Mark Warner's Democratic Convention Speech

As I watched the Democratic National Convention, I was inspired by speech after speech as each speaker gave their own thoughts and plans for America, as well as their concerns on the direction the country has taken in the recent years. The time slot held by Barack Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention was given to former Virginia Governor Mark Warner. I was ready to listen to another speech filled with hope rhetoric and inspiring stories of hardship, yet I was thoroughly disappointed while listening to Warner's speech, which was misguided and seemed to lack any general direction. I felt as if the speech was too colloquial; there was nothing smart or eloquent about it. Warner repeatedly asked and answered his own questions such as, "...which candidate knows that we don't have another four years to waste? Barack Obama." In the beginning of the speech, Warner talks about his work on developing the first cell phone, a story which lacked a point or had any real value to the rest of the speech. Very few Americans can relate to being a budding entrepreneur and making a fortune off of a cutting edge technology which is why his experience was such a poor choice deliver to this audience. Warner also gave a sad attempt at a throwback to Obama's 2004 speech in which Obama famously spoke about not being a country of blue or red states, Warner proclaimed, "...it doesn't matter whether it's got a "D" or an "R" next to it, because this election.... this election is not about liberal versus conservative. It's not about left versus right. It's about the future versus the past." Whether or not this point was meant to be a deliberate resemblance of Obama's speech, it lacked the reference. In short, Warner's speech was uninspiring and half baked. This slot in the convention should have been offered to a Democrat who could actually provoke some thought and inspiration during this pivotal election.