The stage at the Democratic National Convention was a Who’s Who of the Democratic Party Wednesday night, and it was almost unclear who took the cake as the best speaker of the night.
Illinois State University professor Eric Rankin, who has been leading a student trip to the convention, said it all came down to President Barack Obama’s speech.
“Last night was electric,” he said. “It was one headliner after another, and, in some respects, it was difficult to know who was the star of the show until President Obama showed up.”
ISU student Dayna Schickedanz has been traveling with the group. She said the President’s speech receives the top grade from her.
“Throughout his speech, there were several chants of ‘four more years’ and sort of ‘I love you’s to him,” she said. “And he also got really high marks from his speech, not just from Democrats and Centrists, but also from the other side of the aisle.”
Rankin said Obama’s speech was a way of handing the presidency over to nominee Hilary Clinton.
“The only way he could have made that more of a slam dunk is if he actually would have handed her a baton.”
Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine also spoke. Rankin called the first half of the speech “boring,” but he said Kaine takes on an essential role in the campaign.
“When, originally, Kaine was tapped as the VP, I was a little concerned, because he’s not a type of guy I think of as the attack dog,” he said. “And he’s actually starting to fill that role pretty well. That was a really good ‘attack dog’ speech after he got past his biography.”
Rankin had a view of the teleprompters, and, during Vice President Joe Biden’s speech, he could see when the speech followed along and when it was off the cuff. Rankin said the speech caused a mix of emotions for people in the audience.
“He has this ability to speak extemporaneously, and it’s very real when he talks,” he said. “You’ve got a bit of angry Joe and then you’ve got a bit of the one that would break down and make you cry.”
Rankin said the speakers received a big response from the audience.
“The Clinton campaign has been very strong at lining up excellent speakers and people that have been speaking from the heart,” he said.
Rankin and Schickedanz spoke with GLT's Mike McCurdy during a call-in to Sound Ideas. Hear the full interview below.