ON THE DNC

The conventions are over.  The camera crews have unplugged and moved on.  The delegates have paid their bar tabs and boarded planes for home and state campaigns, canvassing, phone calls.  The great halls are empty as custodians vacuum up the party hats, broken signs, love notes, campaign promises and all that red, white and blue confetti.  America slouches toward November. 

The DNC ended on a high note.  The Democrats had a clean sweep with powerhouse speeches from Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton, President Obama and a roster of others--substantive speeches about something--and what did the RNC have?  An old actor talking to a chair?  Nobody can remember a thing Romney said.  Bill Clinton, the previous Democratic president broke it down:  "The Republican argument against the president's re-election was pretty simple: `We left him a total mess, he hasn't finished cleaning it up yet, so fire him and put us back in.'"
 
On the other hand, the Republicans didn't even invite their last president to the convention.  That's right.  George W. Bush stayed home, persona non grata in his own party, as if his smirky face might remind people of his disastrous policies that got us into this mess.  The Republicans want too continue those policies, of course, but they want to pretend they're brand new.  Good luck, boys.  Anyone paying attention recognizes the GOP is just selling the same old bad wine in a new bottle.