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The New York Times’ Jodi Kantor: “Behind the scenes, Mrs. Obama’s advocacy for her husband can be so forceful that speechwriters have had to tone it down over the years for public presentation, aides say. But despite the scathing critiques of Republicans that she had been known to deliver in private, her advisers believe that she is most potent when she does not appear overtly political and that she comes across best as a gracious noncombatant in the red-and-blue wars. So at the convention, they say, she will try to present herself as a caring, wifely figure and appear above the partisan fray.”
“The First Lady has come a long way since her convention address in Denver four years ago, when she was tasked with convincing a reluctant public that she was more than some of her brow-furrowing words,” the New York Daily News writes.
San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro delivers the keynote speech tonight. First Read previewedwhat he might say Aug. 1.
“Henry Cisneros. Antonio Villaraigosa. Bill Richardson,” the Daily Beast’s Romano writes. “It’s a safe bet that Julian Castro, the San Antonio mayor and rising Latino star set to deliver the keynote address Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention, remembers these names well. Once upon a time, each of them—Cisneros, Villaraigosa, Richardson—was touted in Beltway circles as a future leader of the Democratic Party: the Hispanic politician who would finally become a national favorite by tapping into the vast (and growing) power of the Spanish-speaking electorate while displaying the kind of crossover appeal that often eludes lesser talents. Maybe one of them would even become the first Latino president. And then they flamed out. … So as Castro, 37, prepares to step into the spotlight in Charlotte, an opportunity that observers are already likening to Obama’s turn at the 2004 convention, it’s worth asking whether he can avoid the Curse of Next Big Latino Democrat—and follow a path more like the president’s instead.”
Politico: “Since becoming San Antonio’s mayor in 2009, Julian Castro has soared into prominence as one of the nation’s young Hispanic leaders. He is repeatedly mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate for Texas governor or even president, talk that will likely escalate after his Tuesday night prime-time address in Charlotte, N.C.”
But this is the part some conservatives are focused on: “Some would say the mayor has had a swift and charmed ascent. But his mother, whose own political activism on behalf of Hispanics when her boys were young drew hate mail and, she says, the attention of the Justice Department, knows her sons' rise is evidence of Hispanics' growing and long overdue political power,” FOX News Latino writes. “ ‘They called us militant, but our way of doing things was through political ends,’ Rosie Castro said of her fight for Mexican-American rights in the 1970s. ‘Not through guns, not through overthrowing the government, but through the political process.’”
NBC Latino: “As Latinos take center stage tonight – San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will be the first Hispanic to give the keynote address at the Democratic convention – Latino Democrats say the stakes are high.”
Jordan Fabian: “Castro’s personal background shares distinct similarities with that of the president. A single mother raised him and he took advantage of affirmative action admissions policies to attend the nation’s top institutions of higher education. Castro graduated from Stanford University before earning a law degree from Harvard, the same law school that the president attended. The Castros grew up in San Antonio’s west side, a relatively poor neighborhood that remains heavily Latino. Their father, activist Jesse Guzman, and their mother, a schoolteacher, separated when the kids were just eight years old. Rosie Castro raised her two children with the help of her mother, a Mexican immigrant who dropped out of elementary school and worked as a maid, a cook, and a babysitter.”
The AP’s Oreskes on Obama’s challenge this week: “There are a lot of very angry people in the country, out of work or living on less. But anger is not the dominant political sentiment among the voters likely to swing this presidential election. It is, instead, disappointment… A key part of Obama’s central argument is that, without him, these last four years would have been worse. There is considerable evidence this is true. … But it’s a hard sell to compare what a report says and what palpably is
He also notes that Obama has higher stakes in his convention than Romney did: “[I]t is precisely because the country knows so much about Obama that he has the higher hill to climb. That’s the downside of being the incumbent. It will take more than Joe Biden’s bumper sticker for Obama to assuage two very different groups of disappointed voters — liberals who wish Obama had done more and swing voters who wish what he had done had worked more.”
“Former employees of companies owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, will speak at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this week, according to an Obama campaign official,” the Boston Globe writes, adding, “The Obama campaign official said the speakers will offer personal testimonies that resemble those featured in campaign ads, in which laid-off workers have talked about losing jobs at Bain-owned companies.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund says it’s holding a “Women are Watching” rally during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this afternoon as part of its campaign to educate voters about what’s at stake for women and women’s health this election. The lineup includes: Planned Parenthood Action Fund President, Cecile Richards, Mayor Cory Booker, Congresswoman Gwen Moore, and Georgetown Law Center graduate and women's health activist, Sandra Fluke.
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Maybe Michelle will wear her Hoochie Momma outfit, like she did for the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.
Nothin' like prime time "exposure"
No-More-For-44
Maybe Michelle will wear her Hoochie Momma outfit, like she did for the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.
Nothin' like prime time "exposure"
Nothing Funny, this is why some in the GOP like this goof are noting but race batters!!!
Hoochie momma Outfit!!
go scR3w your self!!!
nomore44, i'm sure you had a mother, but where are the manners she taught you?
Is that all you've got? LOL. "Hoochie Momma outfit" That's too funny!
No-More - you illustrate the no class Repubicans to a tee! Pathetic little radical right winger!
Obama/Biden 2012
Let the media fabricated enthusiasm gap start to close and swing in the Democrats favor. Which by the way, it already has.
"media fabricated"?? Leave it to the liberals to downplay the growing sentiment among the population that Obama has angered many of the people that stood by him in 2008. You can't hide behind another speech promising us of "hope and change". Over the last 3 1/2 years we have seen no hope and very little change in our pockets, Mr. President!
Mo-JK1963 - Totally predictable. You guys are running the empty suit and his dummy and you wonder why no one is excited about them?
Obama/Biden 2012
Exhibit A for the prosecution, the total lack of any bounce for Willard 5 days after the close of his convention. Has anyone ever won a Presidential election that was not leading in the polls 5 days after their convention?
Anyone who expects a President to be able to actually do everything he hopes he will be able to during his campaign is asking for disappointment. Especially with a congress that has vowed to sabotage anything he attempts.
It's not surprising the administration has had to tone down Michelle's words over the years to make them palatable to the American public.
I say...turn her loose!...let us see what she really thinks! It would be eye opening for sure.
commonamerican1 - No one has toned down anything about Michelle Obama. Our First Lady has always been classy; elegant; beautiful; fashionable and intelligent - you know, all the things your party, in whole, lacks!
Obama/Biden 2012
SeekingSanity - Did you even read the article? Go back and read the 2d paragraph that starts “Behind the scenes, Mrs. Obama’s advocacy for her husband can be so forceful that speechwriters have had to tone it down over the years for public presentation, aides say.
sfcret,
Leave it to sanity to not even read the article...she is all hyped about her latest edition of Liberal Looney Tunes!
You can tell that these tea bag folks know that the President is going to win reelection and it driving them bonkers!
I think the tea partiers are experiencing "convention-envy."
Can you blame them? Their convention in Tampa was a flop.
Amy,
Tampa was a flop
How so?
How so?
1) Mitt Romney failed to mention the war in Afghanistan during his acceptance speech. I know it's supposed to be "the economy, stupid" but a President does have a little something to do with foreign policy, stuff like WAR.
2) Paul Ryan told several whoppers during his speech, which even the journo-entertainers couldn't help but point out were not true. Over the top rhetoric is kind of expected at a convention - but outright untruths? We haven't sunk that low in national politics, have we?
3) No bounce.
Amy, don't forget that their 'big surprise' was an old man talking to an empty chair without a script.
Their production crew blew it on more than one occasion, too. They had bad scheduling (Eastwood after the Romney video? In prime time? Oops!), almost nothing started on time, the other speakers talked more about themselves than the Romney ticket, no specifics on the Romney/Ryan plan were given, and the props didn't work all that well, either. Not to mention the 'theme' of the convention was based on a Fox News perpetrated lie.
Definitely flop. Especially with the 'No Bounce' result.
Matthew,
Then care to explain why is the race a dead heat? Sounds like it's the Democrats that are wringing their hands in worry... "Old man", really?? That old man can surely see through the fake of a president we have now...
"House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) on Monday described Labor Day as a celebration of entrepreneurs and business owners, rather than workers." Meanwhile, in Rome the Pope announced that Christmas actually celebrates the birth of Mohammed.
Check out this video if you want to see what a REALLY GOOD SPEECH looks like against the GOP! There should be a montage of speeches one night of small clips of those Dems running for Congress and Senate so everyone could get to know them like this video.
http://mscyprah.newsvine.com/_news/2012/09/04/13654538-a-real-democrat-gives-one-of-the-best-most-kick-a-political-speeches-ive-ever-seen-video?threadId=3556903&commentId=69628260#c69628260
So, The NY Times is all but saying we are not going to see the TRUE Mrs. Obama? Would the REAL Michelle Obama please stand up??
....in other words, we can look forward to more smoke and mirrors since you have no record to run on. Nice try Democrats, not even your own NY Times isn't falling for it.
Yeah, no record . . .
Never mind that every stock index has doubled, there has been over 29 straight months of job growth, over 4.5 million jobs have been created, 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repealed, pay fairness strengthened under the Lilly Ledbedder(sp?) Act, the troops are out of Iraq (no, it was not under the Bush schedule), etc., etc., etc. Obviously this man has no record to run on . . .
<end sarcasm>
Yeah, Truth_Hurts-3416308, keep repeating that old, worn out, Republican/TP Inc. talking point lie. It really makes you sound as foolish as you are.
Matthew, Houston, TX
Are you denying that President Obama did not try and renegotiate the Status of Forces Agreement, signed by President Bush and ratified by the Iraqi government? Are you denying that the Iraqi Government refused to allow American Troops to remain in Iraq after 31 Dec 2011 and required them to be withdrawn by the end of 2011 as stated in the SOFA?
TRuth Hurts:
No Convention bounce. Because Ryan/Romney offerred no SOLUTIONS or Policy proposals. A 5 Point bumpresticker wont cut it and America noticed...BIG TIME.
Screaming about Obama's record isnt enough. You have to have ideas and solutions that can be debated, vetted and scored. Ryan/Romney have offerred NONE. Just their Trojan Horse of trickle down
Romney has NO CORE
Obama/Biden 2012
Thank you, sfcret, for backing up my point that it was not on Bush's schedule. And, no, I don't deny any of those things.
Matthew, Houston, TX - Thank you for admitting it was on the SCHEDULE agreed to by President Bush and the Iraqi Government in 2008. If it wasn't on Bush's schedule, then who's schedule was it on?
Wrong
againas usual, sfcret. It most definitely was not on the schedule agreed to by Bush, they left earlier.Good god, sfcret, you are one dense fool.
Michelle's husband has been called every filthy epithet in the English language, has been lied about in a virtual hurricane of falsehoods, and has been the subject of never ending false smear and racial hatred from the slimy bottom of the human gene pool. Is it any wonder that she gets annoyed at what her two young daughters hear about their father at the hands of home-grown hate groups like the Republican Party?
Affinity - Since when is calling the President a Socialist because of his socially slanted policies a racist connotation? That's is all I have heard the GOP call him. I don't see where liberals are getting their evidence that Republicans are calling him by racial slurs and showing racial hatred? WHERE IS THE PROOF? Liberal media claims all the GOP are racists all the time but I have never seen any video or written evidence of it. Do you have any? Any pictures showing Tea Party holding signs with racial slurs?
The only racism oriented event I recall was in 2008 of how well over 90% of black voters voted for Obama. Less than 1% voted for the white guy McCain. Why is that? Are there no Conservative Blacks? If they were conservative, why didn't they vote for the conservative candidate? Are blacks really that like minded politically and on social issues? Are they really still that segmented culturally? Why?
BTW...the smear campaign goes both ways with the GOP and DNC. Both are guilty of it and I think it is a shame to our political process.
If u have been watching the news the past 4years u would have seen the signs and if u listen to your conservative talk shows u here all the time, either your that ignorant or u just choose to close your ears and mind when u see it or here it. And African Americans are no different than anybody else we vote our interest it just so happens the majority of us believe democrats are more in line with our interest. Repukes like to think we have even playing field like our brutal past didn't exist that the Gov't have no role in trying to rite the wrong that was forced on us all those years ago
How about the picture of the Teabagger sign showing Obama as an African witch doctor with a Bone through his nose? And then of course the video Teabaggers spitting on black DEmocratic congressmen.
And then of course, there was that Palin rally when speaking about Obama, a Teabagger shouted 'Kill Him!'.
Thats 3, I can come up with more if you like. Face it, your party is afraid of the diminsihing majority status of Whites in the United States.
Romney has no Core and No Solutions. Romney is a Loser
Because trickle down ecomnomics and corporate-rewarding policies dont work for African Americans either. It also doesnt help with the GOP disenfranchising African Americans by their voter ID (Jim Crow, Poll TAx) laws.
And (4) No actual Policy Proposals or Solutions.
Romney has NO CORE and NO SOLUTIONS