Sorry to not have much substance to post here, but I'd like to get everyone's opinion on whether or not the speech got tough enough.  Did it provide enough grist for the mill?

Your thoughts?

Fellow esteemed TPM poster Quinn Esq and I recently had an exchange on another blog thread here whereupon we discussed having taken a break from TPM and returning to find, to our great dismay, a rehashing of old hostilities between supporters of Obama and Clinton during the primary campaigns.

It's Quinn's contention, and I agree, that Obama's campaign (and his supporters) need to do the bulk of the work in getting Senator Clinton's supporters energized and on board for the Democratic Party's ticket this fall.

While I can't match Quinn's intelligent insight on this subject, I do have this to offer (taken from the thread I referenced above), for what it's worth:

I've tuned out from political chatter over the last few weeks, and I was a little shocked that folks seem to be picking at the Clinton-Obama feud scab -- but then I quickly decided this was mostly stirred up and over-blown by the punditry in order to make the Democratic Convention more exciting. Sigh. It's depressing to see so many intelligent people taking the bait, too.

Nonetheless, I do think the Obama campaign will use the convention (as well as take some additional steps) to ensure that Clinton's supporters are enthusiastic about the Democratic Party's ticket.

When I try to employ some empathy with Hillary's supporters, I imagine how terribly disappointed they might feel, and also how resentful they might be if they felt their support for the Democratic ticket were considered "automatic" and could be taken for granted. Ouch! It certainly would make me feel pissed off. I might not go so far as to vote for McCain out of spite, but I definitely could see how I might feel resentful, unappreciated, then depressed, and then apathetic. And then I might not bother to vote at all.

That's something we can't afford! So Hillary's supporters need to know that we don't take their votes for granted, we don't take Hillary Clinton for granted, and we know that we need their enthusiasm to be successful in November.

What's so hard about that? Nothing. So let's make sure we articulate that.