If the tension really does exist, the blame falls squarely on Clinton. This is Barack Obama's party, in more ways than one.

The Clintons are certainly powerful figures in the Democratic Party, but do they really think that they deserve an entire night to themselves at Obama's convention? They have both been given prominent speaking roles.

While Bill Clinton would have been a nice fit for Tuesday night, putting Hillary on the schedule for Wednesday night would have been a bad idea. First of all, she doesn't have a lot of foreign policy experience of her own. She is addressing the issue which plays most strongly to the democrats who voted for her and haven't come around for Obama yet. More importantly, putting her on the schedule for Wednesday night would have been disastrous. It would have sent a false message of hope to her supporters that she might be the VP nominee (I am referring to real Clinton supporters, not the fringe lunatics who are willing to vote against everything they believe in because they feel it isn't fair that the woman lost).

Obama made the right choice.

Bill Clinton is an incredibly intelligent man. He should have no problem crafting a speech that, while playing to the night's theme, highlights how much better the economy was under him. Our economy and national security are intertwined and Clinton knows it.

Lastly, the Clintons should be trying to distance themselves from Mark Penn if unity is something that they really want. Penn is probably the guy behind all the recent leaks that have further agitated the Hillary faithful. If the Clintons don't do this convention right and it ends up costing Obama, they will have earned the blame they get. The only question left to ask will be whether Mark Penn did his damage on his own, or was he following orders.

I was impressed by Clinton's speech. I was NOT a Hillary supporter in the primaries and have been somewhat bothered by the leaks coming from the Clinton camp that seem designed to egg on the delusional fringe of her supporters, but I expected Hillary to give a good speech. There was too much at stake for her to not give a great one. She seems to have accepted, albeit somewhat late, that she lost this time and her political future could very well be tied to how Obama fares in November.

Knowing that so much could be on the line for her, I expected her to give a strong speech. She exceeded my expectations. She came across as sincerely devoted to ensuring Obama's election. When she directly addressed the supporters who almost got her the Thursday night speaking slot, she did it in a way that focused on the goals that she and Obama shared. She recognized the historical nature of her campaign, but kept the focus on the challenges that women still face, not her own personal loss. Her "sisterhood of the travelling pantsuits" line was right on the borderline of cheesy, but it worked better than it should have. The "sisterhood" ate it up. Had she stopped there, no one could have said that she didn't do her best for Obama, but she kicked it up a notch when she used the PUMAs catchphrase as an attack on McCain. She hit one out of the ballpark with her speech tonight.

I was disappointed in Bill Clinton's speech tonight. It wasn't that he didn't forcefully endorse Obama. It wasn't that he appeared insincere or appeared to be holding a grudge. His endorsement of Obama was powerful, but his speech overall wasn't.

Bill Clinton is one of our greatest orators, but I didn't see that in his speech tonight. It built up some steam at the end, but it built it rather slowly. After Michelle Obama's speech Monday night and Hillary Clinton's speech last night, Bill Clinton's speech was a letdown. Yes, he said the right things, but he is capable of delivering a more stirring speech than the one we saw tonight.

I am not implying that he purposely gave a subpar speech, but for a man of his immense talent, intelligence and ability to connect with people, he gave a weaker speech than I expected from him. For someone who has been accused of craving the spotlight, he allowed himself to be upstaged by several of the speakers who followed him. Perhaps that was his intention all along. Maybe he kept his speech low key to allow the focus to remain on Obama.

For whatever reason, Clinton was not the evening's highlight. The evening belonged to four others, despite the press attention on Bill Clinton. The night was dominated by four powerful speakers. Two were female soldiers, one black and one of Asian descent. Kerry gave the speech of his life and it was the highpoint of the night. The high point until Joe Biden took the stage that is. Biden and Kerry both gave speeches that equalled the performances of Hillary and Michelle the nights before. As good as Kerry and the soldiers were, the night belonged to Joe Biden and he made a powerful case for the Obama-Biden ticket and against a McCain presidency.

The historic nature of the official nomination of Barack Hussein Obama made the day a great day to be an American. The night's most powerful speeches made it a great night to be a Democrat. The bar has been set high for Obama's speech tomorrow night.