DNC 2012 Day 1: Michelle Obama says it nicely

Michelle Obama takes the stage^*

The Democrats opened their convention in Charlotte, North Carolina last night.  First Lady Michelle Obama had the prime time speaking slot.

Mrs. Obama's speech was effective.  It contrasted her own life and the life of her family with that of the Romney's without resorting to vitriol and without ever once mentioning the Romneys by name.  Two excerpts by way of example:

My father was a pump operator at the city water plant, and he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when my brother and I were young. 

Ann Romney also suffers from multiple sclerosis. But Mrs. Romney is blessed to have access to top-rate health care and enough resources that she can avoid physical labor.

When it comes to giving our kids the education they deserve, Barack knows that like me and like so many of you, he never could’ve attended college without financial aid.

Remember Mitt Romney's suggestion for young people who couldn't afford college tuition? "Borrow money from your parents if you have to." Out of touch, don't cover the half of it.

The Romneys are a wealthy family. Wealthy beyond the means of any previous president. That doesn't make them evil, but it does suggest that they have no conception of the worries that plague most Americans.  Mrs. Obama drew a stark contrast, not just between the Romneys and the Obamas, but between the Romneys and 95% of the American public.

Maty was inspired by Mrs. Obama's speech.  She said it gave her goosebumps.  But for me, it didn't hit hard enough.  I preferred the fired up speech delivered by Ohio's former governor, Ted Strickland.



Here's the takeaway from Governor Strickland's speech.

Now, Mitt Romney, he lives by a different code. To him, American workers are just numbers on a spreadsheet.

To him, all profits are created equal, whether made on our shores or off. That's why companies Romney invested in were dubbed "outsourcing pioneers." Our nation was built by pioneers—pioneers who accepted untold risks in pursuit of freedom, not by pioneers seeking offshore profits at the expense of American workers here at home.

Mitt Romney proudly wrote an op-ed entitled, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." If he had had his way, devastation would have cascaded from Michigan to Ohio and across the nation. Mitt Romney never saw the point of building something when he could profit from tearing it down. If Mitt was Santa Claus, he'd fire the reindeer and outsource the elves.
Mitt Romney has so little economic patriotism that even his money needs a passport. It summers on the beaches of the Cayman Islands and winters on the slopes of the Swiss Alps. In Matthew, chapter 6, verse 21, the scriptures teach us that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. My friends, any man who aspires to be our president should keep both his treasure and his heart in the United States of America. And it's well past time for Mitt Romney to come clean with the American people.
On what he's saying about the president's policy for welfare to work, he's lying. Simple as that. On his tax returns, he's hiding. You have to wonder, just what is so embarrassing that he's gone to such great lengths to bury the truth? Whatever he's doing to avoid taxes, can it possibly be worse than the Romney-Ryan tax plan that would have sliced Mitt's total tax rate to less than one percent?

Take it to 'em, Governor.  There is no profit in euphemisms.

On another topic, evidence of the demographic divide between the two parties is evident each time the television cameras pan over the raucous crowd. 

Democrats

Republicans

Notice the difference?  The future of the Republican party is bleak, indeed, if they can't turn this around.

Occupy protesters outside the convention hall^*

The Occupy folks were making a ruckus outside the convention hall.  Good for them.  The Democrats are a thousand times better than the Republicans, but they're far from perfect.  I'm glad the Occupy folks are calling them out.

^*Photos courtesy of The Eye.