The Democrats have a night of royalty

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.