A large portion of the arrests happened at the end of the night, as police pinned the remaining demonstrators – some of whom said they were trying to get home – in a plaza and blocked them from leaving. Police Superintendent Larry Snelling denied that police had “kettled” protesters, a tactic that involves corralling demonstrators in a confined area, which is banned under a federal consent decree. (1))
It's worth remembering here what Joe Biden’s position on abusive policing has been: “fund the police. Fund them. Fund them. Fund them…” (2)
There have been some notable moments so far. The anti-genocide protests over the Gaza War – and against the Biden Administration’s essentially uncritical backing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions, even after Netanyahu gave a campaign speech for Donald Trump before a joint session of Congress last month - are putting pressure on the Democrats to end that awful policy.
But the shift in the Democratic Party under Biden to more pro-labor and New Deal/Great Society economics has also been reflected at the convention. At least for the moment, its permissible for Democrats to say “working class” again! And even to denounce “oligarchs” and “corporate monopolists.” As Bernie Sanders did in his speech (3), which was was a highlight. And a reminder that a democratic socialist is still one of the stars of the Democratic Party, shocking as they may be to Clintonian-“triangulation” wing of the party. Yes, political and economic democracy are popular things.
His presentation included: “We must end this horrific war in Gaza, bring home the hostages, and demand an immediate ceasefire.”
Meanwhile, Barack Obama managed to slip a “dick joke,” into his speech (4) – well, kinda-sorta - which no doubt thrilled the We Want To Go Back To Brunch faction of the party.
The Back-To-Brunch ConservaDem faction will be ecstatic over it, I’m sure. And, of course, Obama has always been a star at inspiring speeches. Even if they are typically long on uplifting rhetoric and short on advocacy for progressive policies. It’s worth recalling that Obama decided not to bother with trying to codify abortion rights into federal law. One of several consequential omissions of his Administration.
Obama used the dick joke to work the “weird” theme into his speech. And he did it well. Obama is undoubtedly a very gifted rhetorician. Except for any of his speeches in which he used the phrase “entitlement reform,” the polite euphemism for cutting Social Security and Medicare, a goal he actively pursued in his first term as President. That phrase inserted into any politician’s speech automatically cancels out any uplifting rhetoric in the rest of it.
I think the “weird” theme turned out to be a good boost for the democracy vs. autocracy message. I’ve always thought that was good framing. But to be effective electorally, it has to be put into specific issues terms, e.g., democracy to protect voting rights, democracy to defend abortion rights, democracy to support unions against oligarchs, etc. And since the Republicans still don’t officially reject democracy, Trump can say things like “I took a bullet for democracy” or claim that he’s defending democracy against the 20 million foreigners from insane asylums he says the Democrats are bringing in to register as Democratic voters.
But encouraging people to listen for the “weird” means that voters started noticing that Vance not only sounds like some grumpy guy from 1950 sneering at “childless cat ladies” but he also wants to ban abortions and force women to stay in physically abusive marriages. And to notice that when Trump says things like, “We pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country," (5) it sounds kind of, you know, Hitler-ish.
There has been a lot of patriotic hoopla at the convention, of course. There always is. Although Noah Smith has a somewhat quirky take that patriotic kitsch is brand new to the Democratic Party. He wrote in 2021, with apparent surprise, “even in the darkest days of 2020, a solid majority of Americans still said that they felt ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ proud to be an American.” (6) Somebody should maybe tell him that Americans are very fond of eating popcorn in movie theaters, too!
Watching this week’s convention, he marvels, “A lot of Democrats watching the convention have been deeply affected by the patriotic motif.” (7) I’m glad he was impressed. But how this is a surprise to anyone following American politics, I don’t know.
Notes:
(1) Tarren, Sphia et. al. (2024): Pro-Palestinian protesters clash with police near Chicago’s Israeli consulate on second night of DNC. AP News 08/02/2024. <https://apnews.com/article/democratic-convention-chicago-protests-war-gaza-f064683535bbbe93231d31ecc2dbafc7> (Accessed: 2024-21-08).
(2) Biden, Joe (2022): State of the Union Address 03/01/2022. White House website. <https://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2022/> (Accessed: 2024-21-08).
(3) FULL SPEECH: Bernie Sanders promotes ‘not a radical agenda’ at DNC. ABC News YouTube channel 08/21/2024. <https://youtu.be/ncXs_L2rbsU?si=d_qP-19ls4Lsswrr> (Accessed: 2024-21-08).
(4) FULL SPEECH: Barack Obama’s full speech at the DNC. ABC News YouTube channel 08/21/2024. <https://youtu.be/AxxVM_Vfcck?si=_EqP87VsASTczTKm> (Accessed: 2024-21-08).
(5) Kurtzleben, Danielle (2024): Why Trump's authoritarian language about 'vermin' matters. NPR 11/17/2024. <https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213746885/trump-vermin-hitler-immigration-authoritarian-republican-primary> (Accessed: 2024-21-08).
(6) Smith, Noah (2021): Try patriotism. Noahpinion 11/15/2021. <https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/try-patriotism> (Accessed: 2024-21-08).
(7) Smith, Noah (2024): The Democrats embraced patriotism after all. Noahpinion 08/21/2024. <https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-democrats-embraced-patriotism> (Accessed: 2024-21-08).
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