12:00 am ET
- Ate well into late local news in the Eastern and Central time zones, getting unfiltered access to a covey of undecided voters.
- Praised George W. Bush to earn bipartisan cred.
- Did a point-by-point refutation of Republican attacks on Medicare, budgets, and welfare reform.
- Rode the wave of the crowd, used humor, and built brilliantly to a conclusion.
- Made a cute, crowd-pleasing reference to Hillary.
- Graciously made it all about Obama, with his own presidency only as a backdrop.
- Talked about hope and patriotism and the American spirit in a manner that was not the least bit defensive.
- Wore the hugeness of his stature with grace, humility, and dignity.
- Gave Obama a major symbolic and literal hug.
- Most of all: didn’t disappoint and left Republicans with almost no way to rebut or respond directly to him.
Here’s more of my take on the Clinton speech from “Morning Joe”:
