained from the long primary season and his good judgment in choosing Joe Biden as his number two. And he did it all with a straight face.
Watch: Cafferty: Clintons deliver?
Bill Clinton ripped into John McCain, saying that after two terms of President Bush, "in this case, the third time is not the charm." Clinton cited a laundry list of Republican failures of the last 8 years, particularly the sinking image of America abroad: "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of power".
With thousands of delegates waving American flags, it seems like party unity may have finally arrived. Hillary Clinton also made the symbolic move yesterday of stepping forward during the roll call to propose that Obama be declared the nominee by acclamation. So after months and months of bitterness and division…
Here’s my question to you: Did the Clintons deliver for Barack Obama?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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