It's 3AM

Yup - 3AM and I'm watching DVR'd coverage from the 10pm hour Wednesday night on ABC. Stephanopoulos is going on and on how Bill Clinton gave so much to Barack in his speech. Maybe I'm over-analyzing, but it seemed to me that there was a great deal of parsing.

Watching it live last night, my wife and I were startled at this section.

Everything I learned in my eight years as President and in the work I’ve done
since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is
the man for this job.

He has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and rally us
to high purpose. He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful
President needs. His policies on the economy, taxes, health care and energy are
far superior to the Republican alternatives. He has shown a clear grasp of our
foreign policy and national security challenges, and a firm commitment to repair
our badly strained military. His family heritage and life experiences have given
him a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse nation and to restore our
leadership in an ever more interdependent world. The long, hard primary tested
and strengthened him. And in his first presidential decision, the selection of a
running mate, he hit it out of the park.

Now, on the surface, that's very nice and positive. But Bill is dancing around the question in America's mind, leaving it unanswered. Does Barack have the experience for the job? It seems to me that he went out of his way not to provide the answer from his unique perspective - that of a former President. Then, he says the words that everyone's been waiting to hear - but about Joe Biden.

With Joe Biden’s experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama’s proven
understanding, insight, and good instincts, America will have the national
security leadership we need.

Barack has the ability to inspire folks to higher purpose, Joe Biden has the experience and wisdom. Together, they make a single entity with the qualifications to be president.

The next paragraph seemed to dance more tantalizingly around the words that Clinton wouldn't speak.

Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the
world. Ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States.

Ready? In what sense? He's impatient with the process, and wants to get started? Ready is different than qualified, and that's what Bill wouldn't say.

Together, we prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too
young and too inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief. Sound familiar? It didn’t
work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won’t work
in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

Ooooo, he's getting close, but he's not saying that he and Obama are equal in their qualifications, he's just saying they're getting the same reaction.

Maybe I'm nitpicking, but what I hear is that Bill Clinton agrees that Barack's not qualified, but that he's still better than those evil Republicans.

I'm watching Joe Biden speak now - 3:19am. He seems more than ready to be president - he seems experienced enough to be president.