Did Hillary do too well last night?

The pundits were all over the map last night in judging HC’s speech. MSNBC predictably thought it was glorious, with Olbermann and Maddow singing hosannas as the network’s progressive Bobbsey twins. Fox fell on the other side, thinking the address fell short of endorsing Obama’s leadership and aptitude to be commander-in-chief. CNN fell somewhere in-between the two.

Leaving out policy and content, I thought the speech was magnificent in tone, delivery, and “feel.” In fact, she looked and sounded “presidential,” so much so that by the end, I wondered if the whole thing was a mistake. Sometimes a speaker can be too good, and eclipse the nominee. Think of 1976, when President Ford invited Ronald Reagan down to the podium to give an impromptu speech to the convention, a magnanimous gesture to a vanquished foe. Reagan ended up giving such a compelling speech that, according to biographer Edmund Morris, the delegates began to think they had nominated the wrong guy – Ford could never sound this good or be this riveting. “Buyer’s remorse?” I bet, as Charles Krauthammer noted last night, that behind the Obama button-clad hats many delegates were thinking, “Crap, we picked the wrong horse.”

You combine Hillary’s performance with President Bill’s upcoming extravaganza, sure to be a vintage red-meat act, and Obama suddenly has a very high bar to clear on Thursday night. He can give the oratorical, purple-prose address that keeps Chris Matthews’ leg atwitter, but can he give a presidential address?