Peace breaks out in Philly, but the fight is to come
On the surface, the Democrats appear to have overcome disunity, writes Shona Murray from Philadephia
LAST week’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia was mission accomplished for the party — in spite of real concerns earlier in the week that, like the Republican National Convention, it would be beset by controversy and drama.
On the eve of the convention’s opening gavel, revelations confirming that Democratic headquarters actively sought to ensure Hillary Clinton won the nomination during the primary phase looked, at one point, set to make the party implode.
Supporters of Clinton’s closest rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, lined up for their candidate, protesting loudly around the city of Philadelphia. So much so that there was a glaringly noticeable absence of any sign of a Hillary Clinton network or fanbase around the city.
The sea of Sanders fans was angry; they’d been proven right that an intentional bias against their once-in-a-lifetime candidate existed — and now it was too late for him to contest. In an effort to quell the hostility, DNC Party Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned her post and apologised to Sanders. Then Hillary Clinton moved in and hired her for her campaign.
Protests and anger, and loud booing at the mention of Clinton’s name characterised the early part of the first day. It looked as if the unity and cohesion the Democrats needed to project in order to set themselves apart from their Republican Party opponents was slipping away. It was going to be another ‘shitshow’, and, what’s more, preliminary polling showed Donald Trump edging ahead of Hillary Clinton for the first time.
Then came the breakthrough that was needed: a magnanimous, pragmatic agreement by Bernie Sanders to work on a progressive platform enabling some of his policies, including the fight for free tuition fees for the middle classes and the essential renewal of the GlassSteagall Act — a groundbreaking piece of legislation from 1933 that separated risky trading and investment activities from consumer lending and finances.
In her final speech on Thursday night, Clinton vowed to make universal access to third-level education part of her policy plan, and said she believes that “Wall Street can never, ever, be allowed wreck main street again.”
What’s not clear yet is whether disaffected Bernie supporters are suitably satisfied with the long and wide-ranging list of policies Clinton said she stood for, and which were name-checked in order to hit the right notes with prospective voters.
She also clarified that she in no way wanted to alter the Second Amendment — the right under the US constitution to bear arms. Although she had invited the mothers of young men and women slain as a result of easy access to guns, she also promised to pursue “common sense” reforms to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and “terrorists”.
“I’m not here to take away your guns; I just don’t want you to be shot by someone who shouldn’t have a gun in the first place.”
It was lines like this that explain why so many people are reluctant to choose Hillary Clinton as their next president.
At the same time as she vowed to work on accomplishing some of the policy aims of the Sanders camp, Hillary was also courting the many Republican voters who cannot bear to vote for Trump, a man characterised as insolent and ridiculous, but “dangerous” nonetheless.
On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid suggested that intelligence agencies “fake” briefings should they be “forced” to give Trump classified information during the campaign.
“Don’t tell him anything; this man is dangerous.”
Many Republicans have similar views.
There were few very high-profile speakers willing to defend the candidacy of Donald Trump in Cleveland — no former presidents or would-be presidents like Senator John McCain or former Governor Mitt Romney showed up. One of the few who did, former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, stoked up foreign policy fears about refugees coming to “kill us”, as well as fears about the death of America as it once was.
While Clinton’s speech packed a punch and delivered much of the optimism and just about enough policy to counter the apocalyptic diatribe that emanated from Trump during last week’s Republican convention, it was clear that, with Hillary for president, it would be business as usual and the established norm of politics would remain.
The Bernie Sanders supporters are demanding a dramatic shift in American politics towards a social democratic movement — with a view to fundamentally transforming American politics and society into a system in line with that of Nordic or Western European countries.
At the same time, so many of those supporting Donald Trump are doing so because he is simply “not a politician”, in spite of the fact that as an incredibly wealthy man he has donated to both Republicans and Democrats in a bid to
‘Protests characterised the early part of the first day... then came the breakthrough: a pragmatic agreement by Sanders’
influence decisions. And, as Hillary pointed out on Thursday night, he has profited from the various trade deals and from the globalised world that allows the manufacturing of his goods, as well as that of his daughter’s clothing empire, in China, Mexico and Turkey.
In an all-too-typical Trump episode this week, the man who claims to have the finesse and smarts required to be president of the United States said that he’d heard Russian president Vladimir Putin say the ‘N’ word when describing US President Barack Obama and that Putin has an apparent lack of respect for his American counterpart.
In any normal world, this bizarre and incredibly offensive remark would spell the end for any one person’s campaign. For Trump, it was yet another example of his bombastic style and willingness to ‘speak his mind’ — his most revered trait.
He appears untouchable, no matter the consequences of his words or actions.
US President Barack Obama’s stirring speech and optimistic message also laid bare the stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats and the darkness and paranoia that emerged from some of the main speakers at last week’s Republican Party Convention in Cleveland.
Regardless of whether one views his tenure as president as a success or not, and his approval rating is 51pc, his impeccable style, intelligence and conviction still embodies everything that is right and possible in the US.
But that is not what this election is about.
Obama painted a portrait of a country whose values and prospects were brighter than ever, and reminded people of the noble words of the nation’s forefathers, that “all men are created equal” and “free in the eyes of God”.
Obama added that “we’re not done perfecting our union”, and listed the areas that need immediate focus — more employment, safer streets and a fairer criminal justice system.
Polling following both conventions and ahead of November’s election will begin in earnest as of next week; but it’s likely that Clinton will receive a bounce from last week’s successful display of competence from Hillary’s camp.
Unfortunately, it will all depend on turnout, not enthusiasm.