Commentary

Supposedly, Democrats are known for their values of compassion and decency, but it’s all rhetoric, and for those who didn’t watch the Democrat convention week, I’ll give you a taste.

It all began when they scheduled President Biden’s farewell speech on the first night, when individuals of lesser position are routinely scheduled.  Then due to mismanagement, they ran an hour late, and his prime-time slot was missed.  It was after midnight when Biden finished his remarks.

“Whatever producers did this to him, letting it go over time long at this hour,” wrote Meghan McCain on “X”, “is an as*h**e, and was disrespectful to Biden.”

“They took the nomination away from him and now booted him out of prime time.” – Mark Knoller, CBS White House correspondent

The well-known pollster Nate Silver said “you’ve gotta be pretty naïve to think the prolonged DNC tonight is for any reason other than diminishing Biden’s visibility.”

Michelle Obama Speaks

Clearly, the former first lady was there to be seen, first.

Ashley Parker of the Washington Post thought it was important to note that Michelle Obama’s “hair was tightly braided in a ponytail that fell long and thick down her back.”

Noting that Michelle once felt that America wasn’t ready for a first lady in braids, Harpers Bazaar said, “she made sure America was ready to see and hear her” at the convention, wearing “a deconstructed navy suit by the creative directors of Oscar de la Renta, her Jimmy Choo kitten heels, a belt, hoop earrings, and fingers full of silver rings.  The look was fierce, but sophisticated somehow on her.”

However, I found it difficult to forget her 2008 speech when she said, “For the first time in my adult life, I am really  proud of my country.”

She spoke of her mother and father, who were “suspicious of folks who took more than they needed.”  I wondered, would they have been suspicious of Barack and Michelle’s $65 million book advance and the multi-million Netflix deal?  And how about owning four homes?   Certainly, more than they needed.

Michelle soon invoked the Democrat rhetoric I spoke of earlier – the meaning of hard work, humility and decency – while extoling Vice President Harris, of deep humanity, as “one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency.”  Really?

Obviously unaware of Harris’s crude attacks on Donald Trump, she said, “Kamala has shown her allegiance to this nation, not by spewing anger and bitterness,” adding “I am confident that they (Harris and Walz) will lead with – are you ready for this? – compassion, inclusion and grace.”

She instructed the audience to stand up not just for our basic freedoms, but for decency, humanity, respect, dignity, and empathy, “the values of the very foundation of our democracy.”   Just words to Michelle.

Although she briefly mentioned Harris’s running mate Tim Walz, I simply cannot imagine Michelle inviting him to the Obama estate on Martha’s Vineyard for cocktails.

Barack Obama Speaks

And that goes for Barack, too, even though he told the Chicago audience, “I love this guy.  He knows who he is and what’s important,” commenting on the flannel shirts Walz wears.

With that, I was reminded of columnist David Brooks comment that he knew Barack would be a good president by the crease in his pants.

It was obvious that Barack and Michelle were assigned attack duty on Trump, mentioning his name a number of times.

“We don’t need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos,” he said of Trump, while knowing Trump was constantly fighting back at Democrat efforts to impeach him, and the Deep State fabricating Russian collusion tales.  In those four years, Trump exhibited a remarkable resilience. 

Bill Clinton Speaks

While the man from Arkansas took some verbal shots at Trump, too, at least he had the decency to pay tribute to Biden, thanking him for his courage, compassion (there it is again) and class for his service and sacrifice.

Only Bill Clinton could say, “Not a day goes by that I’m not grateful for the chance the American people gave me to be one of the 45 who have held the job,” after his disgraceful dalliance with an intern in the White House.

No question, the Obama’s and Clinton are excellent orators, but it’s unfortunate that their selling of Kamala Harris fell short.

Vice President Harris Speaks

Except for her relating her upbringing and early careers in California, I thought, as I listened to her, anybody could have given the speech, full of platitudes; even Joe Biden.

While she spoke of creating an “opportunity economy,” it was devoid not only of how she will perform this magic, she doesn’t explain why she hasn’t introduced the content of this dream in her three and half years as vice president.

Yet, she attacks Trump as an “unserious man,” someone who only thinks of himself, even as he explains to voters about America First and how it is the focus of Making American Great Again.

When she said, “As commander-in-chief, I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families,” I recalled how she said she was the last person in the room when President Biden ordered the withdrawal of Afghanistan in the manner in which it was done.  Thirteen American servicemen and women were unnecessarily killed at Abbey Gate, and to this day the families have not heard from neither Biden nor her.

Near the conclusion of her speech, she found a way to include those words Democrats repeatedly use, simply because they sound good – “freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, and fairness.”

A Former Speechwriter Comments

“The text didn’t have the feeling of a story being told from some previously unknown inner depth,” remarked Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter. “It stuck to resume values and life experiences, rather than a sharing of her thinking.  I’m not sure it advanced her position with those who aren’t already with her.

“There is a small but persistent cloud that follows her … I don’t think she succeeded in lightening or removing the cloud.”

Words

When I hear the words constantly repeated by Democrats as if they own them, I am reminded of Rush Limbaugh’s “Undeniable Truths.”  Number 34 is “Words Mean Things.”   If Democrats knew what they meant, bitterness and division wouldn’t exist.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.