For the self described "intellectual godmother" of Occupy Wall Street, Elizabeth Warren's fifteen minute speech to the DNC sounded more like a well rehearsed lecture filled with standard left-wing platitudes delivered by a politically correct graduate student than the William Jennings Bryan stemwinder her supporters had hoped for.
It was a pedestrian effort, filled with attacks on "millionaires and billionaires" - probably written by the Obama campaign. Ms. Warren showed none of the sparkle that made her a favorite of the far left.
I thought her speech was flat, filled with boiler plate lefty language.
By my count, it included two hammers, five rigged systems, six level playing fields, and a few crowd pleasing stories of how superhero Barack Obama's federal government had punished evil corporations.
By my count, it included two hammers, five rigged systems, six level playing fields, and a few crowd pleasing stories of how superhero Barack Obama's federal government had punished evil corporations.
In Warren's world, middle class citizens have been "tricked" by credit card companies, "fooled" by student loans, and "cheated" by mortgage companies. She failed to mention, however, that the origins of these financial system problems can be found in the very liberal policies she and the Democratic Party have championed for the past two decades.
The crowd inside the convention hall liked her speech, but the "wild applause" was fairly constrained. The big flaw in the speech was its complete failure to reach out to anyone outside the extreme left-wing base of the Democratic Party. I can't imagine that many undecided voters actually took the time to watch the speech. Any of those who did, I'm sure, were unpersuaded by Ms. Warren's repetitive rhetoric.
The best part of the speech came when she talked about her childhood and family. But surprisingly, she made no mention of her claims of Native American ancestry which, if she's telling the truth, would be something she should be proud to tell the entire nation:
Like a lot of you, I grew up in a family on the ragged edge of the middle class. My daddy sold carpeting and ended up as a maintenance man. After he had a heart attack, my mom worked the phones at Sears so we could hang on to our house. My three brothers all served in the military. One was career. The second worked a good union job in construction. The third started a small business.Me, I was waiting tables at 13 and married at 19. I graduated from public schools and taught elementary school. I have a wonderful husband, two great children, and three beautiful grandchildren. And I'm grateful, down to my toes, for every opportunity that America gave me...
There's a significant Native American caucus at the DNC. Ms. Warren has not only refused to meet with them, she failed to make even the most cursory acknowledgement of the importance of her "shared heritage" with them. But amidst a convention filled with appeals to every other minority group, why was she silent about her own claimed ancestry?
The answer is obvious. Any mention of Native Americans in her speech would have reminded the country that she has destroyed her own credibility on every issue during her Senate campaign.
The DNC pinned their hopes on Ms. Warren's speech tonight. In fifteen minutes Ms. Warren ably summarized what's happened to the country during four years of the Obama administration.
For the Democrats tonight, as with the nation since 2008, hope has been replaced with disappointment.
