Great night in Denver

Everybody seemed to do pretty well last night, Clinton, Biden, but I was shocked at how good John Kerry was. He really hit McCain hard with some quotes and lines that I think Obama should be using more often, maybe in some TV ads.

I've seen some discussion today saying things like "well, if Kerry had been that good 4 years ago, he'd be running for re-election". Which got me thinking - there seems to be an upside, in some cases, to being a loser of a national election. Jimmy Carter, loses in 1980, becomes one of our greatest ex-presidents. GW Bush, loses in 1992, and went on to be active in a bipartisan way with Clinton post Katrina. Gore lost, became a much, much better communicator, and gets a Nobel Prize.

I think losing on such a big stage like that probably does a few things. It certainly must make you humble, which some of these politicians could certainly use. I think a more important fact might be that it has to be a very liberating thing to lose a big election. You've been working your whole life trying to be president, managing your image, managing your words, and with all that self-control, you still lose? Heck, why not let loose a little and see how that works? Certainly couldn't hurt now, right?

As a result we get people who (after losing) are willing to be more candid, more self-deprecating, more honest, and in some cases more willing to throw a punch, than they were before. I think that's what's going on with John Kerry now, and I hope Obama sees this too and gets him out on the trail more to help out.