The president's oration charged the air with excitement on the first night of a four-day convention intended to offer the American public a different story line from the one the Republican National Convention presented two weeks ago in Philadelphia. In a convention that tore a few pages from the Clinton playbook of 1992, Bush and the GOP tried to put their stamp on issues identified more with Democrats, such as education, health care and Social Security. Gore and his running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, intend to take those issues back, and Clinton led their attack. Clinton stressed that it is not only the economic picture that has changed in the past eight years. Clinton said the nation's schools now have higher standards, more accountability, more and better teachers and smaller classes.
Jobs are up, and so are adoptions.
The debt is down, and so is teen pregnancy. We are growing more diverse and more tolerant. Clinton did not plan to mention Bush by name in his speech. But he had a lot to say about Gore. Now, you know how I feel.