Once again, we missed some of the Democratic National Convention Thursday night. I turned on the radio and TV just in time to hear the tail end of a speech by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, originally scheduled for foreign policy night (Wednesday), who I thought might have made a good vice presidential running mate.
The whole event seemd to be a pretty good experience for the 80,000 or so people there - and more people ended up watching it than any other political convention event - plus more than watched the Olympics opening ceremonies and the "American Idol" finals - something like 40 million people. On the whole, however, I don't think it flowed as well as the indoor events (but the fact that it attracted so many viewers was a big accomplishment itself). Of course, we missed some of the musical numbers - Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem (joined by Olympian Shawn Johnson leading the Pledge of Allegiance - nicely linking our recent political blog entries with recent Olympics and "Idol" entries), Sheryl Crow singing "A Change Would Do You Good," and Will.I.Am and John Legend singing (with Senator Obama recorded speaking) their hit "Yes We Can." (I've watched all of these on YouTube plus Melisssa's Etheridge's Wednesday night "God Bless America"/ "The Times (They Are a'Changin')/Born in the U.S.A." medley.) (We did see Stevie Wonder singing to the Obamas "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours).")
Keeping in mind that this event was partly for viewers who are independents, "Reagan Democrats," and Anglo working-class/lower-middle class who might like Senator McCain's "maverick" image or might have supported Senator Clinton, I actually thought the high points that I did see were two. One of them was Michael MacDonald (formerly of the Doobie Brothers)'s stunning version of "America the Beautiful," which some people argue should be the National Anthem. To see this performance, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSTBCF-3Lb8
Hearing Vice President Gore was good for 2000 nostalgics like us and for "An Inconvenient Truth" fans like us.
But I thought the other really effective part of the evening - again, given the overall objective - was the incorporation of short speeches by half a dozen ordinary Americans. Most of these were good speakers, and they each told how they learned about Senator Obama and what personal reasons they had for supporting his candidacy. Most people watched the event on Cable News Network, but - for those who came in with the four major networks - the segment with these people's short speeches started just after 10 p.m. Eastern time, when the major networks left their regular programming and started broadcasting the convention. Not surprisingly, most of these speakers were Anglo and all were from battleground states (which no doubt generated them and the Obama campaign some useful local press in their home areas). Monica Early of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (below), was one of these speakers.
Pamela Cash-Roper, of Pittsboro, North Carolina (below) (a Republican turned Obama-crat), was another one of these speakers.
Teresa Asenap, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was the only apparent non-Anglo among these to speak.
The last and most memorable of these speakers was Barney Smith, of Marion, Indiana. Another Republican turned Obama-crat, who lost his manufacturing job and health care coverage to overseas competition, Smith was probably the only mediocre speaker. But he had the best line of that. Word-playing on the similarity of his name and a Wall Street firm, the speaker was "We need to a president who pays more attention to what Barney Smith needs than what Smith Barney needs."
Obama's speech needed to do three things: be a good speech and have good delivery without some of the soaring (and empty?) rhetoric that the Republicans have made fun of him for in their anti-"celebrity" campaign; take on Senator McCain directly without sounding too too bitter; and make a bread and butter economic policy pitch again for why - especially Reagan Democrats, Clinton-crats, and independents should support him. A fouth thing: connect his beliefs and platforms with his personal story, which others had told during the previous three nights. The speech - a tad long for him - but done in plenty of time before 11 p.m. - toned down the rhetoric, made the connection to his (largely Anglo - in the way it was told) personal story. I wondered if the folks there and TV viewers nevertheless missed the soaring rhetoric. But - for people who watched several hours - either there or on CNN or CSPAN - the "Yes We Can" performance hinted strongly at Obama's talents there.
To see the original "Yes We Can," click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY
I thought the Obama and Biden families - and the two running mates - spent too little time on stage after the speeches (Biden introduced Obama) - but they may have been trying to avoid shots for the Republicans to use in their anti-celebrity campaign.
The final (convention) night story was the lead story on the 11 p.m. news and in the morning, but quickly got taken over by the Palin announcement, and - now - the hurricane. Despite the huge crowd at Mile High Stadium and especially on TV, the Democrats appeared to get no big bounce out of this. If anything, they got 1 more percentage of voters from this, and McCain got one more percentage from the Palin announcement.
But the Democratic convention delivered, there was no super obvious Clinton-crat imbroglio, and Obama did what he needed in his speech (and the ordinary people and Michael MacDonald confirmed this). The daring Palin selection no doubt has its many upsides - and I think Palin will play better in the South (though none of us have heard of "hockey Moms" - we still get it - and a few people may wonder about two parents working full-time with four or five kids at home - including one disabled) than Biden will - but it still undercuts one of McCain's main arguments. Hurricane Gustav may give the Bush Administration and the Republicans a kind of "do over," but ultimately it is robbing the Republicans of a bunch of free media (with all of those mean if effective speeches four years ago) and more of a coming out for Governor Palin. Plus it just reminds people of the incompetence of the Republicans with Katrina (if not also in Iraq). So, I think, ultimately, the good work that the Democrats did back in Denver will pay dividends, as individual voters go to the polls in November and decide at the last moment whose lever to pull.
Nevertheless, given that we know that Anglo voters tend to overreport how much they support non-Anglo candidates and the skill of the Republican attack machine (and vote shifting effort), it seems that Obama would need a decent-sized lead (like then Governor Clinton had in 1992) coming out of the convention. That - despite all of the good speeches and choreography - he/they did not get.
P.S. We did get to watch Obama and Biden on "60 Minutes" last night, and they looked very comfortable together. We quit watching CNN and the Weather Channel religiously about noon, but apparently the storm is started to die down, which means the Republican convention may go on. Obama has been calling for his supporters to help as they can - but not soon enough for the Republicans, for giving politics as usual speeches through Sunday night. Good for Governor Palim, for supporting her 17-year-old daughter, who is five months pregnant and will apparently marry the father. Still, folks who wonder about two full-time-working parents (one a governor and now a vice presidential candidate) trying to raise five kids including a disabled kid still have to scratch their heads- maybe these teenagers could use some more supervision.
P.P.S. A final night oddity: The only country song I heard during the event was - it turns - the all-important music after Senator Obama's speech - it turns out to be Brooks and Dunn's "Only in America." This seemed like a bit of a too un-subtle pitch for those Reagan Democrat votes - plus it turns that the country duo played this live at the 2004 Republican National Convention.
-- Perry
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