DNC Ends, Conventions’ Close Signal November Election

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The Democratic National Convention (DNC) ended last week in Charlotte, North Carolina signaling the final jaunt to the November Election. With both parties’ convention complete, voters now likely have a better understanding of the platforms from both parties, and, also a deeper insight into their leadership.

This year’s RNC (Republican National Convention) showed that the GOP is devoutly focused on the economy. In contrast, based on last week’s DNC, Democrats are focused primarily on preserving abortion, ensuring the implementation of Obamacare, and expanding the role of government. But, other aspects of the parties surfaced in the conventions as well.

First, after only a brief delay due to weather, the RNC went off without a hitch. The platform was voted on in an orderly manner and passed unanimously by the delegation. Each speaker supported the platform and endorsed Romney with the proper accolades. The result of the convention was evidence of the party’s organization. In contrast, the DNC first passed its platform excluding all mention of God and Israel—The RNC, of course, included God and Israel, recognizing Jerusalem as the nation’s capitol. Following fierce public backlash, though, convention leadership tried to amend the platform by including God and Israel. The amendment, however, required a two-thirds majority vote by the convention to pass, in the form of yeas from the audience. When Convention Chairman Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for the votes, the delegates shouted an overwhelming, “no.” Villaraigosa called three times for a vote and each time the audience shouted back “no” louder than the last. By the third time, Villaraigosa was told to accept the amendments even though the delegates did not want the changes. While some voted for the changes, the majority voted against the platform. Further, though, when the amendments were approved (by the sheer will of the convention leadership, not a majority vote) the delegation eerily booed the changes.

To clarify, here, the majority of the delegation rejected the inclusion of God and Israel in the platform. The platform fiasco sends several messages to voters. It reveals a disorganized party, uncertain with inconsistent ideas, and internal division, something Democrats have accused Republicans of.

The other scar on the DNC was the presence of Former President Bill Clinton in the line-up. Political Analyst and Former Clinton Advisor Dick Morris commented recently that the slight bounce in Obama’s approval poll is due to Clinton’s speech, not Obama’s. On Clinton’s performance, Morris said the former president seemed like an attorney defending a guilty client. During the RNC, the theme was that question Reagan asked when he ran against Carter: are we better off than we were four years ago? The DNC speakers essentially avoided the question like the plague, with the exception of Clinton who tried to convince the audience that the answer was “yes.” This, however, seemed a hard-sell to those outside the convention. In fact, Clinton made the answer to the question even more pronounced than if he had not presented at all. In an interview this weekend, New Gingrich highlighted this point, saying that Clinton reminded the delegates of his administration when unemployment was low and the economy thriving, which was due to Clinton’s move to the right in his second term and worked with Republicans. Conversely, the Obama Administration has been marked by high unemployment (above 8 percent for the last four years) and an incessantly floundering economy. Columnist Michael Barone called Obama’s speech

“the same old, same old.”

Barone notes that in his speech Obama said he has goals to accomplish in a second term, but the goals were vague. As such, a host of facts severely damages the prospect of a second term for Obama.

As the president finished his speech Thursday night, the national debt was on its way to crossing the $16 trillion dollar line, the jobs report ready for release showed the unemployment rate above eight percent for the 43rd consecutive month, and 23 million Americans were and are out of work or underemployed.

“He’s good at giving great speeches, he’s just really bad at creating jobs,”

Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan said, responding to the president’s speech during an event in Reno.

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