First Night: The heat was on last night. Hillary Clinton was expected to deliver the speech of her life to convince America why it should elect her president instead of a man who claims to be the answer to everything.

She said she learned the credo of her life as a teenager in a Methodist Church: “Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as ever you can.”

She balanced her speech between the things she would do as president and warning of than dangers and absurdities of Donald Trump. “Americans don’t say: ‘I alone can fix it,” she said. “We say: ‘We’ll fix it together.’”

She spoke about getting money out of politics, rebuilding the middle class, providing healthcare, and making corporations and the wealthy pay more taxes — getting guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.

“Now, you didn’t hear any of this from Donald Trump at his convention,” she said. “He spoke for 70-odd minutes — and I do mean odd.” She went on, “Trump suits (made) in Mexico, not Michigan. Trump furniture in Turkey, not Ohio. Trump picture frames in India, not Wisconsin. Donald Trump says he wants to make America great again — well, he could start by actually making things in America again.”

She didn’t say anyone should vote for her because she’s a woman, but she noted the historical nature of the moment. “Standing here as my mother’s daughter, and my daughter’s mother, I’m so happy this day has come,” she said. “Happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between.

Happy for boys and men, too — because when any barrier falls in America, for anyone, it clears the way for everyone. When there are no ceilings, the sky’s the limit.”

Post Game: The goal of the Democratic National Convention was partly to make Clinton less unpopular than Donald Trump. Both candidates have high ratings for distrust, but Clinton’s is higher, 68 percent. That’s right, more voters distrust Hillary Clinton than the fabulist Donald Trump.

A lineup of speakers over four days portrayed her as someone driven by public service and making lives better.

Clinton’s daughter Chelsea presented her as a woman who loves to read “Chugga-Chugga Cho-Choo” with her granddaughter, and wants every child in America to feel the same love.

Shonda Rhimes, the master manipulator of emotions who created “Grey’s Anatomy,” produced an introductory video narrated by the dulcet tones of Morgan Freeman. “Here, is a woman,” he began. The video described her dedication to healthcare and how she held the hands of 9/11 victims while fighting for the rebuilding of lower Manhattan.

The object was also to present a contrast to the Donald Trump’s dystopian, fearful, and splintered vision of America.

President Obama said Wednesday night, “What we heard in Cleveland last week wasn’t particularly Republican — and it sure wasn’t conservative.  What we heard was a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other, and turn away from the rest of the world.”

The Russia House: Reinforcing his admiration for all things Russian, Donald Trump said on Fox News that, “Putin has much better leadership qualities than Obama.” That’s the same Vladimir Putin who sent troops into Ukraine and seized Crimea.

“I said he’s a better leader than Obama,” Mr. Trump said. “I said he’s a better leader than Obama, because Obama’s not a leader, so he’s certainly doing a better job than Obama is, and that’s all.”

State of Siege: Nearly half of Turkey’s generals and admirals have been arrested or kicked out and and thousands of rank-and-file soldiers charged with complicity in the attempted military coup as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan purges the army of people believed to be followers of expatriate imam Fethulla Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania.

The government believes that Gulen has thousands of followers who have infiltrated the police, courts, military, and journalism. About 130 media outlets have been shut down. It’s been reported that Gulen’s followers believe he is a kind of Islamic Messiah, who will save the Muslim world. How much of this is fact, or the fantasy of an autocratic president has yet to be sorted out, but the purge of the Turkish army is worrisome to the rest of NATO.

The Wood: The New York Post, owned by the same company as Fox News and not a fan of Hillary, led with the headline this morning, “Hillary Clinton speaks to DNC, waives $200,000 fee.”