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Just watched a re-airing of the Gore speech on CNN (my Tivo failed me! Ack!). Pretty impressive - why didn't this Gore show up 4 years ago? If he had we might be living in an whole different world. Remember wooden Al from last time around? Not here. This is how he started:

My friends, fellow Democrats, fellow Americans. I'm going to be candid with you. I had hoped to be here under different circumstances, running for reelection. But you know the old saying, "you win some, you lose some, and then there's that little known third category." But I didn't come here tonight to talk about the past. After all, I don't want you to think that I lie awake at night counting and recounting sheep. I prefer to focus on the future, because I know from my own experience that America is a land of opportunity where every little boy and girl has a chance to grow up and win the popular vote.

Sure, he was playinig to a partisan crowd, but still.... Well played. It addressed an issue that surely need to be touched on, but did so without anger or hostilty. They've had their moment to reflect on it, but now I suspect it's the last we'll hear on this issue.

Having taken care of that, he moved on to a blistering critique of the Bush Administration, one summed up nicely by this simple statement:

I sincerely ask those watching at home tonight who supported President Bush four years ago, did you really get what you expected from the candidate you voted for?

An interesting and IMHO highly effective way to frame the issue, one that I suspect we'll be hearing over and over again in the next 100 days. I'm cursious to hear how Bush will rebut this. As Gore went on to say, we're divided, not united. And "compassionate conservative" was an idea abandoned the moment the Supremes gave him the keys to White House doors.

This was then followed immediately by the following segment:

Regardless of how you felt before the war, isn't it now abundently obvious that the way this war has been managed by the administration has now gotten us into very serious trouble? Wouldn't we be better off with a new President who hasn't burned his bridges to our allies and who could can rebuild respect for America in the world? Isn't cooperation with other nations crucial to solving our dilemma in Iraq? Isn't it also critical to defeating the terrorists? We have to be crystal clear about the threat we face from terrorism. It is deadly. It is real. It is imminenet. But in order to protect our people, shouldnt we focus on the real source of this threath, the group that attacked us and is trying to attack us again, Al Qaeda, headed by Osama bin Laden? Wouldn't we be safer with a President who didn't insist on confusing al Qaeda with Iraq?

What's striking about this was how direct it is in addressing the issue of Iraq. For months, the Dems have been searching for a way to frame this issue. I think they've just nailed it. The question is NOT how did you feel before the war, it's what has this administration done since then? And should they be trusted with four more years based on those results? It turns the focus precisely where it needs to be, not on the past but on the present and the future. Given the fact that a substantial majority of Americans now feel the war has been mishandled, this is precisely where they need to be. Well played. Well played. --------