I cannot believe this speech was 16 years ago. It has been half a lifetime for me since I volunteered at the 2004 convention in Boston. While I did not get to see the speech in person, I did wave to then State Senator Obama outside the Garden before he gave it. I followed him to Hyde Park and U Chicago and helped found the Students for Obama chapter in his backyard. I followed him to Iowa for the caucuses and a number of swing states to campaign. While he has occasionally disappointed me, he’ll always be the candidate of my youthful idealism. An idealism now tested by the dark realities across our country today. I cannot wait to see the speech he delivers tonight because it once again feels like the future of our country depends on having the audacity of hope.
It seems like all the speeches this year about why Donald Trump must be defeated.
I get the sentiment, but I don’t understand the convention strategy. Who’s watching?
Most people watching are diehards and they’re already all in. There aren’t many people watching intently who are still shopping for a candidate.
Wouldn’t it be better, as both a way to pump up the base, and to generate lots of news coverage, to talk about all the great stuff you’re going to do when you win? Get Meg Whitman and Bloomberg (also, where the f is his fulltime campaign staffing $$$) outta here and give us the goods. Also, a lot more latinx speakers. Give Julian Castro some time, any time, and certainly more time than John Kasich!
But, I guess “it is what it is.” This race was and always will be about the other guy.
I hear you.
I haven’t watched more than about 15 seconds of any of the convention stuff because it’s no different from what all the Democrats (and all rational and informed commentators) have been saying for months or even years.
I don’t believe that anyone is still undecided. I really don’t. I’ve seen the reports that supporters of Donald Trump are rightfully ashamed to admit that to pollsters, and that rings true.
I watched some talking head last night for a few moments, heard the same-old same-old, and found myself watching my first Red Sox game of the season.
It’s pretty bad when I choose baseball over a convention.
Someone on the internet (sorry, I don’t remember where) pointed out the overlap between the list of speakers at this year’s Democratic convention and the list at the 1996 Republican convention.
I think the Obamas, the Clintons, Bernie, and Harris all gave very good speeches. There are a lot of voters who don’t watch the news or pay attention to wall to wall politics who do tune in to the conventions and the debates. These low info voters are typically the undecideds and they have a much broader mix of beliefs than the Acela corridor makes them out to believe. I think it’s important to state the case against Trump and also make clear commitments to young people and communities of color that the party is listening and adapting to this summers protests. I saw a lot of that too.
Understood. Mr. Obama was, as I expected, absolutely marvelous. I also liked Ms. Clinton’s piece. I watched with moderate interest Ms. Pelosi and Ms. Warren.
The entire production, on the other hand, struck me as an attempt to emulate a shopping channel. In too many cases, the pandering to women was just insulting. Do American women REALLY need to watch high-energy kick-steps, bad dance routines, and the similar rubbish that was broadcast last night?
I know I’m jaded, but I had the same reaction to the production I saw last night and the night before that I have when I occasionally see porn trailers and promos — that the producers have an insultingly low opinion of their audience. Please understand that I’m criticizing the production team and whomever approved this approach, not the entire Democratic Party. I don’t expect our elected representatives to be professional actors. I DO expect the surrounding context and production to set a higher standard than I’ve seen in the convention so far.
In my view, Mr. Obama’s message to young people and communities of color accomplished FAR more than the hours of insulting pap that surrounded it.
It’s a fair criticism, but I’ll add that the 2004 convention had Democrats (Zell Miller, Ron Silver) and moderate Republicans (Arnold, Rudy, McCain) make the case to independents that in a national emergency it was better to rally around the incumbent and it definitely helped Bush defeat Kerry. Similarly, in this convention, we saw Republicans who again recognize a national emergency and are putting country over party. I don’t agree with them and do not want their views to influence the party, but I’ll take them over bootlickers like Graham, Rubio, and Cruz who all know how vile Trump is and pretend to love their fearless leader to stay in office.
I want to know what Kompromat the Russians have on Mr. Graham, Mr. Rubio, and Mr. Cruz.
Graham has been rumored to be down low for years, and there’s a theory that either the Russians and/or Trumps people have information confirming that.
Occam’s razor offers us a better explanation which is that all three are politicians who will say and do whatever it takes to stay in office. Graham needed to fend off a primary from the right to get renominated and saw what happened to Mark Sanford in his backyard. Cruz and Rubio want to run for President again.
Steve Schmidt took them all to the woodshed on twitter which was a great thread to read.
https://twitter.com/SteveSchmidtSES/status/1296151125754863616?s=20