It was a relief to get away from the endless celebration of abortion of the first two hours.

Mayor Castro’s speech was light and pedestrian, although he seems a pleasant fellow.

Michelle Obama’s was very powerful. She’s become quite the practiced performer. The first half of the speech could have been given by a conservative–all about the importance of personal responsibility and hard work–and the rest, about President Obama’s record, was inevitably more tendentious. 

The Democrats’ key rhetorical trick is movingly evoking family and community, then saying we’re all in it together and therefore absolutely every government program is necessary and should be expanded.