Hillary at the DNC was a reminder of why she lost. And the apples in her cheeks?

The New Yorker cover in the week of the 2024 Democratic National Convention

So I watched the whole opening day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC 2024), which took me through to 5.30 am, UK time on Tuesday.

Reader, it was quite remarkable.

Remarkable to see the joy, the word de jour for the 29 days since President Joe Biden announced he was exiting the presidential race and endorsing Kamala Harris instead.

Remarkable to feel the energy.

Some might say the mood in Chicago is giddy and unreal. Others have said of the first day that they discerned a certain pettiness and resentment in Mr Biden’s speech and demeanour for being forced to abandon his re-election bid.

There may be an element of truth in both criticisms but my five takeaways from the DNC’s opening day are rather different:

1. It was astonishing to see (and hear) the deep bench of Democrat Party talent — all ages, races and from all states. Particularly noteworthy speakers, in my view, included Georgia senator Raphael Warnock; Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett; Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin and Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow.
2. While New York Congresswoman and ‘Squad’ member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke well, her voice sounded thinner and higher since I first heard her in 2018. In June 2018, the then 28-year-old political newbie defeated influential incumbent Democrat representative Joseph Crowley in the primary, going on to win her Bronx seat in November.
3. It’s undeniably true that Hillary Clinton got a one-minute standing ovation and spoke as competently and effectively as she always does. However, Ms Clinton generally appears too scripted and too determined to go by a carefully strategized playbook. Ms Clinton on stage at the DNC was a reminder of why she didn’t win the electoral college in 2016. I also thought she went too heavy on the elect-a-woman theme. If Ms Harris wins, it should’ve been for reasons of competence and electability, not her gender. Ms Clinton’s speech was also a reminder that not everyone seems as prepared as Ms Harris, a former prosecutor, to shut down calls for vigilante justice. When the DNC crowd started to chant “lock him up” in reference to Donald Trump, Ms Clinton simply nodded along. But rather than promote vigilanteeism, as Mr Trump disgracefully did in the 2016 campaign against Ms Clinton, Ms Harris has been telling her crowds: “You know what, the courts are going to handle that part of it. What we’re gonna do is beat him in November”. (Last point on Ms Clinton: What about the apples in her cheeks? Did she get fillers or whatever it is that people do?)
4. The personal accounts about Ms Harris (and her late mother) by her old school friend (and her mother) rounded out our sense of her back story, particularly the bit about standing up to a bully and still bearing a scar over her eye from that encounter.
5. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the highest-ranking Native American woman in executive office, wore an outfit with a striking and memorable black and white pattern. And pairing it with turquoise earrings was pure genius.

Originally published at https://www.rashmee.com