I can understand Erick Erickson's nervousness over Bachmann's speech and agree with him that it was the best of the night last night.
I must admit I was deeply nervous about the speech, but I am delighted to say I was wrong. Michelle Bachmann gave the best speech of the night.
People may have been nervous beforehand because of the media most consume everyday. It seems to me, time was the Right-side blogosphere was a better counter-point to the MSM years ago when we were more cut off from it. As much as New Media has impacted the Old, now that it's everywhere one turns on the Web, it's difficult to avoid its influence. I find myself falling into that trap too on occasion. The mainstream media has been most unkind to Bachmann, among others, of course. And they particularly seem to dislike conservative women.
Obama's speech was your average yawner with no truly solid, or effective takeaways. It was also disingenuous. If you're going to deliver a line like this below and then take off for Wisconsin, expected to be a battleground state in 2012, you're full of crap. But then, that's typical for Obama.
At stake right now is not who wins the next election -– after all, we just had an election.
Ryan's speech was solid enough, though I wouldn't quite call it the homerun Jim Hoft does. The language was Beltway speech writer sterile, the emoting left to what looked like Ryan's sometimes puppy doggish-looking eyes. It seemed to me he believed deeply in what he was saying but perhaps wasn't given the language to best express it for the masses, or perhaps he's less comfortable with that style. Still, he's young and I could see him getting there with more media seasoning.
On the other hand, Bachmann's speech seemed more straight-forward, more common, or of the people, in feel. It resonated on an emotional level in a manner the others did not. Reagan was good at that, though I'm not comparing the two speakers - just making a point.
I suppose it has to do with how one perceives their audience. Bachmann is accustomed to engaging the base and it shows, though her speech was far from incendiary, so as to alienate Independents. Consequently, I think she hit the mark just a bit better than Ryan.
In the end, I came away mindful of two discussions going on in America right now. One is more of the Beltway. Both Obama's and Ryan's speeches were that; whereas, Bachmann's speech stood in contrast, being more of the people, as I said.
Policy-wise and thematically, I believe the GOP has the advantage going into 2012. But I wouldn't underestimate the image and rhetoric crafters behind Obama. They showed their capabilities in 2008. Somewhere between Bachmann's and Ryan's speeches may lie the sweet spot of policy and effective communication the GOP will need to prevail in 2012.
As I said last night on Twitter, the GOP would be foolish to ignore the energy and emotion Bachmann represents when speaking for the Tea Party caucus. I doubt that they can win without it. They'd be better served sorting out how to incorporate it, than mostly trying to stand apart from it. All that does is leave them standing squarely as one of two parties in and of Washington. Neither will play exceptionally well on the road in 2012 without the right policies and messaging.
