The only things missing from the opening night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday were Beyoncé, the Rolling Stones, and Barack Obama – and the former POTUS arrives later this week.
Unlike an audio glitch at the start of Kingmaker Rep. James Clyburn’s stint for the camera from his home state of South Carolina, the first of four nights by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ official bid for the White House was just over two. hours of fast-paced television that could just seal the deal.
Cut to the chase, this was not your grandmother’s Democratic treaty or even a redux of the mistrust of 2016. Hosted with a strong hand by Eva Longoria and full of punchy short segments and speeches from the biggest names in the world. party and the world of entertainment and sports, the beginning of the Bidenathon was a polished political advertisement that successfully masked as an event.
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Michelle Obama delivers blisteringly democratic speech against Donald Trump:
From the jump, this was a remix of The West Wing’s aspirational tenets, America’s Got Talent and the superstar packs multi-network One world: together at home concert from beginning in the chaos of COVID-19. To achieve that combined partly live as well as pre-recorded result, the multicultural architecture of the first installation sought to achieve the usual policy gain for Americans looking for a new show to binge on.
What is another way of saying, based on Night 1 alone, longtime Tony Awards kingpin Ricky Kirshner would be a slot at another Emmy if they hand out Emmys for producing political conventions. Far from being literally and figuratively out of the traditional balloon drop convention originally set up in Milwaukee, Night 1 was about setting up the virtual stage and trying to keep the onlookers / voters interested until November.
With a constant chorus that deciphered Donald Trump’s corruption and inability in this era of racial segregation, the fatal coronavirus crisis, and consequent economic collapse, the Biden team put their focus group playbook into practice tonight.While the race is already underway with the ex-Famous apprentice host, the former vice president’s narrative was built to heavyweight status.
Former rivals like his running mate Harris and the Nero name that throws Bernie Sanders, old friends, a roaring Bruce Springsteen song (and a nanosecond como by the Boss himself), and carefully chosen ordinary people all behind the candidate – which does not come naturally to Democrats:
Democrats are ready to unite behind @JoeBiden and sent him to the White House in November. #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/B7qypy8tlY
– The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) August 18, 2020
Over the course of an evening that had a story to tell loud-ish & proud, the crescendo was a scruffy stare by Michelle Obama. She slammed Trump unexpectedly with a calm voice that reaffirmed that “going high” is the way to victory in the vote. The former First Lady also made it clear in her pre-recorded speech that she is an immense political and cultural force in a “deeply divided” nation – as her partner put it:
Like Michelle said, we have to do everything to choose @JoeBiden en @KamalaHarris. So make sure you have a plan to vote. Vote early. And tell everyone you know to register to vote at https://t.co/XdZz4dh82T. https://t.co/rAUsWHusbV
– Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 18, 2020
The emcee of Night 3, who was former President Obama and presumptive VP-nominated sen. Harris among speakers will include, Monday also offered some of the applause that went on social media.
Wow. What a mighty night! SO inspiring. God bless you @MichelleObama. thank you @EvaLongoria for walking through us! Many thanks to everyone who spoke at the last night #DemConvention 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
– kerry washington (@kerrywashington) August 18, 2020
Message: “We are the cavalry,” to attack Beto O’Rourke in tonight’s episode America’s Got Biden.
The second hour of Night 1 of this new kind of convention, by actually presenting the tail speakers, had far less of a telethon feeling than the first hour. It will be interesting to see if CNN and MSNBC carry less of the pool and DNC feed on the Tracee Ellis Ross who hosts Tuesday morning
If there was one notable tune outside last night, it was Biden himself. In a moment that apparently focuses on Trump’s hardcore base, which in any case will never vote for him, the ex-Veep took a middle ground on police brutality and systemic racism that many of his own supporters and many Americans have left in recent months.
Talking about the talk show host’s mantle as POTUS-in-waiting, the question led Biden via video with activist Jamira Burley, Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, NAACP President Derrick Johnson and author Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner. “Most politicians are good, but the fact is that the bad ones need to be identified, prosecuted and out, period,” Biden announced in a round table on social justice that pushed Black Lives Matter into the background when the foreground last night his rightful place was in this year of protest and pandemic.
In this unusual election year, CNN, MSNBC and the ever-reliable C-Span went live, as it were, to the convention right at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PST. Not surprisingly, not so much on Fox News Channel.
Split-screen with Longoria delivering the opening credits of the We the People themed convention, FNC’s Sean Hannity wasted no time in designing his own message for Donald Trump.
The interior’s good friend began by calling the collection a “boring” hit on Trump “launched from Biden’s basement bunker.” By the time the Convention’s Pledge of Allegiance was over, a chorus of voices across the country had finished singing, the call was given and the sleek but not too slick produced Bidenathon was back to longtime activist Longoria, Hannity showed its true colors and completely eliminated the split screen. The replacement was an echo chamber of fate with the likes of Karl Rove and Donald Trump Jr. Fact is, with the exception of showing an appearance by George Floyd’s family at a later point, Hannity is in principle abandoning the 2020 convention of one of America’s most important political parties for more pedestrian partisan bashing.
Otherwise, everyone stayed at the convention from start to finish.
In fact, CNN’s outspoken Wolf Blitzer was the first to interrupt the stream, eventually moving the WarnerMedia-owned outlet to an ad block just before the 10 a.m. ET broadcast network.
And something must have worked, because the master of distraction Trump himself could not land a decent punch online, because the national shindig was broadcast on cable and the networks. Retweeting broad swings at New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and others who spoke last night was Trump’s only original contribution to go to Pentagon bureaucrats:
A proposal by Pentagon officials to reduce Military Healthcare by $ 2.2 billion has been firmly and completely rejected by me. We will do nothing to hurt our great Military professionals & heroes as long as I am your President. Thank you!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2020
On the other hand, Trump even took a pummel at the Democratic convention out of previously friendly fists.
“Let me tell you, Donald Trump has no idea how to run a business, let alone an economy,” said Meg Whitman, CEO of Quibi, as ABC, CBS and NBC jumped on their one-hour convention cover at 10 p.m. hour ET. “Joe Biden, on the other hand, has a plan that will strengthen our economy for working people and small business owners,” added the longtime Republican and former GOP candidate for the California Governorship. “For me, the choice is simple. I’m with Joe.”
Along with former Garden State Governor Christine Whitman (no relationship), Susan Molinari, and former Ohio Governor and 2016 candidate John Kasich, Whitman was one of several members of the Lincoln Party’s mid-profile party for her weight behind Biden to throw. After I drew a lot of coverage when the line-up was first unveiled, the reimbursed Republicans of the 1990s probably would not have foreseen the mass gong that the Biden campaign predicts.
That aspect of the awkwardness of the first hour of the convention probably has more to do with the fact that so much of the political class is accustomed to the traditional gathering in the arena. Truly, the mix of videos and testimonials is nothing short of some of the content that would play out in loud convention halls between speakers.
But, context today is all so much as content and within that framework the content was exaggerated.
Yet the broadcast networks were a little more judgmental than CNN and MSNBC in what they carried. ABC, CBS and NBC spent more time trying to sin their own pundits and correspondents between feeds the Convention Pool. CBS, for example, skipped a series of speeches by other candidates in 2020, but instead went to a segment about the latest polling status of the election card, something that could be done at any other time of the day.
After Kasich spoke, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos approached two of its analysts at opposite ends of the spectrum, both of whom were based on the former governor of Ohio. “He’s exhausting,” said Chris Christie, a Trump supporter and former governor of New Jersey. “We don’t want him either,” said progressive Yvette Simpson.
Conversely, the Democrats got some good marks for the way they used their profound advantage in Hollywood support. Stuart Stevens, senior adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign, wrote on Twitter last night, “I was at an RNC convention and Ted Nugent came up. There was a painful pause and a young woman said, ‘Can we get someone who has been more on the cover of Rolling Stone than Guns & Ammo? ‘
Well, the Stones did not appear and almost everyone had cut back after Michelle Obama’s speech. Still. CSNY’s Stephen Stills and PoseThe Billy Porter made Billy Porter close out the first night of this unconventional convention with a new take on a classic tone – just like you do in the big league show competitions.
