Early last night, from my seat in Section 332 of the United Center, things didn’t look promising for the Democrats. It felt like Night of the Politically Vanquished. A Monday news dump. A bunch of speakers (Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton) that deserved a hearing but that only the most loyal Democrat wanted to hear from.
But night one of the Democratic National Convention turned out to be pretty good. It had a lot of red-meat politicking. It had moments of genuine, almost startling emotion. The hitch was that, like Biden’s reelection campaign, it overstayed its welcome.
Watching a political convention inside the United Center is a little like watching a Chicago Bulls game—and not just because Steve Kerr got called off the bench to take a big shot. To get to the arena, there’s a security perimeter you have to fight through. You can order chicken fingers from the concession stand and eat them while you watch the action. (If that’s a crime, then lock me up.)
It’s more interesting to explain the differences between convention and basketball watching. At conventions, the crowd talks during the speeches. Not just New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s speech, either. That would be reasonable, even desirable.
In the upper deck, I was surrounded by 20-something political types in well-cut suits, credentials swinging from their unlined necks, who yakked the entire night. They yakked while Tony Goldwyn was playing emcee. They yakked while three women onstage were talking about the importance of abortion rights.
I turned around and shot them confused glances as if to ask, Why are you here? Who’s forcing you to watch the Democratic National Convention? Their chatter stopped only when they heard the words “make Kamala Harris the next president of the United States,” because that meant a speech was wrapping up. At odd times, they stood and rushed to the exits, as if summoned on a political errand.
A little after 8 p.m. Central, the Democrats really got night one started by sending Harris to the stage to bless the convention. Here was a “surprise” appearance (though noted on the media rundown) that made even the upper deckers shut up. As Harris came onstage, ushers passed out red signs that said, “We Fight, We Win.” She hit the catchphrase, and the signs went up.
Harris was followed by a number of good speakers. You could argue that Hillary Clinton gave the best speech of her political career Monday night. Clinton savored the ovation she got from the crowd, almost as if she was surprised by it. When she mentioned Trump’s felony convictions, the crowd began to chant, “Lock him up!” I won’t forget the smile that spread across Clinton’s face at that moment. It was a smile that savored the turnabout from her 2016 campaign and the fact that the chant was factually accurate, pending sentencing next month. Hillary Clinton had permission to smile again!
Clinton riffed on the theme of an unbroken glass ceiling from her ’16 concession speech: “On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris raising her hand and taking the oath of office …” The line got a huge cheer.
Convention planners recruited Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a choice speaking slot, according to HuffPost. She rewarded them with a speech aimed at the middle class. Ocasio-Cortez took a Republican taunt—that she should go back to bartending—and defended the dignity of such jobs: “There is nothing wrong with working for a living.” Her speech formed a bookend with one from United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain, who wore a T-shirt that read, “Trump Is a Scab.”
Night one had a visceral, in-your-face quality that departed from Biden’s and Clinton’s cautious politicking. The Democrats talked about abortion and union jobs and January 6, 2021—the latter in a clumsy speech from Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, who spoke like the victim of a frozen teleprompter.
Other than Ocasio-Cortez, the most nimble speech came from Kerr. He was brought onstage with a highlight of his winning jumper from Game 6 of the 1997 Finals, which Kerr hit right there in the United Center. Kerr made some subtle jokes about how a coach talking politics should “shut up and whistle,” about the schemes Tim Walz used as a high school defensive coordinator. That stuff would play better when Kerr is behind the podium talking to a bunch of appreciative sportswriters. But after trotting out Kerr and Jason Isbell, Harris has locked down the sportswriter vote, for sure.
The problem Democrats had was time. When Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett got choked up talking about how Harris had counseled her during her first year on Capitol Hill, the night was zipping along. Then came Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. And Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock. Now, it was 9:50 Central. Local news anchors were in their chairs in two time zones. Nobody with the surname Biden had spoken yet.
Joe Biden had to speak. He was leaving the convention afterward, and, these days, Democrats are less likely to see him as a stubborn mule clinging to power than as a benevolent if fading wise man. Still, they did not, perhaps, need three separate tributes to Biden, from his home-state senator, his wife, and his daughter. “That was my daughter!” Biden said after taking the stage. It was 10:25 p.m.
The old Biden charm has almost completely leaked out of his speeches, minus one line about the importance of being veep. With a scowl and piercing eyes, Biden picked through familiar themes. The white supremacists in Charlottesville. The pain of his son Beau’s death. A new, post-dropout line: “I’m so damn old!” He was blunt but effective. The Biden that spoke Monday night could have held on to the Democratic nomination, at least for a few more weeks.
Biden’s speech lasted nearly an hour. Several people in my section got up and left before it was over. Perhaps they were grateful to Biden but just exhausted. After 11 p.m., there were empty seats across the upper deck.
When Biden finished, the surviving residents of Section 332—those who weren’t holding a separate conversation—waved blue signs that an usher had handed out when the president took the stage. The signs said: “We [Heart] Joe.” At the bottom, there was a small notation: “Paid for by Harris for President.”
