The virtual DNC Convention which was held prior to the most important election in the country since 1864 has come and gone. There is an overwhelmingly positive consensus about the remarkable technical, artistic and compelling production which crisply underlined a number of campaign messages. It consolidated the belief that former Vice President Joe Biden was as much a man for this time as Churchill, FDR, Mandela and King were for theirs. The canard that he was “losing it” tweeted in stone by Trump was shattered as the stark choice between the current malignant incompetent President and the capable decent Biden was clearly presented, not the least by Biden himself.
What was at stake was crystalized as the fight for the Soul of the Nation. The life, the person, the family, the values and the service of Biden were skillfully interwoven into the narrative through biographical stories told by “We the People” as well as a broad cross section of the Democratic, Republican and of the country’s established institutions' leadership. The challenges facing the country in its health and economic Covid Crisis, racism. job creation, health care for all, gun violence, climate were front and center as were the solutions to them. The choice of Kamala Harris as vice president helped Biden create the vast tent that represented all the American peoples. What could not have failed to impress was the joyous manner in which his former Democratic rivals praised him.
The heavy lifting of explaining why the current President was totally unfit for the job as envisaged by the Founding Fathers was left principally to the Obamas and the Clintons. The former gave speeches of a lifetime while the latter succinctly made it quite clear what choices the country faced.
DNC CONVENTION - DELIVERING THE MESSAGE IN THE AGE OF COVID
Political conventions traditionally have been the greatest shows on earth. There are the crowds, the costumes, the cheerleading, the balloons, the placards and the circus like atmosphere that is so uniquely American. Generally speaking they don’t alter the political landscape very much as they are so tightly choreographed that nothing really game changing happens. This year it was all so different. There was no chanting no drama on the jam packed floor. It was a Convention in the Age of Zoom.
The director of the whole production was Ricky Kirschner who is responsible for the half time shows at the Super Bowl.There were literally hundreds of zoom feeds.The Milwaukee Stadium which was the initial venue had been turned into a nerve center ala the Houston Space Center. Much was pre taped. All two hours were choreographed for each night with tight programming. The problem that this type of venture presents is that it has to entertain as it lacks the spontaneity of the maneuvering behind the scenes. the real time revelations and the contemporaneous commentary and interpretations by the punditry.
It also has to have distinct messages with testimonials and in delivering them the “infomercial” feel has to be avoided. In the event it turned out to be a highly slick production with appropriate real entertainment. Continuity was cannily provided by not utilizing the old time party insiders as Masters of Ceremonies but rather well known female, (aka “Housewife”) entertainers, Eva Longria Baston, Kerry Washington and Julia Louis Dreyfus. A highly polished production with graphic presentations of the plight of the everyday voter intermixed with the political types.
DAY 1 - “WE THE PEOPLE” v “I ALONE CAN FIX IT”
The central theme of the opening night was to show the stark contrast between the America of “We the People” and that of Trump’s - “I alone can fix it”. The three areas he couldn’t fix were where his approval rate was in the thirties - the disastrous pandemic, the economic misery and the management of racial injustice - were front and center. There was a montage of “We the People" from all walks of life who had been impacted, all interwoven with the personal story of Joe Biden. Joe was himself a man of the people - the opening night biographical feature was his daily train rides from Delaware to Washington and back as a single parent caring for his boys. The underlying subtext was the juxtaposition of the empathetic man of the people and the spoiled brat amoral autocrat looking out for himself.
The most stinging condemnation from one of “the people”, on a night whIch was cluttered with several from all walks of life, came from a young lady, Kristin Urquiza whose father died of Covid. She told the story of her father who, “…had faith in Trump. He voted for him. He listened to him”. Most significantly he believed the POTUS when the latter opined that all was under control and the virus would disappear, that there was no need for social distancing and if you had no underlying conditions you would be fine. Her father went to a karaoke bar with fatal consequences. “My dad was a healthy sixty - five year old whose only preexisting condition was that he trusted Donald Trump. And for that he paid with his life”. If any testimonial served as a metaphor for where America was at this point in its history it was this sad yet angry daughter’s saga. The cameo will go down in the history books and it will be seen again on this campaign trail. Kristin’s story was the first of the Convention to go viral.
“The People” were followed by an impressive array of their representatives who illustrated the unprecedented coalition from every section of the political spectrum. Jay H. Ell has to mention Jim Clyburn, without whom, there would have not have been the unifying figure of Joe Biden to take on this challenge on behalf of “We the People”. When the Democratic Primary was in disarray and it looked for all the world that the fight would end up with two polarizing figures Michael Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders, he waded in boots and all by mobilizing the African American vote behind the current candidate. The seasoned warrior from the Civil Rights era succinctly outlined his rationale. He had seen it all and he knew that what was needed was an empathetic unifier, “We know Joe and Joe Knows Us”.
Bernie Sanders gave an impassioned plea for unity, “…I will work with progressives, with moderates and yes with conservatives to preserve this nation … authoritarianism has take root… this election is about preserving democracy… the future of our democracy is at stake". This time in 2016 he had barely given up the fight against Hillary. Besides the dire urgency of the situation had driven him and the fact that he has had input to the party platform could have done no harm.
Republican John Kasich had a far tougher task than Sanders to sound convincing. In his virtual plea he stood at the crossroad of two paths. It may have looked kitsch to some but it summed up the dilemma he perceived the country to be in. His speech followed the earlier pleas of a string of former high ranking Republicans and there were many more at home. Kasich who had been a popular Governor of Ohio and a Presidential contender against Trump, stated the obvious, “Many of us can’t imagine four more years going down this path”. To the waverers in the middle of the party he reassured that Joe would not betray their trust by “going too far down the left”. However as he summed up “The stakes were great” and “Joe Biden was a man for our times”.
The Obamas to date had been dignified and rarely intervened in the political arena unless Barak had thought the circumstances really warranted it. Michelle, who is the most popular political figure in American politics, for the most part has been mum. She hates politics. She also knew what it took to be President and the challenges that were to be faced. So from the latter vantage point she delivered with a vengeance. One of her themes was to clarify how to interpret what she had said in 2016 about going “high” … “But let us be clear, going high doesn’t mean putting on a smile and saying nice things when confronted by viciousness and cruelty. Going high means taking the harder path. It means scraping and clawing our way to the mountaintop. Going high means standing fierce against hatred and remembering that we are one nation under God”. -All this vintage Martin Luther King and underlining the theme of the night of “We the People”.
The former First Lady, speaking with controlled anger for close on twenty minutes, was unequivocal in her message: “Let me be as honest and clear as I can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job. He cannot meet this moment….. it is what it is….. if you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will …..if we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it.
And on that salutary note Day One ended.
DAY TWO - LEADERSHIP MATTERS
if there had been any lingering doubts that these two hour programs were going to look and sound like infomercials Day 2 dispelled the notion. The biography of Joe was advanced as Jill became the mother of his boys. The relationship, the marriage and the making of a family were crisply and empathetically unfolded. The working through the pain of loss which was to be faced again and again in their lives served as a basis for his tireless supporting and caring for others.
Healthcare which was the number issue just a few months ago was showcased in narrative style with Joe Biden in conversation with those who might have died without Obamacare. This is still the hot button issue and six Republican States have had the Medicaid component introduced following referenda that mandated it. At this very moment Trump and his Justice Department are appealing to the Supreme Court to have the healthcare act to be revoked!
The evening also witnessed testimonials from those across the political spectrum of friendship and government who outlined his character and his qualifications for leadership. There was Colin Powell, Bush 43’s Secretary of State, who emphasized that Joe Biden was respected by the leaders throughout the world and would allow America to hold its head up high again as opposed to being the laughing stock it now is. Former Obama Secretary of State John Kerry recalled his historic achievements. Then another Republican Chuck Hagel who had been Minister of Defense underlined that kind, caring and empathetic Joe could be as tough as nails when it came to defending the country.
The topic of security with former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates laying bare once again Trump’s treachery. She claimed that Trump did not lead America for Americans but rather ran it as a family business. This coming on a day when a Senate bipartisan one thousand page report categorically concluded that Russia had intervened, with Trump’s bidding and knowledge, in the 2016 election in his favor. They concluded, inter alia, that Trump’s Campaign Manager was a security risk having provided information throughout to a Russian intelligence officer. Trump’s treachery was further exemplified by yet another high profile resignation from his administration a Security Official from the Department of Homeland Security, (DHS), Mike Taylor. He noted that Trump would align himself with dictators throughout the world. Taylor, a Trump appointee attested that Trump wanted to turn the DHS into his re election tool. He claimed, “I saw first hand how dangerous Trump is for America”. Dozens of former Republican appointed Security Officials signed a similar condemnation.
It fell to former President Bill Clinton to starkly outline the choice America faced which he did in a mere five minutes. It was evident that his communication and assessment skills were still razor sharp and had Hillary not so bizarrely lost he would be still a major force in the Party that has evolved so dramatically in three decades. He detailed America’s damning statistics on the pandemic under a President who refused to take responsibility - “It is what it is”. Clinton summed it all up: “The Oval Office is the Command Center but under Trump it is chaos, it is the Storm Center. If people want a President who denies responsibility… who defines his job as watching TV all day and zapping people on social media, he is your man. Joe Biden is just the opposite. He is a go to work guy., down to earth guy, get the job done guy… he will take responsibility and not shift the blame… unite not divide.. our choice is Joe Biden”.
All this content neatly woven together with the two dramatic features of the night - the roll call of the vote to formerly elect Biden as nominee and the Keynote address. The former, traditionally conducted from the floor amidst shouting and screaming was presented as a delightful travelogue of America’s fifty - seven states and territories with a charm providing a snapshot of America’s picturesque beauty, costumes, customs and diversified populations. Like a Rogers and Hammerstein musical it had a homely feel where contrasts were presented in celebration and not to create division. There was pride, braggadocio, exhortations and whooping up support for the Presidential nominee.
The Keynote speech featured seventeen young rising stars of the Democratic Party throughout the country who held state and local positions. They all strung together one liners and it showed off the incredible diversity of the Party which is reflective of the country and all its social and racial components. The message of the campaign, pandemic misery and its negligent mismanagement, economic collapse and inequity and racial injustice came through loud and clear. Both the aforementioned montages managed to give cameo appearances of two of the rising stars in the Party, Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez and Stacie Abrahams. The former bears the mantle of being the future leader of the Progressive wing of the Party and the latter, as eloquent, nearly pulling off a sensational gubernatorial victory in Red Georgia, having been hobbled by voter suppression.
Oh the feature that went viral was video taken when a young elevator operator screamed out at Joe Boden, “I love you”. Jacquelyn Brittany explained, “In the short time I spent with Joe Biden, i could tell he really saw me, that he actually cared, that my life meant something to him…. he’d take my story with him”.
A testimonial from John McCain’s widow who added to those who bore witness to his integrity, kindness, diligence and friendship underlined the ever increasing Republican support.
Then to tie it all up a story and testimonial from Jill Biden. It was powerfully and poignantly done with the setting being an empty classroom where she had taught. The backdrop was in sync with the pain families are facing with children not at school with the elephant in the empty corridors being the, “Is What It Is”, President. By the way the producers of this segment were the Oscar nominated pair for the movie RBG.
DAY 3. THE STORY OF TWO BLACK FIRST GENERATION AMERICAN DREAMERS
Another blockbuster night where Biden’s platform was further laid out in an original fashion by an array of female leaders. However the night belonged to two first generation black Americans one its first black President and the other the first African American female Vice Presidential nominee. They had contrasting narratives but first onto the rest of the evening.
Underlining the fact that in the House of Representatives whose first female speaker Nancy Pelosi reported that female representation had reached almost a quarter of the membership, almost exclusively Democrat. In addition to Pelosi, Gabby Gifford the gun violence advocate whose legislative career was cut short by an assassin, Elizabeth Warren whose main thrust at the moment is to provide free child care for working mothers, Michelle Grisham the Governor of New Mexico, Obama cabinet member Hilda Solis and Hillary Clinton made up the all female cast.
The plight of immigrants particularly those who were brought here as children was addressed as well as the whole thorny issue of producing an overarching coherent policy. Trump, who was not the focus of discussion in the first half of the evening, stark savagery was exposed when he was featured referring to these souls as “Animals”. Climate change, and job creation, two other hot topics that were central to the Democratic platform were addressed. Needless to add a Women’s Right To Choose was also featured. There were several taped interviews of those that had been impacted by the historic Roe v Wade decision and a promise to enshrine it legislatively.
Throughout there were flashbacks illustrating the Presidential candidate’s leadership in most of these arenas throughout his decades of service. This was skillfully and tasteful executed and was a far more effective way of displaying the biography of Biden. The traditional manner being hours long documentary.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the defeated Presidential candidate in 2016 could have used her five minutes to lament how she was robbed and gloat, “I told you so” instead she offered a sober analysis of the task that lay ahead. She reflected on those who had confessed to her that they could have done more in 2016 by advocating that America could not afford another “woulda, coulda shoulda” election. She pointed out that everyone now had an answer to Trump’s 2016 question, “What do you have to lose?”. She reminded that Joe and Kamala could win the election by three million votes and still lose.
Hillary was a fitting lead in to what was to follow - two, first generation African American dreamers, who if Trump had his way would not be in the United States today. They presented two contrasting worlds - the fear, disappointment and controlled anger of one who had reached the pinnacle of success in the highest office of the land the other exuberant as she stood on the threshold of achieving her dream as the first woman of color to reach the nations’s second highest office.
President Barak Obama who is more American than most Americans, certainly more so than the present WhiteHouse incumbent, gave a speech for the ages. In the hall in Philadelphia where the aspirational Constitution had been hammered out, he provided the strongest argument for the values that were at stake in this election. This after taking a decade and a half of abuse and racism from the man who was now supposed to embody the democratic liberal tradition that America stood for. He dissected Trump’s job performance declaring, “Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t. And the consequences of that failure are severe, a hundred and seventy thousand Americans are dead, millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses are unleashed, our proud reputation badly diminished and our democratic institutions threatened like never before….”
He exhorted the citizenry not to allow their power and democracy to be removed and harkened back to the two century fight for the franchise and what had to be endured to achieve that… any chance of furthering what had been achieved depended on the outcome of the election.
With the responsibility for the moment, at least not now, of not prosecuting the case against Trump lifted from her shoulders an almost joyful Kamala Harris could reflect on her life and upbringing by a single dedicated mother. From the get go social values were inculcated into her DNA as her exceptional intelligence and hard work catapulted her to the top. Her razor sharp mind was on display in the hearings of Judge Kavanaugh and William Barr. She is tough and she is soft. She represents the America Trump is railing against - a mixture of South East Asian and Caribbean heritage. He stoked up birtherism related to Kamala reminiscent of the Obama interlude and called her “The meanest, most horrible, most disrespectful, MOST LIBERAL of anyone in the US Senate… “. Stick around Donald you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Just one note on the production where Obama’s set gave an intimate close up chatty feel. It benefitted from not being punctuated by those ludicrous standing ovations every ten seconds. By contrast Harris’s arena was eerie as she addressed an empty auditorium. It was if she was in a mausoleum. She could have benefited by an Obama like arrangement.
It was fitting that on this day Trump welcomed the dangerous loons, QAnon onto his team. They like Neo Nazis in Charlottesville had "good people" and more importantly, as Donald explained, “They liked him”.
DAY 4. COMETH THE HOUR COMETH THE MAN.
The day started with a fitting metaphor to the Trump reign, another key member of his revolving door inner circle - Campaign Chairman, Steve Bannon was indicted for fraud. In case anyone needs a reminder Trump promised that he would surround himself with “the best”. However that was not even part of the news of the day. For once it was all Biden and his inclusive big tent vision.
Once again the presentation retained its remarkable high standard with virtual discussions. One that stood out was the high regard and affection that his former presidential opponents held him in. It was notable that nearly all his opponents featured in the mini series as did the contenders for the Vice Presidential slot. There was the charming discussion with the NBA star, Stephen Curry’s family where his young daughters showed an awareness of what was happening around them There were the interludes of celebrities like historian John Meachem, comedian Sarah Cooper and performances by the Dixie Chicks and John Legend. There were the tributes from the Biden children, Hunter, (whom Trump will be running against), Ashley and posthumously Beau whom he had leant on for support. The grandchildren chimed in moving the narrative onto the next generation.
The evening’s vignette that would go viral was the testimonial of a thirteen year old young man who bravely paid tribute to the kind soul, Joe Biden, who empathized with his stuttering disability. “We stutter - members of the same club”, he confessed. This interlude alone has had over eight million hits on social media.
It was left to former opponent Michael Bloomberg to share what he knew about Donald Trump as he had done four years ago. At the Clinton nomination he warned he was a bad guy now he could point to the bad things he had done. Bloomberg who is the epitome of the centrist hailed Biden’s record and achievements and exhorted Joe and Kamala, “To go get him for all of us”.
Then came Trump’s worst nightmare as Biden emerged as the charismatic unifying leader the country was yearning for. In a career defining high stakes oration he “embraced the light” while “the current President had cloaked America in darkness for far too long”. He offered hope over fear, facts over fiction and fairness over privilege. Then focussing on what he knew best, creating consensus, he announced that, “It was time for WE THE PEOPLE TO COME TOGETHER”. He would be the President of all America. His was a message of hope another New Deal to Build America Better. He mercilessly attacked Trump, never by name, for the deaths and the economic crisis he had refused to avoid. Then there was the POTUS’s evil campaign to take away health care that had been provided by the Affordable Health Care Act,,,,
He laid out his agenda - first he would comprehensively control the virus. Then he would move to his economic plan to create jobs addressing the crippling infrastructure and climate change. No one would be without health care, child care and elder care. He would change the tax code. He would address racialism. He would have Kamala by his side to help him. Character, compassion, decency, science and democracy was on the ballot. “We are a good and decent people - This is our moment. This is our mission.”
This was Biden’s answer to the refrain that he was hiding in the basement, This was “Slow Joe’s” challenge to history’s cruelest self serving President who countless members of his Administration testified that he had run America for his own personal account,
To cap it all there was a dramatic end to the evening as lit up cars with their flickers flashing to the accompaniment of a fireworks display greeted Biden and Harris. The Wilmington Delaware crowd had watched the evening on a giant monitor and hooted like crazy when the nominees and their spouses acknowledged their cheers from the outside podium. An imaginative end to a highly creative production.
The bottom line outcome a one hundred and twenty - five million viewers and seventy million dollars in small contributions. Needless to say Donald’s comment was what they said about Biden wasn’t true and he would produce light to counter Biden’s dark vision.
No comments:
Post a Comment