Bill Clinton's impressive campaign stump for Barack Obama!

Have just stayed up late for a second night in a row to watch the Democratic Party National Convention on CNN, waiting for former President Bill Clinton to make his endorsement speech for Senator Barack Obama and I wasn't disappointed. I was mesmerised!

Introduced as one of the greatest presidents of the United States (and rightly so), former President Clinton delivered a beautiful, powerful, rousing and unequivocal speech endorsing the candidacy of Sen Barack Obama. On a purely technical view, I thought Pres Clinton's speech was one of the best speeches by any national leader I've heard in a long, long time! He was brilliant.

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(And I've heard and watched Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, John Major, François Mitterand, Jacques Chirac, John Kerry, George W Bush, Tony Blair, Nicolas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, M Mahathir, Philippine strong man Ferdinand Marcos, etc., etc...)

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Clinton: I support Obama 2:51

Clinton: Obama ready to lead 3:10

There are no two ways to say it but by golly, Pres Clinton still exudes an impressive, masterful presence on stage -- he still possesses that star politician quality which has made him one of the most liked and admired politicians and presidents not only in America but also the world over.

On a side note, it is a pity that Barack Obama has not chosen Hillary to be his running mate because think of an extraordinary team they would have made and the powerful campaign machinery in Bill Clinton they would have had! But that's water under the bridge now. Let's hope that with Bill Clinton's speech, the Democratic Party "rift" has now healed so that Barack Obama can now concentrate on the tasks ahead, to defy the odds and to beat the Republican nominee, John McCain in the November presidential election, and to finally prove that America is ready for change.

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Update: Most critiques I read about the former US president's masterful performance have been unanimous in their praise. The Times wrote, Clinton's performance provided a reminder of why Democrats had considered him a politician with once-in-a-generation skills but Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian said it best: The Big Dog can still hunt.

In the event, Clinton used his time to deliver a masterclass in the art of political performance, most certainly, but also in the more elusive science of electoral strategy. Along with a luminous endorsement of Barack Obama, he did him an even greater service: he framed the general election contest ahead and showed the Democratic nominee exactly how to take on John McCain.

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Barack Obama has great reason to be grateful to Bill Clinton today. He received both the backing of and a free tutorial from the man who was the best political campaigner in the second half of the 20th century.