Biden makes his case . . . softly

A presidential political campaign that began in January 2019 with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s announcement of candidacy, and attracted enough candidates to fill a Septa subway car, ended Thursday with the acceptance of nomination by former Vice President Joe Biden.

Ironically, the party that fetishizes diversity and accuses everyone else of racism, blew off all the Black and Brown candidates in favor of a White man. An elderly White man at that, who twice before had sought and failed to get the nomination. Third time is the charm, they say. 

To balance the ticket, Biden selected Kamala Harris, a woman of color — Black father, Asian Indian mother — as his running mate. She has a strong law enforcement record she will be running away from. 

The goal of the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention was to ignite the Biden-Harris rocket, putting it on a trajectory for a Nov. 3 victory.

What would do that would be Biden’s speech, the best of his career.

It wasn’t. It fell short of his candidacy announcement on Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway, with him in shirt sleeves, brimming with energy. The DNC played clips of that day, which was brighter than anything offered last night.

Biden’s address, read off a TelePrompTer in an empty hall, was delivered with emotion, but without animation — except when he talked about our military, military families, and how he would stand up to dictators. The talk was workmanlike, but I did not find a memorable phrase in it. Inspiring? Only to partisans who were lighting candles that he got through it without dropping a load. He met the low expectations. 

Biden’s address was the finale, preceded by testimonials to his character by many characters.

One of them was moderator Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the star of the TV show “Veep” — get it? I think she had the best line of the night: “When Donald Trump at his inauguration talked about American carnage, I assumed that was something he was against, not a campaign promise.”

Just before Louis-Dreyfus, the National Anthem was sung by the Dixie Chicks. Oops — they dropped “Dixie” because it had something to do with the South or the Confederacy or something unpalatable to Political Correctness. So now they are just the Chicks, which is an unpalatable slang term for women.

Ah, well.

Democrats must fear a lack of enthusiasm because of the repeated urges to vote, and to text to 30XXX to get voting information (and also appeals to donate.) I am not giving the text number out unless I get paid to do it.

Night Four occasionally had the feel of a telethon designed to attack the disease known as apathy.

Various speakers addressed the four points of Biden’s campaign compass — failure on fighting coronavirus, the economy, racial justice, and climate change. That may be why Biden didn’t stress them much in his address, dealing instead with family and values.

The best endorser, in my mind, was 13-year-old Brayden Harrington, who stutters, and who was taken under the wing of Biden, who stuttered as a child. Biden took the time to meet with and coach the kid, who stuttered as he thanked Biden in a video. That kid has guts and Biden has heart.

Less effective endorsers were Biden’s children Hunter, and Ashley. Both have been in trouble because of addiction to drugs, and Hunter has admitted he has traded on his family name in business.

In his address, Biden promised to reward the generous and not the selfish, to fight rising inequity and shrinking opportunity. 

Without mentioning Trump, Biden said, “He has failed to protect us. He has failed to protect America.”

He ticked off the usual litany of problems with America, but then reversed field by stating, “We are a good and decent people.”

Who are racists?

The word used most was “soul,” as this is an election for the soul of America.

The Republicans will define it differently next week.