Democratic National Convention — Night One (In Review)

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION — NIGHT ONE (IN REVIEW)

This was an astounding night for Democrats and the Harris-Walz ticket. It was an even better night for America. Well, kinda’. Sorta’.

All the speakers were on point (almost), offering their visions of hope and optimism. This was a very FORWARD looking message, as opposed to the Republican obsession with going back to the past and returning to mythological times that did not ever really exist.

Standouts for me on Night One were Steve Kerr (NBA coach), Shawn Fain (UAW President), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who delivered perhaps the most fiery speech of the night. Watch her 7-minute speech below. “AOC 2032!”

The most moving moment of the evening was undoubtedly the segment on American women losing their reproductive rights and freedoms under Trump and MAGA Republicans. Having three brave women onstage as speakers telling their personal stories from backwater states on womens’ rights, who each suffered terrible humiliation and in a few cases almost lost their lives because of draconian abortion laws in those Republican-run states (Amanda and Josh Zurawski from Texas; Kaitlyn Joshua from Louisiana; Hadley Duvall from Kentucky)……..was a super powerful moment. It reminded us all what’s at stake in this election.

Hillary Clinton, who shattered so many barriers over the course of her career as First Lady, Secretary of State, U.S. Senator, and presidential candidate, delivered an outstanding speech. To her credit, she made the moment all about Kamala Harris, rather than herself. This was one of the best speeches Clinton has ever given, in my view.

Unfortunately, the night ended in lackluster fashion. The longer it dragged on, the more disinterested I became.

DNC organizers somehow badly mis-timed the entire presentation and let the speakers’ list run way too long and by the time the keynote speaker finally came onstage, it was way past the bedtime for at least half the country.

Worse, President Biden delivered a HORRIBLE speech. Call it a retread of State of the Union. Mired down in policy details, numbers and percentages, and political wonky talking points, it was a message of ANTI-inspiration. Maybe, boredom would be a better description. Of course, no one expects Biden to dazzle us as an orator, but the entire delivery was about *his* presidency, not Harris’ future as the bearer of the torch. Most of us appreciated giving Biden his moment in the spotlight, and the long welcome from the crowd was both moving and deserved. But this was a really lousy close to what otherwise had been a terrific opening night. Oh, and as I’m posting this — it’s 12:18 in the Eastern Time Zone…..yes, past midnight…..and Biden is STILL speaking.

Shaking my head. Dumb. Who knows….maybe this was all by design. hoping to move Biden to as late a time slot as possible. That’s not meant to denigrate many positives of the Biden presidency, but we have to admit he’s become a political liability to the new ticket now, hopefully with minimal carryover on Nov. 5th.

Of course, we’ll forget all of this over the next few nights. There’s no question now about Democratic unity, positive messaging, and high energy. It’s all there, and then some. Prediction: I expect the Harris-Walz ticket to get a 2-point national boost post DNC, which would be huge in a tight race and even give her some comfort zone as the favorite–but admittedly, it’s still early. Oh, and I’m not exactly thrilled about Bill Clinton and Nancy Pelosi given high-profile speaking slots over the next few nights, who bring no extra votes to Democrats. Those are faces of the past.

This night would have been graded as an A, but I’ll downgrade to a solid B based on the awkward scheduling, Biden’s rambling messaging, and a close that dragged out way, way too long.

Finally, I was also disappointed that (reportedly) singer-songwriter James Taylor was bumped. He was scheduled to perform. I don’t know this for sure, but I presume he was going to sing, “You’ve Got a Friend” either before or after Biden’s speech, which would have been PERFECT. Instead, this was a blown opportunity.

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UPDATE: Biden’s speech just ended, clocking in at 51 minutes.