The Party Conventions
August 3, 2016
Many Americans tuned in to watch the Republican and Democratic conventions, held in two consecutive weeks. Conventions are important milestones for Presidential Campaigns as they use an organized entertainment format to energize their base, to convince independents, and perhaps to woo disaffected voters from the opposing party.
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It is fair to say that the Republican Convention was significantly narrower in its perspective, less representative of different factions, and so poorly constructed, that there is relatively little to say unless you focus on who and what was missing. Previous Republican Presidents (George HW Bush, George W Bush) and previous Presidential candidates (John McCain, Mitt Romney) refused to attend the convention. The truth was also absent as many claims made by speakers and the candidates were patently untrue. For example, Senator Jeff Sessions spoke the falling wages and rising unemployment when wages are rising, and unemployment is falling. Of course, the most serious violation of truth is when Melania Trump claimed that she wrote a speech she’d plagiarized from Michelle Obama, and when Paul Manafort and Chris Christie as Trump’s surrogates claimed that this overt stealing was not plagiarism after all. The convention had a singular theme – fear and anger that the country and the world are falling apart.
Trump appeared to be the fascist he actually is. He could have helped himself if he had focused more on the economy than on ill-defined fears. He neglected his greatest strength which for many is his economic plan. In other, less important venues, he has addressed determined commitment to raising tariffs in an effort to eliminate wage stagnation and to create jobs and his intention to address China’s currency manipulations. Probably the most dramatic moment of the Republican convention when Ted Cruz was booed off the stage as he asked delegates and Americans to vote their conscience. It was evident that Trump, the skilled showman, expected Ted’s refusal to endorse Trump as Trump entered the convention in dramatic fashion as a returning King or Czar. At this point, it seems that Trump got the last laugh in their long and bitter feud, but if in the future, the current Republican leadership is discredited for endorsing Trump despite his racism, misogyny, man-crush on Putin, Ted will be quick to remind the base that he was courageous and wise. |
The Democratic convention started with dramatic problems as Wiki-Leaks leaked hacked emails showing that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s democratic national committee had looked for ways to disadvantage Bernie Sanders in the democratic primary season. Wasserman-Schultz, who had long seemed oblivious that her pro-Clinton bias was showing, missed that the Florida delegation and the convention as a whole were done with her. While the Dems wanted desperately to move on from that disruption to show party unity, Bernie’s supporters needed more. The Bernie delegates’ protests and on-camera explanations made clear that Bernie had, as he’d intended, started a revolution. The progressive wing of the party demanded acceptance of their planks, acknowledgment of Bernie, and acceptance that their work goes on. Bernie, though appearing dour most of the time, was noble in leading his followers so that the desired look of party cohesion grew with each consecutive night. By the time of Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech, the television and in-arena audience had witnessed an impressive display of apparent party unity and determination.
Overall, the Democrats demonstrated that they were able to put on a more captivating convention than the Republicans. The program was very well choreographed to provide an explanation of why America will benefit from four-more-years of a Democratic President (and hopefully Democratic Senate and maybe even House). The speakers represented children, women, people with disabilities, Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, business leaders, LGBTQ population; and addressed issues ranging from security, environment, education, health, job creation, trade and the economy. Speaker after speaker spoke of the unity of purpose, inclusiveness, and conviction, and collectively formed a convention that effectively addressed Trump’s strengths and weaknesses. Khizr Khan told the audience about his son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, who had sacrificed his life to protect his fellow soldiers as a suspicious car approached. In just a few minutes, he managed to deliver a four-way attack as he elicited empathy on behalf of 1) military and vets; 2)Muslims and immigrants; 3) women and 4)those who, like Khan expect that President meets two requirements: moral compass and empathy. Khan put a face to the picture of who is harmed by the nationalistic claim that Trump would focus on restricting immigration from Muslims. The Main Stream Media made the mistake of focusing on possible poll bumps rather than recognizing that the Democrats had finally done what neither party had done well before this- they presented an explanation about why they can help Americans and why Trump is dangerous. |