Clintons upstage Obama two nights in a row

The intervention of Hillary Clinton at the Democratic Party convention in Denver on Wednesday, when she called for a halt to the roll call [see report below] and urged delegates to immediately acclaim Barack Obama as the nominee, was dramatic. But it was also well planned and came only after long negotiations between the Obama and Clinton camps, most political observers agreed today.

It was a gesture that "moved many in the convention hall to tears," said Brian Naylor on the Nation Public Radio website. But it was a "carefully choreographed dance".

Laura Meckler and Amy Chozick, writing for the Wall Street Journal called it "a carefully scripted - and carefully negotiated - bit of political stagecraft meant to continue her campaign for unity as the Democrats gird for the battle ahead."

As for husband Bill Clinton's rousing speech on behalf of Obama later in the evening, "it should help thaw his slightly chilly relations with African-American voters" according to Rebecca Sinderbrand on CNN's Political Ticker.

But Adam Nagourney, writing in the New York Times, pointed out that, what with Hillary Clinton's speech the night before, "this was the second night in a row that the Clintons had been the face of what was supposed to be Mr Obama's convention."

Several commentators voted John Kerry's speech the best of the night. While network TV cut away to ads during his address, Kerry made a strong personal attack on John McCain - the sort of attack many Democrats have been urging Obama, and now his running mate Joe Biden, to make.

"Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain, who is using the same Rove tactics," Kerry told the convention.

"I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.

"Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself."

Said Rebecca Sinderbrand on CNN's Political Ticker: "It was like the Democratic Party had entered a parallel dimension, where John Kerry was an electrifying speaker and Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were members of a mutual admiration society."

As Eve Fairbanks, blogging on The New Republic's 'The Stump', put it: "I wish Biden had taken a page from John Kerry and expressed more personal disappointment in his friend, John McCain."

FIRST POSTED AUGUST 28, 2008