DNC Convention's 4th Day: a Hamptonian's View

Groan! To bed at 2 a.m. after the convention. Up at 6 a.m. for the New Hampshire breakfast. Again. Attending a convention isn’t for the faint of heart.

I told you so. In my first blog in this series, I wrote that few events were free of human error. The fickle finger of human frailty has struck again. Convention planners scheduled the acceptance speeches of President Obama and Vice-President Biden on the final day at the 73,778 seat Bank of America Stadium. We have been battling the rain all week long as the remnants of Hurricane Isaac moved northeast. With the threat of thunderstorms looming (with attendant risks to those in the stadium), the speeches have been moved indoors to the Time Warner Cable Arena.

Republicans will say that the change was made for fear the Obama and Biden wouldn’t fill the stadium. But they’re all wet or, rather, we’d be all wet (and possibly electrocuted) if the change wasn’t made.

Also, I told you that if you want to appear on national television at a convention, dress weird and act bizarre. Ta-da! A good friend of ours here (who out of kindness shall remain nameless) followed my advice. As a result, he was named DNC Dancer of the Night by late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel showed a national audience a video of our friend going through (as best an elderly man can) the herky-jerky movements of a dance designed for someone 50 years younger. Ow! Painful (not only for him, but for those watching him).

The principal speakers Wednesday night were Massachusetts senate candidate Elizabeth Warren and former president Bill Clinton.

Warren spoke first, and received a thunderous, sustained ovation from the crowd who chanted her name over and over again. Warren is a former Harvard academic, but not of the tea-sipping kind, but rather of the gutsy, determined kind who took on big-money, corporate foes and established a much-needed consumer financial protection agency in Washington. As a result, Warren has a national following of admirers, as her rousing reception at the convention attested.

Warren’s father sold carpet, then became a custodian. She waited tables at age 13. No pampered daughter of the wealthy she. Her speech reflected her working class roots, stressing in her remarks that the economy grows from the middle class up, not from the upper class down. Warren is opposed in her senate bid by the current incumbent Republican Scott Brown.

Brown follows a well-worn Republican formula for alleged “moderate Republican” candidates seeking election in Democratic states – vote independently just often enough to create the illusion that you are free of GOP interests. Then wear a barn coat and drive a pick-up truck to further embellish the “man of the people” façade. In reality, Brown is a creature of Wall Street, receives much money from the financial industry, and votes to protect its interests.

The grand finale of the evening was the speech by former president Bill Clinton. Now, I’m not an uncritical enthusiast for Clinton. It’s a toss-up whether his sexual escapades in the Oval Office were more embarrassing, foolish, or just plain comical. He deserved an official reprimand for his behavior, but certainly not impeachment, for otherwise he was an excellent president who left office with the nation at peace and the budget with a surplus.

And Clinton is a masterful politician, as his speech clearly showed. He took apart Republican criticisms of Obama’s first-term performance in a systematic, understandable, and persuasive way. Clinton said, “George W. Bush left a total mess behind him. Now, Republicans are arguing that the GOP deserves to be returned to the White House because Obama’s not cleaning up their mess fast enough.”

The audience was electrified, and rose to its feet time and time again to register support. We were watching a master at work. Love him or hate him, The Big Dog is good at what he does.

So, now, tired and bedraggled, my wife and I are preparing to return to New Hampshire. A difference exists between an adventure and a vacation. A vacation is calming and relaxing. An adventure is stressful, tiring, and challenging, but in the end gratifying. Attending a convention is definitely an adventure. We lost sleep. Ate lousy food. (Unless you call eating cold pizza and a pathetic Caesar salad while having your eardrums shattered by a high-volume speaker directly over your head fun). And spent many hours listening to what eventually sounded like the same speech over and over again.

But there were good moments, too. The people of Charlotte went far out their way to be friendly, helpful, and polite. And there were magical political moments that will remain with us. Listening for the first time to rising stars like Julian Castro and Cory Booker. Appreciating the considerable speaking skills of well-established politicians like Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama. And mingling with a vast throng of people who share our hopes and dreams for America.

See you on the campaign trail.

i