It’s only the second day at the Democratic national convention in Chicago and the surprises continue.
Michael Cohen – Donald Trump’s former attorney – alighted in the press box next to me in the DNC cheap seats, taking some cell phone vids of the convention and shooing off reporters. I was wondering why he hadn’t been frog-marched out of the convention hall, but then he flashed his press credential for his podcast, Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen.
“I started something for myself,” he said. “We have three million listeners. Here, I’m a journalist.”
At the convention, the words “freedom” and “patriotism” have been percolating through the rhetoric used by speakers at caucuses in affinity groups and on the stage. It is becoming a theme, the idea that these ideas are not owned by Republicans.
“This November, we can choose a brighter, a fairer, a freer future, or we can relive the dark night of Trump’s American carnage,” said Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader from New York, in his speech.
Here’s what you need to know:
1) Barack Obama returned to a familiar stage
“I’m feeling hopeful because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible,” said Barack Obama, Chicago’s son, while headlining the evening.
Obama has a storied legacy on this stage – it’s where his political career was truly launched 20 years ago. His message then and now was one of unity.
On Tuesday, Obama took time to extol the virtues of Joe Biden, and his selfless decision to step down. He told Democrats and the country that “the torch has been passed” from Biden to Kamala Harris but warned there was work to do. “This will still be a tight race,” he said.
He also took aim at Trump’s “childish nicknames” and “crazy conspiracy theories” and “weird obsession with crowd sizes”. And Obama warned that Trump intends to raise taxes on the middle class to allow for tax cuts for wealthy people. “Donald Trump sees power as nothing more than a means to his ends,” he said.
Then Obama turned to detailing Harris’s strengths and vision. “Kamala Harris won’t be focused on her problems,” Obama said. “She’ll be focused on yours.”
2) Michelle Obama delivered a flawless tribute to history and Harris
Michelle Obama preceded her husband on the stage with yet another memorable speech.
“To be honest, I’m realizing that until recently, I have mourned the dimming of … hope,” she said, recognizing a fundamental shift in the expectations of Democrats with the withdrawal of the president from the re-election campaign. “Maybe you’ve experienced the same feelings, a deep pit in my stomach, a palpable sense of dread about the future.”
Michelle stressed the values of sacrifice and hard work that the vice- president holds, installed in her, she said, by Harris’s mother, an immigrant from India. “Of the two major candidates in this race, only Kamala Harris truly understands the unseen labor and unwavering commitment that has always made America great.”
She called on more decency in politics, and took aim at the “petty” and “small” nature of Trump and the Republican misinformation and attacks.
3) A ceremonial roll call became a party
Harris’s nomination became official on 6 August with a virtual roll call – an unusual situation made vital by ballot rules in Ohio.
But the roll call is a beloved political tradition, where political activists can be seen and heard in front of a national audience, and so the DNC featured a symbolic version of the event early in the evening.
Democrats have become quite good at this specific ritual and today was no exception. DJ Cassidy played background music reflecting each state’s tuneful traditions, from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama to DJ Kool’s Let Me Clear My Throat for the District of Columbia, to Georgia going crunk with Lil Jon performing Turn Down for What in person as the state announced their vote.
Actor Sean Astin helped announce the vote for Indiana, as did Wendell Pierce for Louisiana. Spike Lee stood next to Kathy Hochul of New York trying to look cool.
4) Speakers tried to drill down the themes of freedom and community
Bernie Sanders laid out the stakes of the election plainly. “Schools were closing. States and city governments were running out of money … children in America were going hungry,” he said, hearkening the 2020 election and the pandemic.
The difference between Trump and Biden was an expansion of healthcare support, measures to prevent eviction and food programs for children and the elderly, he said, and the difference between Trump and Harris is an additional expansions of social supports like dental coverage under Medicaid and a living minimum wage.
Straying from prepared remarks, Sanders addressed questions progressive delegates inside the Union Center and protesters outside of it have been asking about Democratic support for Israel in its war on Gaza. “We must end this horrific war in Gaza, bring home the hostages and call for an immediate cease fire,” he said, to rousing cheers.
Other speakers and straphangers alike tended to be people who have had a catastrophic break with the Republican party over Trump. His former White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, denounced the former president from the dais. Grisham accused the former president of mocking his supporters in private, saying: “He calls them basement dwellers,” Grisham said. “On a hospital visit one time, when people were dying in the ICU, he was mad that the cameras were not watching him. He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth.”
Not on stage: uncommitted delegates have been pressing for a Palestinian American leader to be given a speaking slot on stage. So far, the DNC has thwarted this ambition.
A selfie or a test?
Abbas Shirmohammadi took an official photograph of the convention with a 110-year-old camera mounted on a giant tripod on the podium behind where the delegates were seated. As he did, he demanded that a convention hall of thousands of vibing delegates stop the Brownian motion for a second to accommodate the camera’s age. He pulled the same stunt in 2016. The shot is not a photographic test. Nor is it a political test. It’s a test to see how many people know how to follow directions.
What to expect tomorrow
The theme Wednesday is “A Fight for Our Freedoms.” Vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz will deliver his acceptance speech. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker emerita, the transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg and the former president Bill Clinton will address the convention.
