I am still trying to figure out what the Democrats were hoping to accomplish with their convention. It is Day 3, and there has been no sustained attack on the supposedly “failed” policies of the “Bush/McCain” administration (I guess Dick Cheney is now officially off the hook).

The Clintons Two did a serviceable job, though certainly both could have done significantly more to herd the cats and attack the opposition. I have been told some women cried listening to Hillary Clinton’s speech - I wonder more what the reaction was to the former president. I liked Mark Warner’s speech, but it did not serve much of a purpose. Joe Biden was, well - Joe Biden. He went after McCain on a few fronts, such as foreign policy (which is an odd emphasis since Obama’s strengths lie elsewhere), but certainly did not live up to his perceived reputation as the ultimate attack dog. Many of the other role serving attackers, such as the governor of Montana, did not make primetime, nor did John Kerry, who also served in Vietnam. The trees may have fell in the woods, but no one was around to hear it.

I may have underestimated (and no one is really talking about it) the needs of repair within the Democrat Party. Michelle Obama needed an image makeover, and was set more to soften her own image than to necessarily bolster her husband. Hillary Clinton had to expend significant rhetorical resources convincing her jilted bra-burning supporters that it was okay to vote, and work for, the man who beat her.

In short, the convention’s theme after being 75% done is still uncertain. The case for Obama is still change, but the contrast with John McCain was not nearly as stark as it should have been. Barack Obama is not going to go on the offensive tonight - that’s not his role. So we are back where we started. What exactly the Democrats accomplished over these four days is open to a wide interpretation.