Delegates cheer during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday. (Associated Press)
The Democratic National Convention [DNC], up to this point, has been largely a joke in comparison the Republican National Convention [RNC]. The RNC had focused on a positive message, the DNC has been largely negative so far.
Tuesday’s high point was first lady Michelle Obama, who gave a mostly positive speech, but the lead-ups to her speech could not say the same. Gov. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island used the opportunity to talk about how extremist the Republican Party, which just nominated Mitt “The Massachusetts moderate” Romney, had become and why he had to leave it.
Tuesday also saw “Rising Democratic star” Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio, who Democrats hoped would use the opportunity to position himself as the next Obama. Obama famously entered the national spotlight following a keynote address at the 2004 convention.
But Castro squandered this opportunity when he started to use his position to attack the Republicans on everything under the sun, a far cry from the post-partisan message of Obama’s 2004 address.
Wednesday saw speeches from Sandra Fluke, who attacked the GOP for wanting to take away her birth control. There was also Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, who doubled down on her patented “You didn’t get there on your own” philosophy and reminded us that corporations can’t dance. Thank you for the reminder, Mrs. Warren.
The message of women’s rights that the Democrats are unwisely doubling down on this year was then contradicted by a speech from Costco CEO Jim Sinegal, who is currently the target of a class action lawsuit alleging gender discrimination in hiring practices. Bill Clinton doesn’t really help on women’s rights messages either.
Bill Clinton was certainly the best speech on Wednesday, but he was preceded by a group of people who were still bitter that Mitt Romney fired them nearly twenty years ago. One of them wasn’t even fired by Mitt Romney, he was a union organizer who negotiated on behalf of the steelworkers in the plant that Bain closed during Romney’s tenure.
All three of the speakers made sure to point out that they understood and supported the idea of creative destruction, except in the particular case in which they were involved, apparently.
The prime-time RNC speakers last week had a largely positive message, talking about why we should elect Romney. The DNC speakers have largely focused not on why to give Obama a second term, but why to deny Romney a first one.
And no discussion of the DNC would be complete without a examination of the floor fight regarding the inclusion of “God” and the declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the party platform this year. Initially, neither God nor Jerusalem were included in the platform for the first time in history. After this became newsworthy, Democrats tried to put it back on the platform. Such a move required a two- thirds majority of delegates to vote in favor, which was determined by the noise levels of the crowd. However, it was clear to anyone who listened to the crowd that the delegates were either equally split or leaning slightly against the motion.
After the convention chair listened to the vote three times, and the noise levels did not change significantly in either direction, it was determined that the two-thirds majority was indeed there. There was visible anger among a large group of the delegates in response to this power play, particularly by the group of Arab Americans represented at the convention.
The rules change was spun by DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as being at the request of the president, but this seems unlikely. When the White House was asked in July which city they considered the capital of Israel, Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, they refused to give a definitive answer, simply saying “Our position has not changed” when no previous position was ever made clear.
Wasserman-Schultz also denied that there was any discord over the rules change, but many members in the press called her out on this. Future interviews on this subject have been cancelled.
The convention is supposed to be a call to arms for the party and an invitation to independents to vote for them in November, but needless distractions like the floor fight on Wednesday, and the videos of Democrats booing “God” and “Jerusalem” certainly doesn’t accomplish either one of those goals.
Keene is a junior majoring in political science, economics, and public policy.
