I didn’t watch all of the coverage of the Democratic National Convention last week, but I did catch many of the late-night speeches.
And I was impressed on many levels. My one complaint was that I wish the whole thing added up a bit more to a more substantive discussion of policy issues. I know, that may not make compelling prime time TV, but I think one function of these exercises every four years is for the parties to not just feature the personalities that are important, but to emphasize the ideas that they stand for in this election cycle.
“We’re not Trump” does mean something. After all, I’ve seen the “Any Functioning Adult” bumper stickers, too. And Joe Biden was not my first choice, but he’s not my last choice, either.
America suffered some sort of cognitive dysfunction in 2016: The body politic picked a buffoon for president. True, Trump was running against Hillary Clinton, who has enough baggage to fill s steamship, but history will recall that Trump was not a bad president. He (knock on wood, because who knows what’s coming) will go down as the absolutely worst president in American history—the least competent bumbling fool who ever held the office.
So, I guess I am among the choir the Democrats were preaching to, and it’s easy for me to like much of what I saw.
Anyway, I’ve picked out what I think are some of the more interesting or more effective speeches. I’m a speech teacher, among other things, and there were some less effective and some more effective speeches.
I have not included the speeches by Kamala Harris nor Joe Biden. Of the two, I thought both did well but Biden really nailed it. His relatively short acceptance speech hit on key policy themes in an effective way.
But I want to comment on some of the other presentations I saw. A caveat: All of the speeches are actually video presentations, which is something different from a live speech. Still, for various reasons, these videos especially resonated with me.
The videos are from PBS. The quotes I verified using speech transcripts available from CNN. Nothing came from Fox, which did not cover the DNC (and yet will cover the Republican show this week—fair and balanced anyone?).
Braydon Herrington: Harrington is a teen from New Hampshire who encountered Joe Biden and had a story about him to share. Like Biden, Herrington stutters, and did some during his address.
It was an effective address on several levels. For one thing, a theme that the Democrats were pounding at was that Joe Biden is very different from Donald Trump. Both are very old white men, but Biden shows empathy. One cannot imagine Biden publicly mocking a reporter's physical condition, the way Trump heartlessly did during the previous campaign. And Harrington’s speech was all about the empathy Biden showed to him in a personal way.
His presentation:
And what I think is the best quote from it:
“I'm just a regular kid, and in a short amount of time, Joe Biden made me feel more confident about something that's bothered me my whole life. Joe Biden cared. Imagine what he could do for all of us. Kids like me are counting on you to elect someone we can all look up to. Someone who cares. Someone who will make our country and the world feel better. We're counting on you to elect Joe Biden.”
Michelle Obama: The former First Lady, Mrs. Obama is a very sharp lawyer, and her giving an effective speech is not that much of a surprise. But she delivered a blistering critique of President Trump that probably won’t be plagiarized by Trump’s First Lady.
Mrs. Obama emphasized the importance of the moment, the need to vote, because of this year’s sharp contrast. She was articulate and personal, and showed why she is such a popular figure even though she noted that she hates politics.
Her presentation:
And what I think is the best quote from it:
“So let me be as honest and clear as I possibly 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, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.”
John Kasich: Kasich, a Republican former governor of Ohio was one of several speakers from his party, as he noted, an unusual move. Some progressive Democrats groused about this Republican getting more time than figures such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for instance. It’s a grouse with some basis.
But I can see why Kasich was featured. He stood at a literal crossroads to talk of the nation at the crossroads. He is not the most passionate nor effective of speakers, but I think his message still resonated. He and the other Republican speakers were there to remind the nation that loyalty to Donald Trump is not the same thing as loyalty to what the GOP has traditionally stood for.
So Kasich may not have been the most dynamic speaker on his own, but I still think is message was effective.
His presentation:
And what I think is the best quote from it:
“I’m a lifelong Republican, but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country. That’s why I’ve chosen to appear at this convention. In normal times, something like this would probably never happen, but these are not normal times.
“I’m proud of my Republican heritage. It’s the party of Lincoln, who reflected its founding principles of unity and a higher purpose. But what I have witnessed these past four years belies those principles.”
Elizabeth Warren: Sen. Warren was among the many former rivals for the nomination who spoke in support of Joe Biden, and hers was the most memorable endorsement from a rival, to me. She spoke clearly, passionately and in the perfectly chosen setting—a childcare center where blocks in the background were a clear shoutout to the Bureau of Land Management. (JK, #Blacklivesmatter).
And I thought Senator Warren told a compelling personal anecdote (used pathos) that tied into a compelling policy issue on childcare (some logos there) and then followed it up with one of the best zingers of the convention on President Trump: “COVID-19 was Trump’s biggest test. He failed miserably.”
So much for bragging about passing a cognitive test, Don.
Her presentation:
And what I think is the best quote from it:
“Donald Trump's ignorance and incompetence have always been a danger to our country. COVID-19 was Trump's biggest test. He failed miserably.”
Barack Obama. The immediate past President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama gave a slightly long-winded speech, but one was that startling and riveting.
For three and a half years, Mr. Obama has bit his tongue. Former presidents don’t normally criticize present presidents. But these are unusual times, and as Mr. Obama noted at some length, Donald Trump is not just a terrible president. Trump and Trumpism is an affront to the very democratic fabric of our republic—it’s not hyperbole to wonder if the American experiment is being withered from within by Trump and his Republican enablers.
So, in a sharp convention speech, Mr. Obama finally let his tongue go. And go it did. It was, for Mr. Obama, who is all about light and hope, a rather dark speech because it was a clarion call, a warning about dark times.
Re-electing Donald Trump would be a disaster was the subtext. And the text made it clear what Mr. Obama really things of Donald Trump. Trump, Mr. Obama says, is using the presidency as a reality TV show to gain personal gratification. Trump is not trying to lead a contry; in fact, Trump doesn’t even understand what the job of the president is.
I put Mr. Obama’s speech last because I think it had, for me, the most impact. It was a sharp reminder of what a president can do with words if he can speak them, as Donald Trump can’t. And because Mr. Obama is a writer with a way of words, I’ll feature two quotes from his speech.
His presentation:
And what I think are the best two quotes from it:
Quote one: “I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously; that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care.
“But he never did. For close to four years now, he's shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.
“Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't.”
Quote two: “But more than anything, what I know about Joe and Kamala is that they actually care about every American. And they care deeply about this democracy.
“They believe that in a democracy, the right to vote is sacred, and we should be making it easier for people to cast their ballot, not harder.
“They believe that no one -- including the president -- is above the law, and that no public official -- including the president -- should use their office to enrich themselves or their supporters.
“They understand that in this democracy, the Commander-in-Chief doesn't use the men and women of our military, who are willing to risk everything to protect our nation, as political props to deploy against peaceful protesters on our own soil. They understand that political opponents aren't 'un-American' just because they disagree with you; that a free press isn't the 'enemy' but the way we hold officials accountable; that our ability to work together to solve big problems like a pandemic depends on a fidelity to facts and science and logic and not just making stuff up.
“None of this should be controversial. These shouldn't be Republican principles or Democratic principles. They're American principles. But at this moment, this president and those who enable him, have shown they don't believe in these things.”
I will try to pay the same attention to the Republicans this week, but it will be tough. I’m not entertained much by hatred and ignorance, and I’m afraid appeals to our worst demons will be way more common than appeals to the better angels of our nature.
But, unlike Fox, I’ll attend to both conventions. So if you want to, watch a week from now for my highlights from the next political summer funfest.
And before I am done, two little clips from the DNC that I enjoyed very much, although they don’t count as speeches. First, the Biden granddaughters speak, and steal the show. Their message to Joe Biden was, to quote one of them: “Get in that race.” What a contrast these young people are to that scary tribe named "Trump." And the final word goes to The Chicks who aren’t gas-lighting us with one of my favorite renditions of our (our, not Democrats’, not Republicans’) national anthem.
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