5. Bill Clinton — I grew up in Arkansas, worked both of Clinton’s campaigns (the first one, before I could vote), and the man inspired me to go to college, as well as my interest in politics, law, and journalism. In high school, I had a life-size stand-up of him playing sax on the Arsenio Hall Show in my bedroom, and every morning I’d wake up and nearly jump out of my skin because I thought there was a man standing over me. He is what one might call a (very) problematic fave, and so it was a little hard to watch a 78-year-old version of that once vibrant President give a speech — and a reminder, again, of how old Donald Trump is because, as Clinton told us, he’s younger than Trump. Still, Clinton did what he always does best: It’s not soaring rhetoric. It’s folksy red-meat, and as old as he is, he can speak to his generation, and we need a lot of those votes, too. And what he did best, I thought, was to hit upon what Obama did the night before with the leaf blower comparison: Remind us of what a whiny, self-interested complainer that Trump is. He had a great line about how next time you listen to a Trump speech, “don’t count the lies, count the I’s.” Says it all, doesn’t it? This was Clinton’s 12th consecutive DNC speech, by the way, which is insane.
4. John Legend and Sheila E — And also Ari O'Neal on guitar, because damn. It was a long night, and God Bless Clinton, but he kind of slowed the momentum. A little Prince for the man from Minnesota woke us the hell right up! Legend can bring it!
3. Pete Buttigieg, Josh Shapiro, and Wes Moore — I couldn’t pick one. All three gave fantastic speeches, and it was my first introduction to Moore (who I also saw on MSNBC this morning). It’s so amazing to see how deep the Democratic bench runs — there’s also Maura Healey and Gretchen Whitmer and Andy Beshear, and several others. The next Democratic primary is going to be impossible! And what do they have? Ron DeSantis. Also, it’s insane how many veterans we have, especially when the Republican party is supposedly the party of veterans. My ass. We are stacked.
2. Oprah Winfrey — I was a little annoyed at first that they’d invited a billionaire celebrity to speak because even though she’s Oprah freakin’ Winfrey, I have been digging the average person vibes of this DNC. But she gave one hell of a speech, and she drove home the message about values. And who better than Oprah Winfrey to give the values speech? Yes, of course: It’s about the economy, immigration, education, and abortion, but “decency and respect” are also on the ballot. And who better to represent the childless cat lady demo than the most successful childless cat lady ever? We forget, but this is why Oprah is Oprah.
1. Tim Walz — If you haven’t seen one of Walz’s stump speeches, this was just about as perfect an introduction as possible. Except for the pep talk, however, there wasn’t much new that those of us who spend too much time following politics haven’t heard. That said, the moment when his weepy son Gus stood up and said, “That’s my Dad!” may have been the most emotional moment of the entire DNC for me. The affection that Doug Emhoff’s kids have for him and the affection that Walz’s family has for him are parenting goals, completely aside from politics. Both kids cried for their dad when he was introduced! Who knew the DNC would also be a parenting tutorial? Be like Tim!
You know what else I loved about his speech? That his intro song was “Small Town,” by Mellencamp. I love Springsteen (and Bon Jovi) as much as the next guy, but Jersey blue collar — steel mills and diners — is a lot different than Mellencamp’s music about rural life. And then he had Neil Young’s “Rockin' in the Free World” play him off, and y’all, those two songs are just A+ Dad rock. Well done!
Heather Cox Richardson noted that Neil Young personally granted permission to use "Rockin' in the Free World". When Trump has tried to use it, Young has sued. As I said yesterday, I'll never get tired of musicians saying yes to decent humans and no to hateful assholes.
The Trump kids were the biggest losers of last night. Imagine having to see over and over what a good parent's love and respect look like while your own dad is Donald Trump.