Hillary Clinton trumps Trump in convention speech

It became evident early on in the Democratic National Convention this week that no matter what Hillary Clinton said in her acceptance of the party’s nomination, it would be overshadowed.

And it was — until she took what could be characterized as a subliminal shot at Donald Trump’s small hands Thursday night.

Before that there was reason to be worried. The all-star lineup batting before her wouldn’t be casting the only shade. Calculated craziness foaming from the mouth of Trump was also certain to find its way into the punditry circuit that is 24-hour news.

It was a given.

{mosads}Clinton took the stage at 10:30 p.m. to a sea of waving American Flags. After the standard acknowledgements she explained her candidacy and her sometimes overbearing attention to detail. The first punchline — after a long windup? Turned out to be the same as a 20-year-old book: “It Takes a Village.”

That was expected.

Including the slick video introduction of Clinton, which was produced by the great Shonda Rhimes, political conventions in 2016 are giant infomercials or telethons. Sit around long enough and you are bound to encounter a sales pitch that appeals to your proclivities, your decency or your insecurity. You might even empty your wallet — if there are no bumps, roadblocks or roving gangs of Donald Trump’s imagined criminal immigrants between you and the ATM.

Nonetheless, when Clinton became the party’s nominee, contingency preparations for a dud or a disaster at moment of her coronation had to be considered. 

After all, Hillary Clinton is not known as a speaker. She’s more of a pant-suited doer. That explains all the advance softening from Chelsea and Bill. 

You can imagine a gathering of power brokers in a backroom filled with organic veggies and single source hummus had serious decisions to make about spin if the whole thing crumbled to the ground. 

What if she had a coughing fit? What if there was some moment where the tone of her voice became shrill or shrewish or sounded too much like a lecture? What if she was booed by delegates feeling “The Bern” of their last bong hit? What about Bubba?

I guarantee these were considerations.

And then Clinton went with a shot at Trump’s anatomy. It was brilliant.

“Imagine him — if you dare imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.

“I can’t put it any better than Jackie Kennedy did after the Cuban Missile Crisis. She said that what worried President Kennedy during that very dangerous time was that a war might be started – not by big men with self-control and restraint, but by little men – the ones moved by fear and pride.”

Or small hands.

Girardot is a former editor and columnist with the Los Angeles News Group. He is co-author of true crime tales “A Taste For Murder” and the soon-to-be released “Cocaine Cops: An insider’s tale of brutality, greed and corruption in the NYPD.” Follow him on Twitter @FrankGirardot

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