Presidential election season is upon us once again, and boy is it tight right now. This election is shaping up to be filthy. For voters, this year seems more important than elections in the past.
We have our first black president, Barack Obama, who many believe has failed them. The Democrat took control in 2008 during an economic crisis, and managed to do absolutely nothing to better it, critics say he made it much worse. And then there is the Republican Willard Mitt Romney. Critics of Romney say he doesn't pay his taxes, he is a Mormon, and his ventures with Bain Capital cost people their jobs (and in some cases people's lives).
However none of that was mentioned at the Republican National Convention, which unofficially on August 27, and wrapped up on the 30th.
I say unofficially because there was a speech that lasted for a timed 27 seconds saying in short, "Welcome everybody, things will start tomorrow thanks to tropical storm Isaac".
The festivities on Tuesday started with a black, former congressman, Artur Davis. This former democrat spoke of how he was blinded by hope and change. He said he was blinded by the halo that seemed to float over Obama's head. He attributed his support to Obama to leading with his heart, and his dreams and Obama's charismatic oration. Interestingly enough, Artur Davis' speech only aired on Fox News.
Succeeding Davis, was Romney's wife, Ann. Ann gave what many called a beautiful speech. She talked about women and how Romney will take care of them. People were most moved by her talking about their marriage, and having to deal with Breast Cancer, and MS, together.
"Mitt does not like to talk about how much he helps others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point," Ann Romney said.
The keynote speaker on Tuesday was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Many urged him to run for president in this election, but he refused. However, his speech seemed like something he would give on his own campaign trail. He talked about himself, and how he reformed education in his state. He didn't even mention Romney until about 20 minutes into the speech. That said, the speech was expertly orated, bring the crowd to their feet on numerous occasions.
"Welcome to President Obama's retirement party" former governor Tim Pawlety said.
That is how Wednesday started out. The speeches from the previous day, with the exception of Davis', did not really tear into Obama like most expected. That was not so with Wednesday's round of speeches. It started with Pawlenty's relatively generic speech to kick things off, much like SC Governor Nikki Haley's did the previous day.
After Pawlenty came 2008 presidential candidate, and former governor, Mike Huckabee. There was a clearly defined theme to Mr. Huckabee's speech, "We can do better". Over and over again did he repeat this phrase. While on paper it may seem repetitive, it should be noted that he received multiple standing ovations from the rowdy crowd.
Former Secretary of State in the Bush administration Condoleeza Rice gave a rousing speech as well. The most memorable moment of her speech by far was when she talked about how she could not get a hamburger at the local restaurant in her native Birmingham, Alabama. Despite this, her parents still convinced her that she would one day grow up and be the President of the United States.
The keynote from this night was the vice presidential candidate himself, Paul Ryan. This speech had it all. It had humor, bluntness, it was light, it was serious, it was very well done. It had interesting trivial information.
"If the United States unemployed and underemployed lined up, the line would reach across the American continent," Ryan said.
Oh, and it laid into Obama hard. Ryan really let him have it. He ripped Obamacare to shreds in his speech. The masses all agree, too. After the masterful speech from Ryan, data from the pollsters had popular opinion of Ryan and his president, Romney, skyrocket. A memorable part of his speech was when he talked about a General Motors plant in his hometown Janesville, Wisconsin that, in 2008, Obama promised would remain in use for the foreseeable future. It closed within the year.
The final day of speeches started with famed actor Clint Eastwood. The 80 -year-olds speech was completely ad-libbed, and earned respect from many for that. It was a humorous speech in tone, Eastwood spent a lot of his time talking to an imaginary President Obama, asking him pretty typical questions, and making a lot of jokes at he and Biden's expense. Structurally, the speech was not very good, however the purpose of him being there was for star power, and not much else.
After that came Florida's own, Marco Rubio. He gave an eloquent speech on the perks of being an American, no matter the party.The most memorable portion of the speech came when he talked about talks he used to have with his grandfather, a Cuban expatriate, on the front porch of his house.
"He told me, 'You have the opportunity to anything you want, because you are an American, you live in America!'," Rubio said.
Finally, the man of the week, Mitt Romney took the stage to accept his parties nomination for the presidency. Many noted that his speech was more compassionate than in the past. There was not much, if any, talk of his plan future, or smack talk toward the current president. It was all about his family, specifically his parents, and unconditional love.
As expected, the crowd was on their feet for most of the speech, breaking out into patriotic chants like, "USA! USA!" frequently. Everyone in Romney's camp hopes that he can continue with this buzz and momentum to carry them through these last, tough, and undoubtedly dirty, few months before that first Tuesday in November.
