The Tribune

with CHARLIE HARPER

Was Monday evening at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago historic? Did the huge United Center crowd’s energy and enthusiasm herald a ten-week American presidential election campaign that could transform both major US political parties? Is the Kamala Harris–Tim Walz ticket too good to be true?

Monday night in Chicago at the huge arena that Michael Jordan filled during so many seasons of peerless basketball excellence and NBA championships was a brilliantly scripted spectacle that tapped into the immense creative Hollywood and Manhattan resources that are now eager for deployment by the Democrats.

Kamala Harris replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket has made that possible. And her brief surprise appearance at 8.10pm was a highlight.

The Dems trotted out a formidable lineup of speakers through a long evening that began before 6pm and ended at nearly midnight in Chicago – and after midnight in the eastern time zone – with a teary but defiant Biden essentially bidding farewell to the epicenter of American politics after nearly 40 years of relevance there.

An early highlight was the venerable Jesse Jackson being wheeled out onto the stage with his successor as the black talisman of Democratic politics, smart and edgy Al Sharpton, among his escorts. It seemed like the final chapter in a long relevant career for Chicagoan Jackson as he almost literally passed the torch to Sharpton.

Throughout the afternoon and evening on Monday’s first convention day, the feeling of vibrancy was unavoidable. The huge crowds were buzzing. And those crowds were clearly representative of the numerous key components of the contemporary Democratic Party.

Groups of African Americans, women, LGBTQ, Latinos and young people of all sociological persuasions were predominant. They moved with a degree of assurance and ease suggesting that so many of these activists feel at home in the Democratic Party. Party leaders will hope that all the energy flowing here in Chicago this week will be sustained and translate into actual votes in November. Despite the euphoria now, Donald Trump and the Republicans loom just offstage.

Indeed, throughout an exciting evening of political entertainment, Trump was one of the three key unifying themes as the star-studded lineup of speakers trashed him repeatedly. While the barbs and taunts flew everywhere, Biden himself and the surprising Hillary Clinton spoke most forcefully.

Repeatedly and emotionally interrupted as chants of “We love Joe” and “Thank you Joe” rang out in the packed, 23,000-seat arena, Biden accepted his daughter Ashley’s touching tribute and started strongly and with palpable passion. He repeated his core message several times, jabbing the air with an index finger to underline its significance.

Biden clearly believes that November’s election will move the US in a dark and destructive direction if Trump wins. He described the upcoming election as basically a crusade “to save democracy in our country”. Biden seemed to sustain his firm hold on his subject matter throughout a lengthy oratory, faltering only a few times and perhaps too obviously straining to read his prompts.

All in all, the president did well. But at the same time, he still looks old and gray. There’s a haunted look about him, accentuated by his involuntarily wide-eyed, almost glassy expression. He alternated between moods of unmistakable venom, even hatred, for Trump and a kind, gently smiling avuncular persona reserved for his family members and the thousands of loyalists calling his name from the crowd.

Many in the giant crowd didn’t really know what to expect when Hillary Clinton took the stage about midway through the prime-time portion of the evening’s schedule. She has been an enigmatic figure at the centre of the party for over 30 years.

First, she burst upon the scene with her electric, charismatic husband Bill, as he came out of nowhere to capture the unwanted Democratic nomination for president in 1992 against an incumbent in George HW Bush who seemed invulnerable at the time. She cultivated the image of a woman of surpassing intelligence and breadth.

After Clinton swept to victory in 1992, the unelected Hillary made headlines for developing and promoting her own healthcare plan, and openly pushing her husband to adopt it. People noticed. There were murmurs that she had not been elected by voters and was straying out of her lane as First Lady.

That set the tone for a lingering disconnect between Hillary’s obvious preference for exercising intellectual and policy authority inside the White House and the popular image of a traditional president’s wife adopting an uncontroversial charitable activity and hanging admiringly on her husband’s arm as he governed the country.

That was not for Hillary. She didn’t sign up for the traditional role. The couple’s marriage seemed strained from the start, and she did little to dispel the image of her dissatisfaction. Remember when she declared that she didn’t see herself as “baking cookies” in the White House?

There was Monica Lewinski and Clinton’s impeachment. Hillary stood by her man. After he left office in January 2001, Hillary, now nearly 77, shifted immediately from First Lady to election as junior US Senator from New York, an office gifted to her by a Democratic Party led by her husband. She served eight years in the Senate, was appointed Secretary of State by Barack Obama, and ran for president in 2016 against Trump.

There have always been grumbles that Hillary never really earned any of these immensely influential positions. And her inexperienced, halting response to the onslaught of Trump’s campaign style led to a disastrous election outcome for the Dems eight years ago.

So it surprised many Monday evening when Hillary swept onto the convention stage to a sustained, heartfelt, full-throated cascade of cheers from the floor. She was clearly surprised herself by the warm response. It almost felt like the evening was a grateful sendoff not only for Biden but also for the woman who, as she admitted in her speech, set the stage in 2016 for Harris to break through the “glass ceiling” and at last become the first woman president of the US.

She did well. Hillary stuck to the party line of heaping praise on Harris and running mate Tim Walz and vilifying Trump. But her central thesis was that the “cracks in that glass ceiling” for women are about to be finally shattered. “Women,” she pleaded, “must keep going. We are so close to finally earning what we have so long sought. We cannot, we must not, stop now.”

There were many other standout speeches during the evening. Among the best were delivered by congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City and Jasmine Crockett of Texas. AOC was clearly stunned by the rapturous shouts of approval that welcomed her on stage. And when the crowd finally quieted so she could speak, she delivered a stirring message of optimism, hope, faith and patriotism.

She was also the only speaker to directly reference the ongoing war in Gaza that spurred mostly peaceful protests outside the arena on Monday but may resurface later in the week.

Crockett, best known for her sassy rejoinders to rude and reckless Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene in televised Congressional hearings, told a touching story of Harris’s gentle mentoring of her when she was a rookie on Capitol Hill.

Women dominated the proceedings throughout the evening. State legislators and other congresswomen from across the country came to the podium underscoring the urgency of defeating Trump, maintaining party unity in that pursuit and their unstinting support of the middle class in America.

Volunteers duly distributed signs reading “We Love Joe” at one point in the program, carefully timed to coincide with the president’s appearance on stage. In an obvious and effective nod to the television audience watching at home, other placards with “USA” or “When we fight, we win” or “Thank you, Joe” were passed around to reinforce messaging from the podium.

As the evening gathered momentum toward the inevitable outpouring of gratitude and relief offered to Biden for his grudging yet gracious decision to save the party this year by deciding not to run for reelection, the floor of the arena, reserved for party delegations, filled to bursting. No arena seat was empty.

Everyone present wanted to witness what might have been the end of the era of male-dominated US politics and maybe the end of Trump.