I have a few thoughts. Perhaps they may seem random, perhaps not.
I watched all of each night, and some commentary both on cable and what I saw online.
These thoughts, however, are only mine,
They will not be in any particular order.
Make of them what you will.
Let me start with our moderator/hostess of last night. On Twitter I saw a lot of criticism, and I think it was misplaced. Yes some of the humor at times was biting, and that was the point. It helped diffuse what could have been palpable anger and create an environment later in the program which was far more positive, even when there was DIRECT and appropriate criticisms of the current occupant of the Oval Office. And I note that there was less and less of that the further we got into the program, and after Julia Louis-Dreyfus told us about Biden calling her after her diagnosis of cancer, as far as I recall there was none.
I read a lot of complaints this week about the presence of Republicans, and someone like Bloomberg, and the non-presence of Julian Castro. On a personal level I have found Castro annoying, and him not being present does not bother me because we saw a LOT of Latinos and Latinas, and it was good that most — like most of the people we saw- were NOT politicians, but ordinary folks to whom the audience could relate. Personally I would have liked to see Inslee featured, but I am happy with the emphasis we heard, especially last night from Biden, on the environmental crisis the world is facing.
As far as Bloomberg, I thought his remarks last night were fine and well focused. Yes, Warren absolutely destroyed him in one debate, but that does not mean we should consign him to the scrap heap. I will discuss this more anon.
Overall I was quite pleased with the convention. There were more than a few wonderful moments, some of which were heart-rending. I think doing the role call that way is far superior than what we traditionally saw.
I also liked that the various speakers were addressing us in conversational tones, and not projecting to a large in-person audience whose reactions can interrupt the flow of what we are hearing/learning. I think there was a good balance between was was live and what was taped — although I admit I wish Michelle Obama had been live.
I had the pleasure of seeing people I know in the Zoom boxes. I was delighted to see an alumnus of Haverford Daniel Dae Kim making an appearance (actually 2). It was good to see the affirmation of Virginia’s outstanding new state legislator who just happens to be transgendered Danica Roem.
For people who don’t know them, the two Tammies are outstanding. I have been honored to meet both, Baldwin at a fundraiser for her when she was running for Senate and Duckworth at my local Starbucks, where I had a chance to have a brief conversation. Similarly, Deb Haaland has greatly impressed me, and not just because she is from the same Pueblo as is one our nieces. She is also someone with whom I once had a chance to converse and she immediately impressed me.
Throughout the four days we saw the incredible diversity of America, something that has increased greatly during my 7+ decades on this earth. I view that as a positive. For one thing, our dietary choices have increased greatly, as anyone living where I do in Arlington VA can well attest. I have experienced in my classrooms over more than 2 ½ decades, where by now I have had students born more than 55 different countries the last time I took a count some 4 years ago.
Let me reflect about our ticket. I first met Joe Biden in 1983, when he was a speaker (subbing for Bill Bradley) at a Pennsylvania Democratic Committee meeting in Camp Hill PA. I was there representing Fritz Hollings. He saw my Hollings sticker and came over to talk with me — as you heard from him last night Hollings was one of those who after the death of his wife and daughter in 1972 persuaded him to take his Senate seat. I know that Hollings was something of a mentor and at times almost a surrogate father to Biden. I have only encountered him a very few more times, but I have known people who worked for him. Having lived in SE Pennsylvania from 1971 through 1982 we always viewed Joe as our 3rd Senator. I know him to be a fundamentally caring person, someone with integrity. I did not support him at the beginning of this cycle because of his age, but I always felt that absent something totally unexpected coming up, or a really serious error in his campaign, he was likely to be the nominee.
I realize that most of the Senators with whom he worked on a bi-partisan basis are no longer in the Senate. A few of the Republican elders with whom he overlapped have gotten extreme in recent years, which may make the kind of cooperation he seeks difficult to achieve. And yet I think Biden has to present that as an option, as an alternative to the scorched earth policy flowing from Trump and unfortunately reflected in the words and actions of the likes of Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and others.
Biden listens. We can see that in how his policies have been adjusted since the start of the campaign, with his willingness to sign on to a good part of the agenda of Elizabeth Warren, who is the person for whom I voted in Virginia’s primary even though by then I knew she probably could not win the nomination.
I know — albeit not closely — Jim Clyburn, since I have been a member of the National Democratic Club for well over a decade, and he used to be a frequent presence. Neither he nor I are there as much. He had forgotten until I reminded him shortly after the SC primary that in March of 2—8 he was forcefully arguing (after it was clear Obama was going to be our nominee) that Biden had to be his running mate.
I am more than happy with Kamala Harris as Biden’s running mate. I could go through the usual analysis but to me it is irrelevant. I thought Biden saying his running mate was going to be female was a courageous thing to do in some ways, but not surprising — during his long career Joe Biden has been increasingly inclusive of others.
There were things about some of the others considered that might have bothered me, and they might have become issues, but in a sense that does not matter.
Kamala Harris has a record of achievement, at local and state levels before she became a US Senator. She has been effective in that role. I was not surprised that BIden chose her given her closeness to his late son Beau. I fully believe that had Biden run in 2016 he would have won the nomination and then would have picked Warren. But now, after all that has happened with Goerge Floyd and the others, and given who the most loyal constituency the Democrats have is African-American women, Biden really needed to pick a qualified African-American woman, and Harris is more than qualified.
I think the convention did a wonderful job introducing Harris and Biden — even though Joe has been on the scene for almost half a century, there are still people who did not know that much about him. Now they do, and what they learned was for almost all positive.
As we go forward, I am well aware with possible problems with the election, whether it is with the USPS, or voter intimidation, or voter suppression, or foreign interference, or the willingness of the other candidate and his supporters to flat out lid,etc. etc. etc. But I am not going to address that here.
The Democratic party came out of this convention far more united than we have been in many cycles where we did not have an incumbent running (and of course one time when we did have an incumbent we had a divisive and unhealed convention).
Now a lot of what is important is up to us — how we communicate, how we try to encourage/persuade others, our own commitment to make sure we and everyone we can persuade is registered and votes.
So that’s a bit of how I reflect on the four days past.
These are my thoughts.
I realize others here will disagree on one or more points I have raised, and might challenge me on things I did not address. So be it.
Even with concerns we may have going forward, I think we should all feel very good about the convention just completed.
