By WILL WEISSERT and NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — The Democratic National Convention The first evening was scheduled in order that the last Democrat to lose to Donald Trump and the last to defeat him would give speeches.
Hillary Clinton spoke of finally breaking the “glass ceiling” and electing a girl president. Joe Biden was the last speaker in Chicago on Monday evening, whilst protesters against the Gaza war gathered a couple of blocks from the Capitol constructing.
Here are some takeaways from the primary night of the convention.
A surprise appearance by Harris as a tribute to Biden
The vice chairman made an unscheduled appearance on stage to honor Biden before his own speech on the convention, telling the president: “Thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifelong commitment to our nation, and for all that you will continue to do.”
On a night that was purported to be dedicated to the president, who had made way for Harris, the vice chairman added: “We are eternally grateful to you.” Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and her husband Doug Emhoff cheered her message from the gallery.
In her transient speech, Harris said that when she looked out at the group, she saw “the beauty of our great nation.” She stressed the importance of promoting diversity and spreading optimism.
Hillary Clinton revives talk of breaking the “glass ceiling”
Clinton was greeted with wild and sustained applause that lasted greater than two minutes before she silenced the group. She delivered a fiery speech and hoped that Harris would do what she couldn’t – defeat Trump and turn out to be the primary female president.
In her 2016 defeat speech, Clinton recalled all of the “cracks in the glass ceiling” she and her voters had achieved. And she painted an image of Harris taking the oath of office as president “on the other side of that glass ceiling.”
She concluded her speech with a striking wish for somebody at the highest of American politics and power: “I want my grandchildren and their grandchildren to know that I was here at that moment. That we were here and that we were with Kamala Harris every step of the way.”
Clinton's speech included traditional political attacks, resembling mocking Trump's criminal record, which drew chants of “lock him up” just like those directed at Clinton by Trump's supporters in 2016.
A line from Jesse Jackson to Kamala Harris
A primary topic of the evening was the honoring of Reverend Jesse Jackson, a longtime civil rights activist in Chicago and former presidential candidate in 1984 and 1988. Many Democrats recognize his pioneering work, which helped Barack Obama win the White House in 2008 and Kamala Harris turn out to be the primary woman of color to be nominated for the presidency.
Jackson was greeted from the stage by several speakers, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and California Rep. Maxine Waters. A video montage of Jackson's profession and legacy was shown before Jackson, 82, himself walked onto the stage in a wheelchair, raised his arms to the sky and grinned. Jackson was diagnosed with: Parkinson's disease.
During the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, Jackson declared in a speech that America was “like a patchwork quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven together and held together by a common thread.” This speech became often called the “Rainbow Coalition” speech, and Jackson used the momentum it generated to run again because the Democratic candidate in 1988.
Harris called Jackson “one of America’s greatest patriots.”
Remember COVID? Democrats don't want voters – or Trump – to forget
The Democrats selected to focus the convention highlight on the harrowing issue of the coronavirus pandemic.
This reflected Democrats' frustration with Trump portraying his time in office as a golden age for the country, despite the fact that a whole bunch of 1000’s of Americans died of Covid-19 in the ultimate 12 months of his term.
For Democrats, fighting the pandemic carries many risks. Even more people died from the virus during Biden's presidency than during Trump's, voters were desperate to move on, and a few of the preventive measures advocated by Democrats – resembling school closures and wearing face masks – will not be popular looking back.
Still, the list of early speakers focused on Trump's behavior through the pandemic. Peggy Flanagan, lieutenant governor of Minnesota, recalled that her brother was the second person in Tennessee to die of the disease and that she was unable to go to him or hold a memorial service. Illinois nurse Lauren Underwood said of Trump: “He has turned the COVID crisis into a catastrophe. We must never let him be our president again.”
Rep. Robert Garcia, whose mother and stepfather died of the disease in 2020, recalled Trump's missteps and concluded with considered one of the slogans of Harris' young campaign: “We are not going back.”
Democrats outperform Republicans on labor market
At Trump's convention last month, one union leader was seen at such a GOP event: Teamsters Chairman Sean O'Brien. That's a mirrored image of how Trump's populism has eroded the Democrats' advantage with union families.
In this speech, O'Brien didn’t support Trump, but criticized each major parties for not doing enough to assist working people.
The Democrats didn’t invite O'Brien to their convention, but they countered on Monday with half a dozen other union leaders on stage. And then Shawn Fain, head of the United Auto Workers, loudly shouted “Trump is a scab!” while wearing a red T-shirt with that slogan.
Fain noted that Biden visited a UAW picket line last 12 months and that Harris, not Trump, was on the 2019 autoworkers' picket line. “Donald Trump is all talk, and Kamala Harris is all action,” Fain said.
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