Former first lady Michelle Obama speaks on stage during the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on Aug. 20 in Chicago.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
There’s no one better to sell a message in America than Michelle Obama. She took the stage Tuesday at the Democrats’ four-day infomercial in Chicago and shone. She upstaged everyone, Barack Obama included.
She spoke of the Democrats as the party of honour and decency and respect for democracy. She spoke of how the other party was so small by comparison under Donald Trump. She raised high the roof beams at the United Center. The place went crazy. It was joyous.
What the Democrats are doing here thus far is putting more priority on the character issue than policy. There’s been little talk of the climate crisis, for example, or the Mideast war. The convention sales pitch has been about honour vs. dishonour, about one party (theirs) having a moral compass, the other (the Trump tribe) in ethical ruin.
The Democrats are saying they’re looking out for your best interests and the country’s best interests, that they are a force for good by comparison with that “five-time draft-dodging coward.” That’s what Senator Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in combat in Iraq, called Mr. Trump in her emotional address.
Making morality contrasts with the GOP is not overly burdensome. The Democrats are pitting their candidate, Kamala Harris, a career prosecutor of high integrity, against a convicted felon. “Hyperion to a satyr,” as Shakespeare would have it.
Joe Biden fits the noble character mould, having acted honourably in putting the country’s interests ahead of his own in deciding not to run for a second term. (In fact he was forced out. He had no choice in the matter. But hardly anyone at the convention is saying that.)
The Democrats want to come across as decent, ordinary folks, not elitists, so there was Barack Obama at the podium, talking of the sartorial tastes of vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz. “You can tell those flannel shirts he wears don’t come from some consultant,” Mr. Obama chuckled. Others jestingly refer to the portly governor as Minnesota Fats.
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It’s smart for the party to give the character issue higher priority. The Biden government is unpopular and Ms. Harris has served as its vice-president, and is vulnerable in that context.
It was expected that given the criticism of her and Mr. Walz as being too far on the left that the party would try and tack to the moderate side at this convention. But for the most part, that has not been the case.
Leftist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was given a prime speaking slot. She hollered about how Mr. Trump was “lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends” to roars of approval. Senator Bernie Sanders was given time to do his usual shtick. And while giving his address, United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain wore a red T-shirt emblazoned with the words, “Trump is a Scab.”
The convention leaves no doubt the election campaign will be fought along boldly written left-right lines. In response to the Republicans saying that big, overbearing government in Washington is the problem, Democrats are flipping the script.
They contend that it is the overbearing private sector that is the source of woe, in the form of Big Tech and the all-controlling monopolies that need to be smashed.
Mr. Trump is going hard along the ideological warfare path, calling Ms. Harris a lunatic and a communist. He also is showing signs, speaking of the character issue, of a narcissistic personality disorder, saying he is better looking than Ms. Harris.
Some of Ms. Harris’s past policies provide good fodder for painting her pink. She opposed fracking, and supported the Green New Deal. She favoured ending private health insurance and she praised the defund the police movement. She’s since moved off many of those positions, but has avoided doing interviews wherein she would likely have to explain how and why. Her convention-capping speech Thursday night might fill in some of the holes.
The character focus of the convention has made it easier for the Democrats to appear unified. So has the comportment of Mr. Biden, who showed no bitterness about being cast out by the party in his forceful defence of his record in his speech on Monday.
Though Mr. Biden doesn’t warrant the praise he’s receiving for stepping down, his decision to essentially anoint Ms. Harris as his successor as opposed to leaving the door open for a contested nomination looks, as the convention is illustrating, to be the right call.