Joe Took His Bow, Passed the Torch, & Made the Charge!

On the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, it was clear that the party had a message to send. The evening ended with an address from the president, that started at 11:30  pm, Eastern time, mostly because of delays in getting everyone inside at the program's beginning, multiple speakers, and many rounds of applause. President Biden spoke pretty well at that late hour, sending a powerful message, delivered with energy and emotion, although there were a few stumbles and missteps. Clearly, the president believed that he could still do the work, but also realized that he needed to pass the torch to a new younger generation. He poignantly mentioned that, when first elected to the Senate, he was too young, and now he is too old to serve as president. His wife, Jill, and his daughter, Ashley, lovingly introduced him. The audience, supplied with thank you Joe signs, waved them and cheered for almost four minutes before they quieted down. The speech, hitting the usual talking points and his accomplishments, is summarized in multiple places, so I will not repeat everything here. He endorsed Kamala, scorned the idea of his predecessor ever being elected again, and sent the charge to his listeners to make certain that never happens. He ended his words by quoting a verse, saying, “America, I gave my best to you,” which left many in tears, myself included.

CNN’s fact checker concluded there were some misstatements in his remarks which he often uses (where are the speechwriters and WH fact checkers?) but there was none of the name calling nor outright lies used regularly by DJT and seldom called out by the media. They also fact-checked the other speakers. Hyperbole is a part of political speech, expected by many, but none of these summarized below seemed particularly egregious to me, but, then I admit partisanship here.

These remarks are unlike the opponents, who are now calling the Hatri/Walz ticket a communist one, especially after learning that Walz taught in China and led study groups there.

“Democratic state and federal officeholders, including President Joe Biden, delivered some false, misleading or lacking-key-context claims on the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday.

Biden repeated misleading claims he has made in previous speeches about billionaires’ tax rates and foreign trade. He also overstated the extent to which his efforts to fight climate change are expected to reduce US carbon emissions in the next decade. He made an outdated claim about the number of Americans with health insurance. He omitted key context about his administration’s infrastructure-building efforts, framing distant goals as if they were already achievements.

Speaking earlier in the night, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois denounced former President Donald Trump for having presided over a loss of jobs without mentioning the critical context that the losses occurred because of the Covid-19 pandemic that caused a global economic crash. A video played at the convention similarly left out important context on the respective job-related records of the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations.

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow falsely claimed that the Supreme Court has made Trump “completely immune from prosecution,” significantly overstating the court’s recent ruling.”

The tempo for the evening showcased many of the younger and newer stars in the party, another sign that the torches were being passed. Yes, Hillary Clinton is not new, but her appearance made a point about women candidates and made a point to mention Geraldine Ferraro and Shirley Chisholm.  Congresswoman Maxine Waters from California, also not new, and even older than the president spoke. The recently appointed senator from California, an old friend of Harris and a former head of Emily’s List who came from the Labor Movement, Laphonza Butler, spoke about changes to come as Harris represents the people.

Three speakers discussed abortion rights and the realities after Dobbs that threatened their lives when access to care was denied to mothers with problem pregnancies. Another young woman discussed the dilemmas that happened to her at 12 tears old when her stepfather raped and impregnated her. Especially after Dobbs, many states denied abortion care, even in cases of incest. Many women in the audience were openly moved and had tears streaming down their cheeks after they spoke. This group of speakers put human faces on the ramifications of this terrible SCOTUS decision.

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) had a major speaking role and brought her youth and stirring message about working people to the room. Chiding the Republicans who told her to go back to bartending, she noted that was an honorable position that helped her take care of her family when they were saddled with medical debt after her father’s unexpected death.

UAW President Sean Fein spoke proudly of union workers, praised the president for walking the picket line, and Harris for doing so previously. Mentioning DJT’s rambling “interview” on Twitter with Elon Musk and their discussion about union busting, he called the former president a scab.

There were so many excellent speeches, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, a representative, and lawyer from Texas, spoke of how VP Harris put her at ease when she was nervous about first meeting her then ripped into DJT saying Harris has a resume and he has a rap sheet. I won’t try to match her alliteration here, but it was priceless!

Mallory McMorrow, a state Senator from Michigan, brought out a giant copy of the 2025 plan and noted how it would take away so much from our current rights, especially after the immunity decision. Maryland’s Jamie Raskin, a former Constitutional Law professor and impeachment hearing leader in 2021, discussed the dangers these proposed plans would cause and how many of them were not constitutional.

Then there was Senator Raphael Warnock from Georgia, who came out in preacher mode calling “a vote a prayer for the kind of world we desire for ourselves and our children. We are stronger when we pray together. We need all children to be okay, no matter where they live, and he mentioned rich and poor, Israel and Gaza, and others across the world harmed by wars and famine.”Warning Democrats to be vigilant, he told of election law changes in Georgia by Republicans who were praised at a rally in Atlanta by the former president. Noting the scene at Lafayette Square during the BLM protests with an upside-down Bible, he suggested instead he should read it. Remembering January 6^th he called DJT a plague on America. He was not subtle.

And, folks, this was just Day One. I will have more to say later this week.