The view on the floor last night in Denver (Jason Kosena/Colorado Independent)

The view on the floor last night in Denver (Jason Kosena/Colorado Independent)

In this edition of the Schultz Report audiocast–and we’ll have another tomorrow, after Barack Obama’s Democratic convention-closing speech in Denver tonight–we examine developments at this week’s DNC. Hamline University political science prof and Minnesota politics analyst David Schultz gives the Democrats mixed grades for their handling of the party’s quadrennial infomercial. “The convention in some sense is just a media event anyway,” says Schultz, “a big long advertising campaign, and the theme they’ve been trying to stress is unity uber alles — that somehow, despite all the disagreements, there is actually a marriage between Clinton and Obama.

“On a superficial level, they’ve achieved that. But once you go beneath the rhetoric, what they haven’t said is much more interesting. Hillary Clinton’s speech on Tuesday said she would support Obama and that it was important to defeat McCain. But at no point did she ever recant the criticisms she had made earlier in the year about foreign policy. Bill Clinton’s speech last night, while he did say that Obama is ready, there was still the sense that it was kind of a pro forma endorsement. I listened to Bill Clinton and thought we could have filled anyone’s name into that speech. It was very generic.

“As I listened to both Clintons speak, there was a sense that the convention was still about them. There’s still this backwards tug, and Obama hasn’t yet made it about the future. Perhaps the speech tonight will do that. But for now I still feel this sense of dissension, and that Obama hasn’t yet taken control of the party.

“What the Democrats need to do at this point is remember something that the first George Bush was criticized for when he dismissed the vision thing as just ‘the vision thing.’ Vision matters, but especially this year, specifics matter. No one likes where the Republicans have taken this country for the last eight years. Everybody concedes that. I think what the American public is listening for is, what are the Democrats going to do? Do they have a specific blueprint? That is the challenge for Barack Obama tonight. He has to articulate not just the vision, but to get below that vision and say, here’s what I’m going to introduce, here’s what I’d like to work for. The Democrats need that to succeed. What’s fascinating is seeing how Obama’s greatest asset–being an orator, an inspiring speaker–is being turned against him. He needs to address issues and get specific now.”

Also in this edition: Joe Biden’s speech; is Dean Barkley hurting Coleman and helping Franken?

Listen: David Schultz on the Democratic convention and the surging Franken campaign (13:03)