Hillary's Panoramic Picture Needs A Zoom Lens

I must admit.

I was a little afraid for poor Hillary because she messed up and engineered the best group of political speeches we've ever seen as an affirmation to her credibility and an introduction to her as the official nominee of the Democrat party.

The Reverend Dr. William Barber II turned a more mundane list of final night speakers into a night of speaking just as strong as any of the other nights. But that is only because Hillary did the damn thing too.

I could have chosen much more dignified words to meet the gravitas of the moment and the person who owned it, but it was beyond presidential.  It was real talk like we've never quite seen from Hillary or any presidential candidate.

It had so much detailed specificity that the most common republican critique after the speech was not to the detail and planning, but to the fact that she didn't precede it all by saying "I'm going to ask congress for these things", realizing that the only encumbrance to her thorough dissertation would be those do-nothings.

Donald Trump, conversely, not only insures you that he- and only he- can do the things that he promises, he does so with as little detail as he can get away with.  Thus far, that is quite a bit.

On stage last night, Hillary followed up a man that started out his spiritual lambasting of conservatives- of which all of us who are Christian naturally find allegiance to- with a not so veiled refrain that went as follows.

"I am so concerned about those who say so much about what God says so little, while saying so little about what God says so much"

If the point wasn't quite made clear enough, Dr. Barber later added

"When religion is used to camouflage meanness, we know we have a heart problem in America"   



Hillary would be forced to follow a thunderous response to a pastor who extended love to everyone including the Atheist. His powerful expose on repairing the heart of America- "as WE all become the moral defibrillators of this nation by shocking the heart with love"- only added to my worry for what Hillary had to do to get the same kind of audience
participation.

What I discovered was a Hillary who replaced her previous myopic camera with one bearing a panoramic view of things.  In bringing this tool to the proceedings, she was able to reveal a picture for each of us that included so many more people than we've ever previously seen under the progressive tent.

A week that started out as an umbrage to Bernie and his progressive supporters as a means of honoring what they did to this years campaign, took a sharp turn to the right and opened up its tent to make space for those seemingly sane conservatives. By the time she was finished, that space was opened up, cleared out, cleaned up and comfortably furnished for those bewildered conservatives.  What made it so inviting was that it was done so by the bonded coalition of both sides of the convention hall who constantly interrupted things while screaming, "USA, USA" instead of the other refrains that filled the week.

Bernie's folks are fully on board because they are finally convinced that Hillary is chasing after their needs and fulfilling their platform. They came to the convention bearing arms and ready for war, but you could hear the collective clang of their defenses falling to the floor as Hillary disarmed them all with a political speech for the ages.

What made it great might take time to fully digest.  It wasn't like any of the others that we had heard nights or moments before her, but more vital than them all. Might that have been the reason why so many of us were slowly placed into the palm of her hands?  It was important that she delivered, but we watched with LeBron James like skepticism doubtful that her shrilly voice could keep us long enough to hold us in her grip.

With palms open wide, Hillary held us tight.

She never grabbed or squeezed, yet she first, softly opened her hand wide, then gently laid it down low where those who already believed in her placed US to be ushered into her clearly capable palms.  What we still don't know about her sketchy past, we can probably assign to the pit bull that her grandma instilled in her when she wouldn't let her back in to the house until she dealt with those bullies.  What we do know is that she is now a pit bull herself who'll fight to the death for that which she believes in. For that which is right.

Exclude those outside of her panoramic capacity.  For those, Hillary still hasn't explained Benghazi or taken enough blame for it.  What they won't tell you is that they wouldn't vote for if she sent them all a personal letter, personally apologizing for the results of Benghazi.

Asking Hillary to own Benghazi is nothing more than a last ditch approach to blemish the record of someone with way too many positives to begin with. I believe dearly that we are all mostly a reflection of the fruit we bear. At this stage in her political career, there is a huge list of accomplishments versus a small list of speculations. When I recently agreed with president Obama that Hillary Clinton is the most qualified presidential candidate in history, the best contradiction anyone could come up with was George Bush Sr., who had been a vice president among other positions prior to his tenure as president.

If only one person came up with one vice president who's prior experience might equal Hillary Clinton, that only adds credence to the claim.

Before republicans knew she would run for office, they were famously found fawning over Hillary and her ability to get things done in congress and as our Secretary of State.  If policy and history dictated our party affiliation versus the signature card we send to the post office, Hillary would be a republican. But so would Obama.

Hillary has laid clean bowls of soft food and warm milk at the opening of the tent for a group that is as skittish as feral cats.  They need time to trust the scene before they come rushing inside, and Hillary needs to heed the words of Reverend Barber, to heal these wounded hearts with lots of love and understanding.  Stated more clearly, she need to make them the focus of this new panoramic picture she's taken of US. Pushing her supporters to the blurry edges won't undo the good will of last nights speech, so Hillary has to keep her attention on these reasonable non-progressive voters.

Nothing is going to convince the Hillary haters to change their view, so don't bother.  If the conscience of the presidential voting process sets in on them, they would write in Donald Duck and get their sticker before voting Hillary, so those people are not worth giving any attention to.  The folks that support Hillary helped her beat Bernie, and Bernie will make sure they help her beat Trump whose only hope remains ALL of the GOP and a significant swath of the independent middle.

Trump's post RNC convention lead in the polls says he's got that swath of the middle and then some. Hillary has a chance to swing things backs her way and to seal the deal on the backs of disenfranchised republicans eager to crossover and save America from Donald's damage. Last night's speech focused on these people, and it says that she gets it. Over the next couple of months, Hillary will repeat and repeat exactly what she said last night; her plans to fix it, while challenging Donald to do the same.

.....and release those taxes.