There is shade. And then, there are intricately constructed avenues of shade so dense that entire shadow-loving plants germinate, sprout and flourish at triple speed.
The latter is what Michelle Obama cast in the direction of Donald Trump on Monday night at the Democratic National Convention while reserving a special, at points emotional, type of praise for Hillary Clinton. Trump, an unnamed cartoon-character-like villain was referenced only indirectly as a kind of ego-driven, undisciplined potential president uninterested in both the rigors and goals of public service - a sharp and telling contrast to Clinton, according to Obama's speech.
The combination was enough make Obama's the first speech of the night during which a mention of Clinton's name did not elicit cross chants and boos from Sanders supporters, according to several people in and around the convention hall.
It was, to put it frankly, a rather skillful take down of one Donald J. Trump.
Obama started in the anodyne terrain of parenthood, leadership and behavior modeling. Obama wound up reminding America that hers is a country she knows to be imperfect but great precisely because she - a black woman and the descendant of slaves - wakes up in a grand national house built by slaves. That is how far the country's sometimes difficult to sustain or fulfill commitment to to universal equality has brought us, Obama told those listening.
Why, the question was almost implied, would anyone think it would be a good idea to go in an entirely different direction now? In times of crisis, both Obama and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in separate speeches Monday night, the country has essentially doubled down on those ideas.
Who, really who, had any doubt at all that Obama was referring to Trump when she reminded America that complex problems are rarely resolved with simple solutions or absolute declarations and never properly handled in 140 characters or less?
There are reasons that a Boston Globe political cartoonist promptly dispatched an image in which the Trumps are seated in front of a TV with Michelle Obama on the screen. Donald Trump beseeches Melania Trump to stop taking notes.
This address is how political spouse speechmaking can and should be done.
©2016, The Washington Post
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