Welcome to the latest edition of Flux, a weekly newsletter from GEN about the powerful forces reshaping America. Joe Biden was hoisted aloft by the testimonials of a demographically, ideologically, and geographically diverse lineup of speakers this week at a virtual four-day Democratic National Convention that preached unity in the face of America’s overlapping crises and warned darkly about the dangers of a second Donald Trump term.
But it was the real people who were featured on the screens who ultimately stole the show, Andrea González-Ramírez writes in GEN: “To see that Biden showed a young boy that a stutter wouldn’t hold him back from his dreams made for one of the most touching moments of the convention. And it underscored that the true stars of the DNC were everyday Americans.”
Brayden Harrington addresses the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2020. Photo: Handout/Getty Images
People who were not national politicians — or politicians at all — were a real presence from the second night on, where the travel-starved audience was treated to a virtual road trip across the American continent as the state delegates cast their votes from remote locations showcasing oceans, mountains, fields, and cows. “If you had said that the Democratic National Convention’s roll call would make us smile for more than 30 minutes straight, our cynical selves would have laughed. But that’s exactly what happened on the second evening of the Democrats’ national, and online, gathering,” González-Ramírez writes. “Freed from the constraints of the convention floor, the roll call served as an opportunity to show the strength and beauty of America’s diversity.”
As for me, I had some thoughts about the message of the final night: Hope. “Hope is more powerful than fear, and light is more powerful than dark,” Joe Biden said in his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president. “This is our moment.’” After everything that’s gone wrong this year, do we dare to hope again? “In 2020, hope has felt like a jinx,” I wrote. It feels radical, and a little bit scary, to imagine better times while still in the midst of this devastating pandemic.
Harris’ nomination itself was a historic occasion, and as columnist Sady Doyle noted, an opportunity for the party to take a reflexive look at female inclusion in the political process. “How, exactly, does the DNC build a night around female leadership without evoking 2016 or all those ceilings left uncracked?” Doyle asked. “How do you get Democrats hype to vote for a half-female ticket without simultaneously reminding them that Clinton’s suffragette-white pantsuits and campaign videos about the women’s rights movement were a prelude to disaster? […] The convention showed a smarter and more complex understanding of women’s political role. The answer, it seemed, was to steer into the skid.”
Yet the main show was still Joe Biden’s nomination, which means there was a significant effort to appeal to moderates and Republicans. Max Ufberg examined the tensions inherent in a party that includes everyone from Colin Powell and John Kasich to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, and how the first night of the convention showcased more of a popular front against Trump than the best of the Democratic Party. “It wasn’t until the last 20 minutes of the evening, when Sanders and former first lady Michelle Obama spoke, that we really saw the power of Democratic Party leaders on full display,” he writes.
The whole affair went remarkably smoothly and, at least according to columnist Drew Magary, could provide a blueprint for future conventions. “I promise you that, even when you include The 2020 Factor, this will be the best summer of conventions you ever have to endure,” he wrote. “No endless clapping every time a speaker pauses to take a breath. No toothy delegates in boater hats who look like they stepped off of a dollar bill. No Republicans singing in unison… SHUDDER… to ‘Sweet Caroline.’ We’re free from all that dime-store pageantry this year.”