Four Days of Democrats

Watching the Democratic National Convention this week was both an inspiring and frustrating experience. On the one hand, impressively, the party really got its messaging act together, the key themes driven home by speaker after speaker: Democrats are the party of “freedom” (instead of democracy); of the future, not the past; of patriotism; and, yes, of joy.  Take that, you sour, doomsaying Republicans. 

As a viewing experience, however, the four nights in Chicago were something of a slog. Too many speakers, too much repetition, too much hokey folderol (Coach Walz’s high-school football team, etc.),  all of it pushing the featured attractions — President Biden on Monday night, former President Obama on Tuesday, Tim Walz on Wednesday — until after 11 p.m. Eastern time, well outside of prime time. I got the sense that convention planners were more concerned with feeding party egos than pulling in viewers. 

To be sure, there were plenty of great speeches. The high point, both rhetorically and strategically, was Tuesday night with the Obamas. After years of Democratic fumbling over how to respond to Trump’s craziness, they seemed to hit just the right note. Enough of the obsessive fact-checking of his lies and dumb statements, the moral indignation over his sins against democracy (he won’t accept the election results; he calls our veterans “suckers and losers”).

Instead, the Obamas took a broader, more relatable approach, stressing the sheer absurdity of this entitled, insincere, narcissistic man claiming to be a champion of the common people. “Here is a 78-year-old billionaire,” as Barack put it, “who has not stopped whining about his problems.” Or, in Michelle’s subtly devastating formulation: “Most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward. We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth.” 

This is the sort of attack that I think will resonate. Not just because ridicule gets under Trump’s skin, but because he cannot help proving their point. How will he respond to charges that he does nothing but gripe? Gripe some more. 

As for Kamala’s climactic acceptance speech on Thursday night, it’s no surprise that she met, and even exceeded, expectations: powerful, tough, deeply felt, and flawlessly delivered. (Note, in the abortion section, how she gives the “out” an extra push and an extra beat: “They are out of their minds.”) Even better, the convention planners finally came to their senses and got her onstage in prime time. (Indeed, her relatively tight, 37-minute speech even finished in prime time.) 

After her speech, instead of tuning into the MSNBC cheerleaders for reaction, I switched over to Fox News, curious to see how the opposition treated a speech that was hard to denigrate. But there was the Denigrator in Chief, on the phone with anchors Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum, doing his best to throw cold water on the evening. Why didn’t she do any of these things, Trump complained, while she was in office?  (Maybe ask Mike Pence about the limits on a vice president’s powers.) He railed once again about the millions of convicts and mental patients pouring into the country through our southern border. He called her a “Marxist,” a term that hasn’t been a credible insult in this country for half a century. He rambled on for so long that the Fox hosts had to cut him off so they could hand off to Greg Gutfeld. 

What struck me most about Trump’s response, however, was the rote, dutiful, almost dispirited way he now ticks off his endlessly repeated talking points. You can challenge Kamala’s policies or complain about her rhetoric, but it’s hard to deny the passion, conviction, and authenticity she brought to her speech. She really believes what she’s saying.    

If only for that, the convention was a success.