For Dems, a stark convention fit the times
Now Trump and GOP will have a turn in spotlight
At the Democratic National Convention, the problem turned out to be the solution.
The four-day convention, recast on the fly as a virtual enterprise when COVID-19 made the traditional version impossible, ended up reinforcing the party’s fundamental message: A stark moment for the nation demands a somber response. Even at the most celebratory moment, as Joe and Jill Biden gazed at a spray of fireworks, they wore masks.
Pictures of delegates in outlandish hats, the sounds of “Happy Days Are Here Again” blaring as balloons dropped from the rafters, would have seemed tone deaf after a series of speakers had warned of a looming threat to democracy in November’s voting and mourned the deaths of more than 170,000 Americans to the pandemic.
That reality will pose an even more complicated challenge to President Donald Trump and the Republican National
Convention that opens Monday. His message will be entirely different, defending his leadership over the past four years and presumably portraying the coronavirus as increasingly under control. But the GOP also will have to deal with the unforgiving complications that have made it impossible for the president to accept the nomination in a giant arena jammed with supporters, as he had hoped and planned.
To some degree, political conventions reflect the personalities and priorities of the candidates they nominate. By that standard, Democrats might have braced for a stemwinder of an acceptance speech Thursday night, given Biden’s loquacious nature.
Instead, the former vice president delivered the shortest acceptance speech of any Democratic convention in memory, lasting just under 25 minutes, less than half the length of Hillary Clinton’s speech four years ago. The lack of interruptions for applause accounted for part of that. He was talking straight to the camera lens in a silent hall.
Biden’s address was distinctive in other ways as well. The tone was darker than the standard acceptance speech. His language about the incumbent wasn’t just critical; it was apocalyptic. He sounded more like a president warning of hard times ahead than a nominee rallying exuberant partisan troops.
“The current president has cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Too much anger. Too much fear. Too much division,” Biden said at the beginning of his remarks. “Here and now, I give you my word: If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst. I will be an ally of the light not of the darkness.”
The virtual convention was surprisingly intimate, with most speakers in their home states, often in their own homes. The most memorable moments were the small ones of ordinary folks describing their connections with Biden – the Amtrak conductor, The New York Times-security guard, the boy in New Hampshire who struggled with a stutter.
Aides say that a campaign being waged largely from his Wilmington home has been frustrating for Biden, a master of retail politics who revels in human contact. But the limitations of the pandemic may have helped Biden’s political prospects. He hasn’t been in the sort of open forums that invite gaffes, for instance, though the pressure is growing for him to begin answering more questions at news conferences and in interviews. There was no convention forum for progressives to press their proposals, even if they wanted to do so.
The convention had the occasional technological hiccup and awkward moment. Biden followed coronavirus protocol by only waving to his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, when he joined her on stage Wednesday. The only applause came from a collection of delegates on Zoom.
After the convention had ended, though, Biden did hold Harris’ hand aloft as they stood on a makeshift stage outside the Chase Center in Wilmington. They held their arms up in the traditional political pose, a moment of normalcy in an abnormal time.