As someone here has noted, he has a lot of practice at redeeming himself — but seriously, I don’t know what else more he could have said. Clinton gave the strong endorsement of Obama as commander-in-chief that was missing from his wife’s speech.
He also had a great line about Republicans complaining in 1992 1996 that he was too young and inexperienced to be commander-in-chief.
I don’t know if the secret service was jamming air cards or what, but I couldn’t connect during his speech for some reason…
One of his biggest lines was about using “the power of America’s example and not the example of America’s power.”
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Here are some excerpts
“Clearly, the job of the next President is to rebuild the American Dream and restore America’s standing in the world. Everything I learned in my eight years as President and in the work I’ve done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job.”
“He has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and rally us to high purpose. He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful President needs. His policies on the economy, taxes, health care and energy are far superior to the Republican alternatives. He has shown a clear grasp of our foreign policy and national security challenges, and a firm commitment to repair our badly strained military. His family heritage and life experiences have given him a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse nation and to restore our leadership in an ever more interdependent world. The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him. And in his first presidential decision, the selection of a running mate, he hit it out of the park.”
“With Joe Biden’s experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama’s proven understanding, insight, and good instincts, America will have the national security leadership we need.”
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I think at a certain point it starts to sound a bit defensive:
“Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world. Ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States.”
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“People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.”
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“They took us from record surpluses to an exploding national debt; from over 22 million new jobs down to 5 million; from an increase in working family incomes of $7,500 to a decline of more than $2,000; from almost 8 million Americans moving out of poverty to more than 5 and a half million falling into poverty – and millions more losing their health insurance.”
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“My fellow Democrats, sixteen years ago, you gave me the profound honor to lead our party to victory and to lead our nation to a new era of peace and broadly shared prosperity. Together, we prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief. Sound familiar?”
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“His life is a 21st Century incarnation of the American Dream. His achievements are proof of our continuing progress toward the “more perfect union” of our founders’ dreams.”