Tuesday was royalty night at the Democratic National Convention, with both Obamas speaking, and me wondering whether Barack or Michelle would get the craziest welcome.
I can’t judge volume, but I can use a stop watch.
Advantage, Barack — 1 minute and 30 seconds of wild applause, to 1:17 for Michelle. Each tried earnestly to quiet the crowd, with Michelle saying they had a lot to do.
No, there was only Barack in the wings, but he didn’t get to the podium until a few ticks after 11, which means the DNC had lost much of the East Coast for their star attraction.
The theme for the night was “A Bold Vision for America’s Future,” but it was pretty much the usual Democrat boilerplate. Not saying that’s bad, just saying it’s not “bold.”
Let me interrupt myself.
There was something bold, but the Democrats buried it before the 8 p.m. prime time start.
That was Stephanie Grisham, the Trump White House press secretary who did not just work for the 45th President, but who claims to have been a personal friend who spent holidays at Mar-A-Lago, where she saw Trump in unguarded moments.
The self-described “true believer” didn’t like what she saw.
Such as describing his supporters as “basement dwellers,” him having “no fidelity to the truth,” and telling her it doesn’t matter what you say, if you say it enough, people will believe it.”
It’s one thing to have Democrats take shots at Trump. It’s more potent when it comes from a fallen-away Trumpster. The DNC did showcase some other former Trump voters, but Grisham was wasted.
Not so Michelle, svelte and lovely in a black dress and sporting a long braided ponytail.
In her 14 minutes, she drew more cheers than did Barack in his 34 minutes.
Of course, Barack was no slouch, always an effective orator, but he was mining pro-American themes he has used before. Such as his address at the 2004 convention, where I first heard him and fell in love with him. It was a grand slam, and no one can hit a grand slam every time at bat.
He talked about “American values” Tuesday night, and how we must be a “force for good in the world.”
He had strong praise for Joe Biden, as a “brother,” and offered a catalog of his achievements as President.
He also ran down a list of Kamala Harris’ achievements, which had been done by at least a half dozen earlier speakers. After a while, you go numb.
Michelle was more emotional, and more effective, with her opening line, “Hope is making a comeback,” which slyly tied Kamala’s campaign to Obama’s “hope and change.”
The line that got the largest response was her calculation that Trump didn’t know how to handle the Obamas because he had no way to understand hard-working, well-educated, successful Black people.
And ordinary people, when facing a mountain, did not expect an escalator to take them to the top.
“The job he’s currently seeking, might be one of those Black jobs” he talks about, she said.
In talking about hard work and her parents’ suspicion of people who had too much, I kind of winced that a millionaire would be talking like that. It didn’t land well with me.
But that’s me, someone not in the thrall of any politician.
Stu, yes, I was also very impressed by the productions of the speakers! Several could have taken a decent shot at a nomination vote if they were able to produce such material and delivery on a regular basis.
And I was also annoyed by the applause game. 15 seconds or so is quite enough for just about anyone, 30 leans pretty seriously into overdoing it. There should be a standardized rule that speakers can spread their arms to signify they’ve “knocked three times” and gotten the message … and then just start to speak.
The one speaking note that concerned me was the tone and style of Harris’s speeches: her voice seemed to overstretched the limits of stress and the result was a high-pitched undertone that made it sound like she’d end up too hoarse to order her morning coffee: I would imagine that the delicate nature of her speeching-throat had moved into an area where she might actually be far more vulnerable to attack by COVID or other nasties that might be floating around while also removing the sense of having the commanding tone we look for in our leaders… particularly in leaders that we want to show strength in leading us to battle at some point: Calm, confident, and strong is what we want in a President.
Overall though I was quite impressed by the general production!
– MJM, asking you to hold your applause now… just be sure to fill my tips cap!
Last night, from Milwaukee, Kamala sounded a bit hoarse. Comes with the territory. She should rest her voice between now and Thursday night. There is a whole column I could do — but won’t — about the production values, especially during the enjoyable (to me) roll call of the states.
Per applause, the Obamas did try to cut it off. I actually thought it would go longer. Biden got a full 5 minutes.
Stu, you summed up my thoughts about last night pretty well.
Thanks
Obama the man who hurt Americans by lying to them about making health care affordable. He said if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. He said premiums would go down $2,500. How did that work out for the people who pay for their policies. And why does it now take months to make a appointment. Why do democrats make heroes out of people who have hurt the country .
Danny boy, you’re the reason God created the middle finger.
You can’t handle the truth.
You couldn’t find the truth if it was placed right in front of you on a silver platter marked “truth.” Folks like you are the exact reason why civil discussion is impossible with your ilk. You are either too dumb or too deluded to recognize nor acknowledge actual factual data. Well, Danny boy, hope you enjoy the next four years of Democratic governance, when us “Communists” and “Socialists” allow all the “radicals” to run free and destroy your country. And I hope your orange god enjoys prison, which is exactly where he belongs.
Danny, you are the best example of a perfect AH.
The hate America trio have spoken. We will soon find out which way the people will vote.
The media, and of course the vast majority of your readers still seem stuck on the idea that if people don’t see it live, it doesn’t happen. The way we view media these days is starkly different than when we were young pups in the 1970’s. With DVR, YouTube, TikTok and other social media, those that had wanted to see those late night speeches will have had the opportunity to comfortably go to bed at their normal hour and watch it some time today, at their leisure. And the other half of the country, particularly those on the West Coast, will have actually seen it live, with the Obama’s coming on as folks finished their deserts and cleaned up. I’m just now starting to realize this fact, and I hope you do too.
As a former TV critic, I am very aware. But… most of the battleground states are Eastern.
I have previously written that most people don’t see entire events, they see curated snippets on social media.
What did Daniel say that was incorrect? We were told we could keep our doctors, hospitals, etc. And we couldn’t.
I especially like the fact of both Shapiro and Biden repeated the thoroughly debunked lie about good people on both sides. And then Biden has the nerve to say that Hamas has a point?
There are no words for what I think of the Democrats. The party that champions “hate has no home here” as a voting strategy this is precisely designed around…hate.
Those opposed to the ACA like to think that Obama was somehow being duplicitous when he made this statement. The fact of the matter is he made this statement early on in the process and after much debate, hearings, amendments, etc. it eventually got dropped. The ACA took over a year to complete and took a lot of work by a lot of people and many countervailing forces. It may not have been perfect but it was a sight better than what was available prior. And actually most people COULD keep their doctors.
It isn’t different from having your insurance through your employer. The insurance carrier has a network, unless you have a Preferred Provider plan (PPO). Many plans were HMO plans, very constrained. So if you have a Primary Care Physician (PCP) under your current plan, and your employer changes to another insurance carrier, whoops! your doctor may not be a member of the new network.
With ACA, people who purchased one of the plans were constrained to their networks. And the plans really were different in many cases. So even if your favorite doctor didn’t retire, die, or move out of state, s/he might just be in a different network. That goes for hospitals as well.
On the other hand, the Republicans pulled the AHCA out of their asses over the space of a few months with little or no deliberations or hearings and it was a shitbag.
Trump promised healthcare which would be more comprehensive and with better coverage at a cheaper cost. Trump had no input in creating this bill and in fact probably never even read it. This travesty of a bill did not even come close to being that and yet in public he refers to it as “great”.
He kept making the same promises, over and over..
https://www.politifact.com/obama-like-health-care-keep/
The affordable care act stinks. It’s killing the middle class with high premiums and deductibles. Anyone who tells it’s not is lying to you.
No matter who wins the coming election, we should hope for a split Congress. Such will be necessary to control the baser instincts of the two bullshit artists running for the presidency.
The ACA is anything but affordable. That is why medical debt is out of control. The consolidation of hospital systems and physician practices has led to ridiculous wait times and poor care.
You are right about the consolidation of hospital systems — the best at capitalism and for-profit medicine. When you wonder why medical bills are so high, look toward the for profit system of medicine which controls your physician to be able to spend a scant 15 minutes of time with you and is the costliest in the entire world. It has nothing to do with the ACA.
Obamacare worked out great for me. Used the PA state exchange PENNIE & purchased good insurance at a reasonable price and absolutely NO problems getting appointments and tests. Once again Daniel uses doom & gloom, lies, suppositions & innuendo because that’s who he is: a nattering nabob of negatavism🤡
P.S. I’m on Medicare now! Daniel & his ilk probably regard Medicare as socialist.
I am SO fortunate to have been a member of a union that negotiated health insurance with the employer, so I never had to make decisions like this.