Virtually Nominated

Various virtual thoughts about the second night of the Democratic National Convention.

I liked the idea of clips from some classic keynote speeches of past conventions.  What I most loved was that they included a 1976 clip from Rep. Barbara Jordan of Texas, an imposing figure, one of my all-time favorite politicians who came to fame on the House Impeachment sub-committee and passed away died much too young.  (The Postal Service put out a commemorative stamp for her about 6-10 years ago.)  And it’s hard not to love Ann Richards tear down the House.  And get Barack Obama in there as much as possible.

After some initial uncertainly, I thought it was a smart idea to have the 17 "Future Leaders" deliver the Keynote Address, leading up to Stacy Abrams.  Single-person keynotes are great for rousing the crowd, but there was no crowd to rouse.  My quibble is that I don’t think they did a good job making clear who all these candidates were and missed an opportunity to show where their 2020 races were.

That had to be the shortest speech Bill Clinton has ever given in his life – and by about 35 minutes.  . He probably usually talks more than that between bites.  Very low-key, but pointed and good.

Though I understand the valid point they were making, I think the phrasing they wrote for the host alluding to Trump about “What real leader asks what you can do for them?  Not what they can do for you – since that phrasing was way too close to JFK’s renown, “As not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”  And made all the worse by immediately following it with…Caroline Kennedy!!  Yes, the two are totally different – doing something for an individual, as opposed to doing something for your country.  But the phrasing and juxtaposition was poorly thought out.

I loved that they had an elevator operator nominate Joe Biden for president.  I just wish the story she told was…well, a story.  And interesting.  Not just “He got on my elevator, and I could tell he cared about me.”  How could you tell, what did he say, did you cross paths after?  Or find someone else who Biden crossed paths with in their daily life where the story was wonderful.

When I first saw what they were doing with the roll call, I slumped in my chair and thought this was going to take forever and be tedious.  It was tremendous.  Just a wonderful, unexpected Tour of America.  Great decision, terrifically done.

Nice to see Colin Powell involved.  Good speech, and this time Trump can’t smear him by saying he only endorsed the Democrat because the candidate was black.

Very good that they had Cindy McCain talk a few times during the touching piece on the friendship of Joe Biden and John McCain.  That made it impossible for Trump to slam it as Democrats usurping McCain unfairly on their own behalf.  I only wish they had more footage of Biden and McCain interacting, because what they had was excellent.

Finally, what a great featurette on Dr. Jill Biden.  Utterly vibrant and moving, seriously impressive.  And a strong, thoughtful speech, helped by having it delivered in an empty schoolroom.  While watching, I thought someone should make bumper stickers, “Elect Dr. Jill Biden First Lady.”  And I also thought about sending a note to the RNC as they prepare Melania Trump’s speech and advise them, “Don’t even try.”

All in all, I think a pretty well-produced and interesting night.  Which, given that they’ve had months to prepare for this, keeps getting me thinking about how the GOP convention will come off since they’d been planning to have a live, in-person convention until only weeks ago. Maybe they'll pull lt off well -- I'm sure they were preparing some pre-recorded pieces anyway -- but this is a logistical nightmare to do, and that Democrats have done so reasonably smoothly is only a result of having so long to plan for it.