It was the lull between conventions and then a bomb was dropped by Wikileaks. Who would have known the first day of the Democratic gathering would be the scene of such chaos? The 20,000-odd leaked emails between Democratic National Committee (DNC) officials made a mockery of their pretense of neutrality, and confirmed what Bernie Sanders had been saying for months. Worse, the DNC members were not just actively supporting Hillary Clinton’s campaign but were devising ways of destroying the Sanders campaign, including how to capitalize on Sanders’ atheism.
On opening day, the DNC and convention chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was booed repeatedly by justifiably outraged Sanders’ supporters. Every time Hillary’s name was uttered, it too was met with loud boos. By evening Schultz was gone, resigned from her roles, although Hillary still made her Honorary Chair of her campaign.
Ever the good soldier, Bernie Sanders was gracious in defeat and tried hard to mollify his supporters. The convention beavers were also busy so that by evening the place had settled down for the most part. Soon the ethically impeccable Senator Elizabeth Warren was tearing apart Donald Trump and the convention was on its way.
No doubt about it, the Democrats have had a parade of heavy hitters — superb speeches all: from the First Lady the convention’s children theme with oblique but sharp barbs at Donald Trump, from former president Bill Clinton a personal memoir, hard-hitting Vice President Joe Biden, the billionaire former Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg who was once a Republican himself, Tim Kaine the Vice Presidential nominee and Hillary’s religious counter to Mike Pence, and then President Obama himself, the master orator-in-chief. It left only one question: Who was listening? The ones voting for Trump, certainly not; the independents, that’s the real issue. We shall soon see from the bump Hillary gets in the polls.
One repeated theme was children, the other her experience. Her limited but commendable work for children was repeated again and again and again for repetition is the essence of advertising and a convention is nothing if not a giant commercial disguised as a mixture of Broadway show and Las Vegas style star appearances all rolled into one. Even the lighting, a subliminally soothing blue for the stars … designed to engender a receptive frame of mind in the millions comprising the TV audience.
Yes, the children. No mention, of course, of the ones washed upon European beaches along with or without distraught parents fleeing the hell unleashed on them in Libya and Syria and other venues through Secretary of State Hillary the Hawk’s handiwork.
The mendacity and cant of politicians remains undisputed and hunger for campaign dollars unabated. As Wikileaks has brought to light, the terms of sale are now well established. Physical proximity costs more: It’s no random chance; it’s a carefully calibrated pricing system. No mention of any of that; instead the focus of the leak story was to be the Russians using hackers to manipulate the election!
The finale fizzled as Hillary (not the best speaker) recited a soporific laundry list sending the home audience into slumber. It’s telling and to Mr. Trump’s credit that he holds a press conference every other day almost; Hillary has not held one for nearly 300 days. Perhaps the laundry list does not hold up to close scrutiny, and the ghosts of the past are surely better left alone. Look out for the presidential debates.
Listening to most of the speakers, one might at the end have been forgiven for asking, “Who the hell’s been in power the last eight years?”