The Republican National Convention wrapped up their spirit pep rally last night with the crowning conversation by Presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Personally, I thought the comedic routine of Clint Eastwood was one of the highlights of the week. His presentation genuinely made me laugh out loud. They were lucky to have him and wise to put Marco Rubio in between he and Romney.
Overall, the Republicans worked hard to present the case that they represent the “working” and “average” American. They had major speakers that represented every aspect of America’s demographics – from Governor Nikki Taylor to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to Condeleeza Rice.
My personal favorite night was Tuesday when Ann Romney spoke about “love” and she and Mitt’s passion for America. Her soft speech was followed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s “hard truth” speech. It felt like a presentation by parents playing “good cop, bad cop”. She said “we genuinely care about you and we’re good people”. He said, “You’re going to have to make sacrifices to make it work”.
Paul Ryan was a fresh-faced, polished presenter. Listening to his speech, we would not know how strong of a budget-cutting fiend he has been in Congress. He, however, has suffered the biggest media attack for some of the statements in his speech. Fact checking did not match up to his words, according to all ranges of analysis.
Alas, we got to see the main character in the play. Mitt Romney. He focused his comments on the economy and made sure to steer away from the more controversial social issues that have haunted his party recently. He did just fine but I didn’t feel the fire in the belly even when I was nodding in agreement with a few of his better lines.
The messages Republicans wanted you to hear included: “We love and respect women and want women’s vote”; “we’re just like you”; “we have an open tent”; “the economy, the economy, the economy”.
Personally, I was surprised that they were less hard hitting on President Obama than had been expected. They definitely took the “soft negative” approach. “He’s a nice guy but just out of his league” was the undertone of their comments.
They did a good job of keeping their more extreme believers in check during the convention.
Next week, the Democratic convention and President Obama gets to present his case for keeping his job.