DNC vs. RNC: A tale of two 2012 conventions
OPINION - Republicans and Democrats have wrapped their presidential nominating conventions, and they couldn't have been more different...
The Democratic convention in Charlotte survived rain hazards, a platform fight over the mention of God and just what is the capital of Israel, and a move on the final night from a large stadium to the smaller venue used on the first two nights (smaller meaning a capacity of just over 20,000).
But with superior stagecraft (the gargantuan screen behind the speakers displayed unique motion graphics depicting their home states, and the set design had a cinematic quality, compared to a pretty clumsy red, white and blue get-up in Tampa for the Republicans) even Republican political watchers agreed the Dems put on a better show.
The feel was younger, and more racially diverse. The delegates rocked out to the Foo Fighters, were mellowed by singer James Taylor, heard a video narrated by Tom Hanks, and were treated to a mini-show by soul singer Mary J. Blige.
But it was in the speeches that you truly saw the difference between the two parties’ approaches. The Democratic speakers attacked Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to be sure, accusing them of wanting to take the country back to an era few Americans recall fondly. (Civil rights legend John Lewis may have spoken most poignantly to that point, when he spoke about the denial of access to the polls through voter ID laws.)
Former President Bill Clinton put it the most plainly, summarizing the GOP message as: “We left him a total mess. He hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough. So fire him and put us back in.”
But while Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, former Ohio Sen. Ken Strickland and others offered thundering broadsides against the GOP, the Democratic convention was unified by each speaker’s expression of fulsome support for Barack Obama the man. He was not an afterthought, and encomiums to him were not limited to Michelle Obama’s deeply personal speech, or Joe Biden’s expression of deep loyalty to his president.
And the Democratic convention was conspicuous for its embrace of the military men and women who are fighting in Afghanistan, and those brought home from the fight in Iraq. In a dramatic moment on the convention floor, the crowd waved American flags and signs saying “thank you,” repeatedly chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” while members of the armed forces were assembled onstage. It was a reminder that sadly, the far right today finds it difficult even to celebrate the defeat of al-Qaida, or the killing of Osama bin Laden, or the ending of an unpopular (and most believe, unnecessary) war in Iraq, so long as those things were accomplished by a Democratic president.
It was the mark of a significant shift for a party not typically seen as the pro-military faction, but which has staked its claim on the care of those who have come home, while Republicans, including Arizona Sen. John McCain, used their stage time at the RNC convention to spoil for war with Iran, and renewed conflict with Russia.
When it was Obama’s turn to speak on the final night of the Democratic convention, he made a plaintive call for more time, saying it was his supporters, and not him, who had pushed the country toward slow but real change over the last four years. He riffed over and over: “you did that!” — seeking to invest those who voted for him in 2008 in his past accomplishments and future success.
Obama called the election the starkest choice in a generation: when Americans must choose whether to lurch backward to a bygone era that set this country up for the 2008 collapse, or go forward as a unified nation.
Backward or forward? The two conventions seemed to agree: that is the question.
Follow Joy Reid on Twitter at @thereidreport.
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