PHOTO: Barack Obama and Hillary Convention at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night


Speaking with BBC Radio Foyle on Thursday morning, Adam Quinn of the University of Birmingham assesses President Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention last night.

Quinn gives a positive review for the “special performance”, talking about its upbeat contrast to the sour atmosphere — marked by Presidential nominee Donald Trump’s address — at the Republican convention last week. Combined with Michele Obama’s crowd-pleasing appearance on Monday night, the speeches have helped steady the Democrats after an opening in which some supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders booed nominee Hillary Clinton.

Listen to discussion

Quinn also considers Vice President Joe Biden’s “effective” speech, with its direct challenge to Trump, and the address of Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine: “It went well enough….He has an ability to do the fundamentals. His main task is to be alongside Hillary Clinton and be competent…in a way that Donald Trump reminds us every day he cannot.”

Tonight it is Hillary Clinton’s turn:

The main thing that she will want to do is leave people with a different flavor than Trump’s speech last week. That was a pessimistic, downbeat, aggressive, divisive speech — deliberately — whereas she is going to want to sell a message that is much more open, inclusive, and optimistic.