For the past year, the extended and inexorable
internecine battles in both political parties served to nurture a narrative of
an America puzzled, neutered, and weakened, an America bowed before a new form
of war with venomous tentacles too complex to defeat and inherent racial discord
too endemic to excise.
While this purported decay in our national soul was the
stuff of daily Twitter rampages on the Republican side, the strident outrage of
the Democratic left against the moneyed establishment – however justified –
served to further blemish our national self-image.
Last night, in one of the most galvanizing speeches in
the history of our nation, Barack Obama lifted the fog of partisan warfare and
presented a clear picture of the United States of American as it exists in
2016. Using a rhetorical device that has been woefully untapped this campaign
cycle – facts – Obama lanced the boil of fear, negativity, and hatred that
festered in Cleveland and swelled to a toxic climax in Jabba the Trump’s infamous
“Believe Me” speech last Thursday night.
By the time the President of the United States concluded
last night, the American people were reminded that they are not a nation of cop
haters or race-baiters, not a nation of smoldering dissenters and bitter
resenters, not a nation whose dreams
have fallen so far that we are ready to abandon who we are.
Barack Obama, the first African American President of the
United States -- a man who has endured Republican challenges to his legitimacy
as President and even as a citizen, a man whose foes have questioned his faith,
a man whose very motivations, patriotism, and loyalty to the United States has
been questioned by Donald Trump -- stood up last night, proud and tall, and
insisted that we rise and heed the better angels of our nature.
It was an image for the ages: the still youthful and
idealistic African American man meticulously documenting and enthusiastically
championing the reasons for his faith in the goodness of America, in the wake
of an over-privileged, under-researched, bloviating rich guy shooting from the
hip about his perception of its failures, fears, and weaknesses.
Obama closed not with a mere endorsement of Hillary
Clinton, but with an urgent appeal that his fellow citizens “reject cynicism
and fear,” and “show the world that we still believe in the promise of this
great nation.” Hillary joined Obama on
stage at 11:45 last night in a profoundly symbolic promise of continuity, closing
a breathtaking evening in the history of the United States of America.
Barack Obama was clearly the most luminous star of the
evening, but he was not the only citizen on the podium to make a profound
impact.
Until last night, both parties -- in virtually every
single speech, video, and gesture – had been relentlessly focused on their core
constituencies. Both had felt that the most crucial role of the conventions was
to ensure that their parties were united and energized to vote.
But last night -- in a moment rare if not unprecedented – an
independent citizen directed his remarks precisely
at the “undecided voters” in the television viewing audience. Michael Bloomberg
proceeded to deliver one of the most scathing indictments of a major party
nominee for president in modern history.
Bloomberg’s unique bio gives him extraordinary credibility. By any
measure, he is a more successful businessman than Donald Trump; Bloomberg is
also a highly regarded three-term mayor of New York, and had been widely
encouraged to mount his own third-party run for the Presidency.
Michael Bloomberg ripped into Donald Trump like the
velociraptor that gutted Wayne Knight’s entrails in Jurassic Park. “I’m from New York,” he said. “I know a con man when
I see one.” He would further observe that “the richest thing about Donald Trump
is his hypocrisy.” How explained his presence as an independent at a partisan
event: “We must unite behind the candidate who can defeat a dangerous
demagogue.” And then there was the closer:
“Donald Trump is a risky, reckless, and radical choice” that America
“cannot afford” to make.
As Bloomberg stared evenly into the camera, you could
sense a certain level of awe in the
arena, as if the more genteel white-wine spritzer and Lily Pulitzer liberals
had accidentally wandered out to the barn and witnessed their first castration. Earlier, a group of Broadway stars had turned out
for an over-the-top reversion to wimpy, self-involved liberal preening, singing
“What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love,” as if the battle for our
national soul could be solved by opening up more Hamilton tickets. Bloomberg’s speech slammed the audience back in
their seats and raised the gravitas meter to where it should be: looming
crisis.
Make no mistake, the crowd loved Bloomberg, but it seemed like people were looking around the
arena to see if the “niceness police” were going to appear, or wondering if
some tv network censor was going to bleep Bloomberg for excessively nasty pejoratives. But Mike Bloomberg takes no second seat in the “tell it like it
is” billionaires club. Long before Michael Bloomberg was mayor, he made billions
more than Trump by delivering the fastest, most comprehensive financial news on
Wall Street, and Mike sure as hell doesn’t need an invitation from Donald Trump
to eschew political correctness.
Tim Kaine, newly anointed VP candidate, settled any issue
about whether he had been the right pick. It is true that Tim Kaine appears to
have all the attack dog potential of an adorably fluffy and sad-eyed
mini-schnauzer, but he flung himself into the task in a manner that was
effective for him. Here at BTRTN, we
were pleased to see Kaine pick up on the exact same point we made in our
write-up of Trump’s acceptance speech: that Trump constantly uses the phrase
“believe me” to paper over his woeful lack of policy substance and rare deviation into accuracy.
It can be tough to be Joe Biden. He is such a big-hearted
character, such an emotional bear-hug kinda guy. But somewhere along the way life decided
that Joe was the Katherine Heigl character in Twenty Seven Dresses, a permanent bridesmaid in the wedding photos
of history. And so again last night, Joe gave a wow of a speech: the public hug
of a brother to Barack Obama, the sternest of warnings about the Trump Tower of
Babble, and the apocalyptic need to unite behind Hillary Clinton. But dammit,
it happened again! Followed to the podium by Bloomberg, Kaine, and Obama, Biden
must have spent the after-party like the guy clutching the Oscar for Best Short Documentary Adapted for the
Screen in a Foreign Language.
Much has been written about the fact that the political
party that convened in Cleveland last week – let’s call them the TrumppublicandscrewBushKasichCruz Party
– found unity in one and only one thing: a universal and borderline
psychotic hatred for Hillary Clinton.
This week in Philadelphia, we’ve seen a Democratic party
that has rifts, schisms, and passions, but that has clearly articulated hyoooooge areas of policy alignment and
philosophical harmony.
But make no mistake: for all the hard-won Kumbaya on
platform planks and all the espousal of fundamental party philosophy, Donald
Trump is serving the exact same function in the Democratic Party that Hillary
Clinton provides to Republicans. For whatever else they may or may not agree
on, there is a galvanizing, growing realization that Donald Trump represents a force
of evil and potential carnage to the United States of America that is becoming
too frightening to contemplate.
Last night, the Democratic Party put together an
astonishingly cohesive and comprehensive argument for why the election of
Donald Trump would be devastating to the principles, reputation, and very
democracy of the United States of America.
Thank you, Michael Bloomberg, for having the insight and
the balls to call Trump a scam artist on national television. In a long career
of principled service, this was one of your finest moments.
Tim Kaine, you are onto a key vulnerability in the Trump
Reality Game Show: keep pointing out that every time he says “believe me,” it
means, “I have no factual basis for the lie I just told.”
Barack Obama, thank you for your dignity and your grace,
your uplifting smile and your radiant optimism. Thank you for leading our
country through a brutally challenging period and delivering us at the end of
your watch a stronger, healthier, and more vibrant nation than the one you
inherited. Thank you for serving as our conscience through a period when new
technologies, new enemies, and new vulnerabilities rendered historical
precedent an incomplete guide.
Last night, Barack Obama delivered a forceful,
comprehensive, and decidedly positive alternative view of reality to that which
Donald Trump put forth in Cleveland. Obama’s clarity, certainty, and optimism were
informed by ideals and faith, to be sure. But in the end, he asked us to decide
whether we should evaluate our world through Donald Trump’s opinions, or
through the imposing standards of those tenacious, unforgiving, and often
inconvenient things we call facts.
Perhaps knowing that this would be his last shot at truly global
audience; certainly knowing how much was on the line, Obama made clear that there was
only one choice for carrying his world view forward.
With Hillary Clinton, we can take Barack to the Future.
Great analysis and synthesis. I have said for 7 years that Barack Obama will be known as one of the greatest American Presidents. Thank you, Steve
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