If the Obamas sought to bring Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention back to 2008, Bill Clinton tried to bring Wednesday night back to 1992.
It was a vintage Clinton performance. He managed to give a speech — that he was characteristically tinkering with so late into the process that he had to deliver it off the page rather than strictly off the teleprompter — that felt more like a conversation with the crowd than an address. He made some of his classic rhetorical flourishes. He made historical contrasts between Republicans and Democrats, and he made points on policy. He even managed to joke about McDonald’s.
Although his roughly 30-minute speech pushed the rest of the night off schedule, Clinton’s address hit many of the themes Kamala Harris is desperate to hammer home: an aspirational vision for America, protecting the American Dream, defending democracy. He even stole much of the GOP’s language on the Constitution, the Gospel and freedom.