From the opening gavel through most of the evening, the old Will Rogers trope “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat” appeared to hold true for the first day of the Democratic National Convention.
Not all Bernie Sanders supporters stood with Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July 25, 2016 (A. Shaker/VOA)
Bernie Sanders supporters rained boos upon any speaker who uttered the name Hillary Clinton. They also jeered keynote speaker Elizabeth Warren as a traitor to the progressive cause. Not until first lady Michelle Obama delivered a speech that drew near unanimous acclaim did it appear that there would be any semblance of unity.
Sanders closed Monday evening’s session with a strong endorsement of Clinton, taking most of the air out of the Bernie of Bust movement.
Tuesday’s roll call of states to vote on her historic nomination may be the last chance for Sanders supporters to protest Clinton’s rise to head the Democratic Party. After she wins the nomination, it’s all about Hillary.
Her husband ,former President Bill Clinton takes the stage Tuesday night as well as House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, both focused on giving the first woman major party presidential nominee a post-convention boost.
Michelle Obama and the Great American Tradition of Political Rhetoric
Pascal -Emmanuel Gobry – The Week
Among the opening night speakers was First Lady Michelle Obama, who urged Democrats to support Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia (A. Shaker/VOA)
In America today, our political rhetoric, such as it is, does not exactly live up to the standards set by our forebears.
Occasionally, you still catch glimpses of it — like in Michelle Obama’s rightly acclaimed speech at the Democratic National Convention.
I’m a conservative. I oppose Obama’s progressive movement. But you have to give credit where due. It was a great speech, well delivered. More importantly, it was a prime example of the American tradition of political rhetoric.
She expertly wove the personal and the political, and the political into the grand narrative of American history.
Hillary’s Never-Ending Reintroductions
Rich Lowry – National Review
Unveiling the Hillary we supposedly don’t know has been the perpetual, elusive goal of Clinton’s handlers for decades, with the Democratic convention in Philadelphia the latest stab at it….
Bill Clinton announced his campaign for president in October 1991. Hillary has been with us ever since. During that campaign, Bill famously told us we’d get two for one. It’s been more than 14 years since she vouched for Bill Clinton on 60 Minutes after the allegations of an affair with Gennifer Flowers surfaced (1992), tried to remake American health care (1993), wrote the book It Takes a Village to soften her image (1996) and vouched for Bill in yet another sex scandal (1998)….
Her handlers are like Leftists insisting that socialism has never failed; it’s just never been tried.
The Left’s Rock Stars Blew It
Noah Rothman – Commentary
Former Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders takes the stage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 25, 2016 (A. Shaker/VOA)
Michelle Obama is not exactly an obscure Democrat, but nor is she the progressive heroine that Elizabeth Warren has been made out to be. Nor is she Bernie Sanders, who, judging just from the blubbering puddles into which his supporters transformed last night, has attained near godlike perfection in the minds of his devotees. These two speakers were scheduled after Michelle Obama’s strong speech, and they proved that it was an impossible act to follow.
Warren was selected to deliver the keynote address on Monday—an honor that reflected both her support within the Democratic Party and her status as an anti-Trump attack dog. Her tone was marmish; her style subdued….
Sanders, too, delivered a lackluster speech for all but those initiated into his flock.
A Party at War with Itself
Peter Beinart – The Atlantic
It’s not surprising that Michelle delivered a narrative of racial and gender progress. It’s the story of her life, and it doubles as a defense of her husband’s presidency. But it’s a narrative that’s also congenial to Hillary Clinton. Clinton is running the campaign her husband wishes Al Gore had run in 2000: a campaign about building on the progress a successful president has made.
But when Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders took the stage later in the evening, the convention began to sound much more like the campaign Gore actually ran: the dark and angry, “people versus the powerful.”…
Warren and Sanders didn’t describe America the way Donald Trump does…But their descriptions were bleak nonetheless, and they illustrated the fundamental divide inside today’s Democratic Party: between Democrats who believe America turned a corner under Barack Obama and Democrats who believe it got worse.