Joe Biden saved the very best until last.
After four evenings of live streamed speeches, of videos showing Biden as a young man, as a father, and as a vice president, after four days of earnest seriousness, with the occasional joke, without doubt the most thrilling part of the Democratic National Convention played out in a parking lot in Delaware.
Having concluded the speech in which he formally accepted the Democrats’ nomination for president, a solid, seemingly heartfelt address, he and his wife Jill donned their face masks and stood to watch the fireworks from the car park of the Chase Centre in Wilmington, from where he had delivered his words. Soon, he was joined by Kamala Harris, and her husband Doug Emhoff and together they waved and smiled and even danced a little bit.
The sheer joy of the moment – laughter, relaxed smiles, people driving their vehicles and waving flags, albeit at a safe distance – at a time when the pandemic has left the nation anxious and fearful, was a huge success.
Biden must be hoping that for him too, life has saved the best until last. Or at least that part of life devoted to politics and public service.
Having run for president twice before and having had his trousers handed to him on both occasions, having suffered the loss of his first wife, his daughter and his eldest son, and having been politely told to step aside by Barack Obama when he hoped that he, not Hillary Clinton, might be the party’s standard bearer in 2016, he might have assumed his public life was over.
And yet now at the age of 77, and looking every one of them, here he stands, closer to the highest prize than ever before. Projected and driven to the moment by a confluence of factors – perhaps the death of his son, Beau, the unwillingness of too many Democrats to trust Bernie Sanders with defeating Donald Trump, and the pandemic that fixed the Democrats’ primary campaign in aspic – he sits one good win away from the Oval Office.
Political parties can usually expect a bump in the polls of anywhere up to five per cent following a national convention. It is true, those bumps have become less in recent cycles, but Biden can expect to see his numbers jump at least a point or two in coming days.
What remains unclear, is whether what we witnessed over the four days will persuade enough Americans to cast their vote for him, at a time when the simple act of voting has itself been made so difficult.
Christina Greer, professor of political science at Fordham University in New York, says she was struck this week by how speaker after speaker spoke less about policy than about the practical act of voting.
She says Trump’s efforts to reduce access to mail-in ballots, at a time when many are frightened to leave their homes, had delivered the nation to a precipice on which it had never previously stood.
“We saw Michelle Obama literally walk people through what they should be doing right now, as far as registering, and becoming a poll worker,” she says.
In terms of Joe Biden, we learned little new. After more than 50 years in public life, some commentators felt the convention devoted too much time to telling his “story” as if he was a newcomer on the political scene.
And while the dark vision spelled out by the likes of Barack Obama underscored the danger with which many Americans view a second Trump term, there was less than some would have liked on the hard policies that represented an alternative.
“I think that they have done a good job of saying why people should not support Trump. And why it is important to get out to vote,” says Jeanne Zaino, professor of political science at Iona College in New York.
“What I don’t think they’ve done quite so well is to explain why people would want to get out to vote for Biden.”
What appears to be true is that Harris, the hard-elbowed former prosecutor from California, and Biden will work tougher as a team. They appear to genuinely respect each other, and enjoy the fact they do not agree on everything.
She appears to be someone who will have his back, and her enthusiasm and energy will make easier the jobs of grassroots Democrats and organisers whose task will be to ensure people can cast their ballot.
“For make no mistake. United we can, and will, overcome this season of darkness in America. We will choose hope over fear, facts over fiction, fairness over privilege,” Biden said in his Thursday night address.
“Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to this nation. He failed to protect us. He failed to protect America. And, my fellow Americans, that is unforgivable.”
