That’s A Wrap
The DNC has officially drawn to a close, and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is presumptive no more.
Tonight was a crash course in Biden’s autobiography and a way for Americans to get a more personal introduction to his 40-plus years in public service. The evening was at times lopsided — the first hour meandered and the Democrats spent little time focusing on their policy ambitions or what a future Biden administration might look like.
Many this summer have asked “Where’s Joe Biden?” as, given the constraints of the pandemic, he hasn’t been able to campaign as normal. But tonight he gave his answer, offering Americans a promise of hope and light for what he termed a great darkness. From the day he first announced he was running, Biden’s campaign has been one to “restore the soul of our nation.” The question now will be whether the empathetic and compassionate image he offered America is one America wants.
To relive the live blog in all its chronological glory, scroll back down, but if that’s too much, here’s the crew’s top takeaways:
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- Amelia: In Accepting the Democratic Nomination, Biden Presents Himself as the Antidote to Trump
- Julia: Democrats: Character And Decency Are On The Ballot In 2020
- Meena: On A Night That Really Showcased His Empathy, Biden Accepted The 2020 Democratic Nomination
- Geoffrey: Biden’s Bio And Speech Make The Case That He Can Be The Empath-In-Chief
- Galen: Biden Bets That 2018 (Persuasion) Is A More Important Political Lesson Than 2016 (Base Turnout)
- Nathaniel: Audience-Less Speech Plays To Biden’s Strengths As Intimate Campaigner
- Chris: The Election Is Still Mostly About Trump
- Lee: Democrats Built Their Convention Back Better
- Matt: In Unconventional Format, Biden Makes Case for a Return to Normal
- Kaleigh: Here’s Joe
- Emily: 🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆
The highlight of tonight’s program was Biden’s speech. (With the possible exception of the extremely charming Curry family!) And while that might seem obvious — of course the nominee’s acceptance speech is the highlight — my expectations for Biden’s speech were fairly low. He definitely blew them out of the water. Was it the best speech ever? Not really. But it was intimate and coherent and at times emotional, and I think it hit the notes Biden needed to hit at the end of this very weird convention.
My final take is a short one, which is just that I thought the first hour was very discombobulated and the second hour was very effective.
Biden gave a very good, intimate-style speech that was well suited to his style of reaching out to an individual person and making them feel heard. It didn’t break a ton of new oratorical ground, but for a speech that is effectively supposed to sum up Biden’s political life, it needed to have classic Bidenisms like “there isn’t anything we can’t do” and quotes from Irish poets. I thought the most effective part of the speech was when he assailed Trump’s handling of the coronavirus and painted a picture of how a Biden administration would do things differently.
Much of the night was focused on Biden’s biography, but the big moment was the nominee’s speech. I think Republicans (and some Democrats) have underrated Biden so much and lowered expectations to such a degree that he didn’t have to do that well with his speech to come off OK. But he came out and gave a strong speech, delivered, as some have said here, in an almost fireside-chat manner at times. The setting probably played to his strength , and may have come off better than a speech in front of a huge crowd. I think the clips of this speech will play well on TV or social media tomorrow, and that’s how a lot of people will encounter it. Biden made the case for why he can bring a divided country together. He wasn’t quite a Hubert Humphrey happy warrior — he took his shots at Trump, too — but his message was generally positive, which might play well in an environment where everyone is sick and tired of being sick and tired.
This felt like Biden’s arrival. The primary is officially over, and the week needed to demonstrate what the Democrats have to offer while countering the attacks that have already started from Trump’s camp. I think they did that effectively while dealing with the VERY WEIRD and unprecedented challenges of a global pandemic.
Democrats did a great job with the format of this convention, using it to bring in lots of relatable, ordinary people without too much eye-rolling pandering. More importantly for them, they successfully defined Biden as a caring, empathetic and decent human capable of meeting the moment, and Biden delivered the speech of his political life.
Americans have not seen a lot of Biden in recent months. This speech will get great reviews. Even those who didn’t watch will hear Biden’s message in clips and news coverage. Democrats also effectively inoculated Biden against some of the attacks Republicans will probably use next week.
A few final takeaways from me before we record the podcast:
- Biden did what he needed to do — more, even. I think the media narrative coming out of tonight will be that Biden delivered a really good speech (he’s helped by low expectations there, of course).
- It probably won’t matter much in terms of the horse race, but a big screw-up could have mattered and that didn’t happen.
- Virtual political conventions have lots of awkward moments, which are fun.
Biden’s speech matched the format and the moment, which is pretty on-brand for him. He’s not the kind of inspiring orator that, say, Obama is. But he has a long record of reading the political moment and this was no exception.
It looks like Biden, Harris and their spouses have gone outside to wave to a gathered crowd outside their Wilmington, Delaware, event space. And there are fireworks! A little convention energy yet.
No balloons, but we get fireworks!
Biden gives a well-received speech and takes control of Twitter conversation by a substantial margin.
Good point, Julia, on the quiet decency vibe being evocative of Carter. And just as Carter was a response to Nixon, maybe Biden is a response to Trump.
I agree with Nate that the format is an advantage for Biden. It doesn’t matter if the crowd is screaming, because there is no crowd. The quiet decency vibe is sort of evocative of Jimmy Carter. I know that’s not normally what people look for in a presidential speech, but it feels appropriate for the moment.
Biden is running on a campaign of restoration, rather than revolution. In 2016, we found that Americans of all races who believed that “our country is changing too fast, undermining traditional American values” were more supportive of Trump. Biden is effectively trying to win back those voters.
Whenever a politician invokes an Irish poet, you know the end of the speech is nigh.
Heaney in particular is a favorite of his.
Irish poetry — that’s a well-worn Bidenism.
Biden mentioned the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 both here and in the video announcing his candidacy for president in April 2019.
Some Republicans, including the president, have attacked Biden as senile and barely cogent, and here he is giving a perfectly fine speech. They should probably not lower expectations so much.
In 2016, Americans actually perceived Trump as more moderate than Clinton, in part due to his occasional departures from conservative economic views. Since then, perceptions of Trump have moved rightward and Biden is perceived as more moderate than Clinton. I expect that to continue into November.
Agreed, Amelia. Expressing empathy as someone who has experienced profound loss was extremely effective.
I definitely think it’s been a strength of Biden’s speech. The contrast with Trump — who has been criticized for expressing so little empathy for the victims of COVID-19 — is incredibly stark.
I agree it’s omnipresent, Julia, but I think the strongest moments of the convention have been when Democrats have attacked Trump on it head on — Kristin Urquiza’s speech on Monday, Biden’s strong start tonight.
Micah, I think it’s about even. There was a lot of discussion of the pandemic early on, and I feel like it’s been lurking throughout. Plus, this convention is remote — the pandemic is omnipresent.
It was a lifetime ago, but they spent a fair amount of time talking about the pandemic on night 1.
Yes, I was just gonna write something along those lines, Micah. In some ways Biden is doing a lot of what the convention until now hasn’t done: paint a picture of what America looks like in a country governed by Democrats, particularly during the time of coronavirus.
Is it accurate to say Biden’s speech, particularly early on, focused more on the pandemic than the convention has as a whole?
Biden has made it through many liberal policy positions and references to groups in the party coalition while maintaining a very moderate tone and his well-known “Uncle Joe” demeanor.
The other thing about policy is that while I’ve hammered Democrats a bit on my report card for being short on policy specifics, it’s not exactly an area of weakness for Biden, insofar as he has a long governing record. People may not agree with his stances, but he’s worked on a lot of issues.
Lee, maybe that gets at the idea that labor unions are more popular than they’ve been in a couple decades, at least according to Gallup.
“Build back better” has gotten some pushback because it’s a pretty awkward phrase. But it seemed to make grammatical sense as Biden used it there, and it resolves a tension that presidents often have to resolve when they’re proposing big change — how to balance that change with preservation.
Lee, yeah! I feel like I need to eat my words some — he’s had some specifics in there already.
I wonder when was the last time a Democratic nominee called out labor unions specifically in an acceptance speech. I’d guess probably not since 1980 or 1984.
Chris, Biden only has things to lose by getting overly specific about policy at this point. It will just cause fighting in his own party.
I wouldn’t expect Biden to have to get super specific on policy tonight. But I wonder if there will ever come a point in the campaign where he’ll have to. Feels unlikely that he’ll have to go toe-to-toe with Trump on policy specifics in a debate.
Yeah, it’s really letting Biden’s reputation for empathy shine through.
Yeah, Nate, the simmering, intense, eye-to-eye style of this speech is quite effective given the current crisis. It feels like an Oval Office address. A more traditional convention-hall address, punctuated with applause, might actually be less appropriate given the content.
I think this format works for a more intimate “fireside chat” kind of speech, like the one that Biden is delivering now, more than it would for big fiery oratory.
“I understand how hard it is to have any hope right now” is my vote for most memorable line of the night.
This speech is very “Uncle Joe” — promising the country he’ll take care of them, at a moment when many people probably feel pretty vulnerable.
Yeah, Sarah, it’s as if he’s answering the critics: “Here I am.”
A recurring refrain this summer has been, “Where’s Joe Biden?” as, given the constraints of the pandemic, he hasn’t been able to campaign as normal. But his nomination speech so far has been strong. He’s been firm in his messaging around Trump’s failures. And he has also has offered a message of hope and promise while acknowledging how hard hope might be for many Americans right now.
As Biden enters the heart of his acceptance speech, he’s also taking control of the conversation on Twitter:
“This president does not have a plan,” Biden says. “Well, I do.” He’s going right for Trump’s weak point here; 58 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Some noticeable differences in the production choices between last night’s Harris speech and tonight’s Biden speech. The framing is tighter, the backdrop is different, and there’ve been far, far fewer uses of different camera angles.
The convention hall space tonight feels much, much less weird than it did last night with Harris. Smart move to zoom in on Biden so it doesn’t seem like he’s talking to an empty room. It’s recreating a little bit of that intimacy we’ve seen from other segments this week.
That’s right, Geoffrey. FDR’s whole idea was to experiment with policy and try different things until something worked — he wasn’t an ideologue, and like Biden, fell sort of in the middle of his party.
Julia’s earlier point reminds me that if Biden wins and can carry Democrats into full control of Congress, he’ll give Democrats an opportunity to pass a fair amount of major legislation. It’s certainly not FDR in 1932, but if I recall my history correctly, FDR also was a bit mum on policy in the campaign — though he said he wanted a balanced budget! — as things were going terribly in the country and then was able to take very aggressive policy approaches once he took office.