Takeaways from the final night of the Democratic convention
A convention without a roaring crowd, confetti cannons, funny hats — a gathering in name only — delivered the Democratic presidential nomination to Joe Biden on Thursday, the culmination of a lifelong pursuit that comes at a time of crisis.
Here are key takeaways from the final night of the Democratic National Convention.
Faith at the forefront
On the night he was to officially accept the Democratic nomination for president, Joe Biden put faith front and center, making a point not to cede the issue to Republicans.
Sen. Chris Coons, who represents nominee Biden’s home state of Delaware, spoke of a “private” faith that is personally defining for Biden, a practicing Roman Catholic. Coons said the nominee “believes in the power of prayer” and in “the dignity of all people” because they are “made in the image of God.”
Simone Campbell, of the social justice activist group Nuns on the Bus, delivered the invocation. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms praised the late civil rights icon John Lewis as a “Godfearing man.” Another segment from historian Jon Meacham leaned on Martin Luther King Jr.’s final sermon.
A video from a CNN town hall in February showed Biden explaining his faith as he discussed the 2015 killings of nine Black men and women by a white supremacist at a historically Black church in Charleston. “They forgave him,” Biden said of the victims’ families. “The ultimate act of Christian charity. They forgave him.”
Emcee Julia Louis-dreyfus lightened the moment but drove home the point with a dig at President Donald Trump’s photo op during racial justice protests in Washington, D.C.
“Just remember,” she said, “Joe Biden goes to church so regularly that he doesn’t even need tear gas and a bunch of federalized troops to help him get there.”
Trump maintains an overwhelming advantage among white evangelicals. But marginal shifts to Biden among that group and mainline Protestants and Catholics could be key in battleground states.
Still the Obama-biden, er, Biden-obama party
When Biden celebrated his crucial South Carolina primary victory on Feb. 29, he boomed proudly, “I’m an Obama-biden Democrat!”
Indeed, the Democrats’ virtual convention made clear they are still the Obamabiden party. What that actually means, in terms of policy and politics, is, however, less clear.
Through four nights and eight hours of programming, the speakers who claimed the most airtime besides Biden and his vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris: former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle. And’s it really not close.
Obama was the only former president to speak live, and he spoke nearly four times longer than former President Bill Clinton — a man not known for brevity. Michelle Obama closed out Monday night with a keynote almost twice as long as the combined time awarded to
In this image from video, Sister Simone Campbell gives the opening prayer during the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday.
2016 presidential nominee gave him a ride to a meeting Hillary Clinton and House with The New York Times Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Editorial Board. first women ever to reach On Monday, Kristin Urquithose pinnacles. za offered one of the week’s
It’s a sobering reminder most memorable lines, as for the Democratic old guard she recounted losing her that, even with a 77-yearold father to coronavirus: “His white man as nominee, only preexisting condition the future of the party looks was trusting Donald Trump more like the first Black pres— and for that he paid with ident, his wife and Biden’s his life.” running mate. Some Republicans might
The question is whether call it exploitative. Some Democrats are leaning too independents might see it heavily on the Obamas’ star as the obvious, even stale power, and how it can be play for the major party that leveraged in the coming fall unabashedly advocates for campaign. more government action in the economy and society.
But Democrats saw added punch to the approach in 2020 because of the matchup at the top of the ticket. Trump’s calling card is the say-anything, etiquette-bedamned approach that infuses his rhetoric and, Democrats argue, his policies.
Biden, beyond having Democrats’ usual liberal safety net slate, is the once-stuttering schoolboy who’s endured immense grief as a father who’s lost two children.
In short, Democrats are betting that a majority of voters simply want what former Republican President George H.W. Bush once called for: “a kinder, gentler nation.”
The compassionempathy-righteous
anger card
Democrats quite consciously played up empathy, compassion and a bit of righteous anger, all traits they associated with Biden.
On Thursday, it was Brayden Harrington, a 13-year-old who shared his story of bonding with Biden over their shared stutter. The night before, there was the Sanchez family of North Carolina telling of how Trump’s immigration policies threaten them.
On Tuesday, Biden’s name was placed in nomination by an elevator operator who