Whereas the presentation had the unmistakable aura of life in a pandemic, the roster of audio system had a extra classic really feel — much less a
Whereas the presentation had the unmistakable aura of life in a pandemic, the roster of audio system had a extra classic really feel — much less a imaginative and prescient of the Democratic Get together’s future than a bridge to the 20th century. There have been these nearing or of their 80s: Mr. Sanders and Mr. Clyburn; three Republicans who made their names within the 1990s, Mr. Kasich, former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey and former Consultant Susan Molinari of New York; and a present governor whose identify evokes conventions’ previous, Andrew M. Cuomo of New York.
Mr. Cuomo’s remarks, nonetheless, have been far much less lofty than these delivered by his father, Mario M. Cuomo, in 1984, a rousing speech that gave him nationwide recognition. His son targeted on New York’s response to the coronavirus disaster. “Solely a powerful physique can combat off the virus, and America’s divisions weakened it,” stated Mr. Cuomo, calling Mr. Trump’s response to the pandemic “dysfunctional and incompetent.”
Maybe probably the most searing critique of Mr. Trump got here not from an elected official however from Kristin Urquiza, a younger lady whose father, a Trump supporter, died of the coronavirus. Talking briefly and in uncooked phrases about her loss, Ms. Urquiza stated of her father, “His solely pre-existing situation was trusting Donald Trump, and for that he paid together with his life.”
Past the pandemic, Democrats sought to make use of the primary evening of the conference to spotlight the breadth of help Mr. Biden enjoys, hoping to ship a sign to voters throughout overseas vary of the ideological spectrum.
On this approach, Monday’s program was paying homage to Hillary Clinton’s conference 4 years in the past, when the social gathering additionally tried to carry alongside its left flank however spent much more time looking for to painting Mr. Trump as an outlier far faraway from the political mainstream.
The specter of a Trump presidency again then, nonetheless, was a theoretical proposition. This 12 months, Democrats have been in a position to lay out a extra highly effective indictment based mostly on Mr. Trump’s tenure within the White Home. And had Democrats nominated a extra liberal candidate than the consensus-oriented Mr. Biden, they may not have been in a position lure former Republican workplace holders.