“America, I gave my best to you.”
August 20, 2024
Watching the Democratic National Convention was an out-of-body experience—on many levels. The presentations before President Biden’s keynote speech plumbed a deep well of political experience, raw talent, future leaders, unbridled joy, and personal pain. The stories by hopeful couples and rape survivors devastated by Trump’s abortion bans were powerful and moving—unlike anything previously attempted at a national political convention.
There is much to discuss, but let’s skip to the end: Through the selfless act of President Biden, the Democratic Party is more energized and unified than anyone could have imagined or dared hope. If Democrats can defeat Trump a second time—and we have every reason to believe we will—it will be Joe Biden’s victory along with Kamala Harris’s.
President Joe Biden’s speech
In a wonderful speech with many great moments, Joe Biden’s valedictory statement will be the most remembered and quoted. He recited a verse from American Anthem by Norah Jones,
Let them say of me
I was one who believed
In sharing the blessings I received
Let me know in my heart
When my days are through
America, America I gave my best to you.
And he acknowledged that he put the interests of the nation before his own in giving his best to America to the very last:
It has been the honor of a lifetime. I love my job, but I love my country more.
In a speech that could have rightly been only about himself, Joe Biden was gracious and generous in his support for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. President Biden said,
I promise I will be the best volunteer that the Kamala and Walz campaign have ever seen.
He praised Kamala Harris effusively, saying,
Selecting Kamala was the best decision I made in my career. She’s tough and has enormous integrity. She will be respected by world leaders because she already is. She will be a president who puts her stamp on America’s future.
When cheers of “Thank you, Joe” erupted from the floor, Joe Biden re-directed those chants to “Thank you, Kamala.”
Joe Biden is a mensch. He could not have acted more honorably or selflessly. Even in his valedictory speech, he did his best to ensure that Kamala Harris will defeat Trump.
President’s Biden’s speech was fiery, passionate and—at times—righteously angry. (A few readers worried that he was “strident” or “just angry.”) But in his righteous anger, Biden was speaking hard truths that must never be forgotten:
This is the first presidential election since January 6—a day on which we almost lost everything.
Trump says he will be a dictator on day one. He means it.
No commander in chief should bow down to a dictator.
Trump is a liar.
When Trump left office NATO was in tatters.
Trump demonizes immigrants, saying that they will poison the blood of our nation.
President Biden reminded us what is at stake in in 2024 and beyond:
All of us carry a special obligation. We saved democracy in 2020 and now we must save it again in 2024.
In 2024, we need you to vote; we need you to keep the Senate, flip the House of Representatives, and need you to elect Kamala and Tim. They will continue to lead America forward.
Our best days are not behind us they are in front of us. And on this hot August night, democracy has prevailed and must be preserved.
Biden recounted the story of his decision to run in 2020 because of Trump's handling of the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia. Biden said,
Hate was on the march in America. Old ghosts in new garments. Giving oxygen to old forces that had long sought to destroy America — “there are very fine people on both sides” was the response from their president — but in an America where honesty, dignity, decency and hate has no safe harbor, I knew I had to run.
But Biden said that he also ran “to rebuild the middle class”—which he did through the most far-reaching legislative agenda in sixty-years. He gave Kamala due credit for her assistance in achieving success.
In touting his own accomplishments, Biden took several large swings at Trump, saying,
Donald Trump promised infrastructure week every week for four years and he never built a damn thing!
Trump killed the strongest bipartisan border security bill in the history of the nation. He asked for Republican Senators to kill the bill in order to help Trump politically. He put Trump first and America last. Border encounters have dropped by 50% in the last few months--fewer than when Trump left office.
Biden also predicted that Trump would regret the words of Justice Alito in the Dobbs decision, saying,
Justice Alito wrote, “Women are not without electoral or political power.” No kidding!
Donald Trump is going to find out the power of women in 2024.
I am running out of time to get this edition out the door, I will simply highlight additional notable comments:
More children die of gun violence than any other cause. It is time to ban assault weapons and demand universal background checks.
Americans should have the freedom to love who you love.
Women should have the freedom to choose.
We must surge food assistance into Gaza now. We must deliver a ceasefire and end this war! Those protestors out in the street have a point—a lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.
The program before Joe Biden’s speech
The choreography of speakers and pre-recorded stories in the run-up to Joe Biden’s speech was brilliant. I wish I could give credit to everyone who spoke because every speaker is deserving of recognition. Of particular note:
A surprise appearance by Kamala Harris to acknowledge Joe Biden’s speech on Monday. Her brief appearance gave us a prelude of the absolute joy and positivity she will exude when she gives her acceptance speech.
Jill Biden was genuine, generous in her praise of Kamala Harris, and loving in comments about Joe.
Ashley Biden was a revelation. Joe Biden’s daughter gave a moving tribute to the genuine love in the Biden family. She said she was confident Democrats will defeat Trump because “my father has shown us the way.” Beautiful!
Raphael Warnock is a force of nature. His speech was exhilarating.
Hillary Clinton—I had to step away from Hillary’s speech to attend an emergency Board meeting, but my wife and Managing Editor watched Hillary’s speech and writes,
Hillary’s speech at the Democratic National Convention was inspiring, emotional, and stirring. She made me proud to be a Democrat, and proud to be a woman. She convinced me that now is our time. Soon there will be a woman in the office of the President of the United States. And we will finally have broken through that glass ceiling. Thank you, Hillary. For everything. We will "keep on going!"
Other outstanding speeches included:
Shawn Fain, President of the UAW, who gave a rousing, profane, in-your-face speech that called Trump a “scab” for laughing at Elon Musk’s firing of workers who tried to unionize at Tesla.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continued her transformation into a party leader who is a team player while pushing the party to more progressive positions.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett was particularly effective in humanizing Kamala Harris. Crockett told a touching story in which Kamala Harris sensed Crockett’s emotional distress and asked, “What’s wrong.” Crockett broke down in tears as Kamala hugged her. It was their first meeting!
Steve Kerr, the coach of the NBA Warrior and USA Men’s Basketball Team was earnest, effective, plain spoken, and positive.
Compare Trump's bored and boring speech today in Pennsylvania
Trump gave a speech in York, Pennsylvania. His handlers clearly browbeat him into “sticking to the script” as written on the teleprompter. Trump complied, but he was bored and boring.
Watch these clips to understand the trajectories of the respective GOP and Democratic candidates. Trump is diminished, defeated, and irrelevant. Check out any one of the clips below:
Trump is tired, bored, and reading like he has been chastised by his campaign
Trump dwells on "Crooked Joe Biden" and Hunter Biden
Trump reading teleprompter like he is in a hostage video
Other suggested reading for today
A theme on the first night of the convention was the threat Trump poses to democracy. Several speakers touched on the subject, which will continue to receive attention each night. See Dennis Aftergut and Austin Sarat in The Bulwark, Don’t Put an Insurrectionist in Charge of the Insurrection Act.
And Paul Krugman of the NYTimes gave the antithesis of the WaPo’s nasty editorial that wrongly portrayed Kamala Harris’s economic proposals as “gimmicks.” See Paul Krugman, NYTimes op-ed, Kamalanomics, Revealed: A Solid Center-Left Agenda. (Accessible to all.)
Krugman writes,
Harris actually outlined her economic proposals, rather than veering off onto topics like who has the biggest crowds and how windmills are killing birds. For another, she doesn’t seem to have said anything demonstrably untrue — a sharp contrast with Trump, who lied or distorted the facts about twice per minute during an event at Mar-a-Lago. [¶]
Harris staked out a moderately center-left position, not too different from President Biden’s original Build Back Better agenda, which he was able to implement only in part because in an evenly divided Senate, Joe Manchin had an effective veto.
Krugman has some disagreements with Kamala Harris’s policies, but he gives a much more balanced view of what she proposed.
Concluding Thoughts
One night down, three to go. It was a terrific start. During a night of many standout speeches, it is Joe Biden’s words that will echo through history. “America, I gave my best for you.”
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Searching for C/2021 S3 PANSTARRS
I set out to photograph Comet C/2021 S3, which arrived in our solar system from the Oort Cloud. The comet traveled trillions of miles before being captured by our sun’s gravity well. It passed within the inner orbits of the planets of our solar system (in February 2024) before beginning its long elliptical orbit for a return to the inner solar system in the year 4214 (or 2,190 years from now).
When I took the photo below, I assumed the lonely traveler was too dim to detect with my telescope and camera.
In the photo below, I removed the starfield and Comet C/2021 S3 lept into view. Sometimes, we have to filter out the noise to find what we are looking for. That process was at work at the Democratic convention on Monday evening.
Joe Biden was fired up and ready to go, not angry and bitter. You nailed it Rob: Joe Biden is a mensch. On a scale that I certainly haven't seen in my lifetime. And it was righteous that the convention broke out in a thundering extended round of "Thank you, Joe." What an incredible first term. Nothing close to it in history. Now it is in our hands to win and seal the deal for Joe Biden. We owe him this victory.
It was an evening of emotion, with love and gratitude for President Biden, and for myself, in addition to the quote from "American Anthem," I was deeply moved by his remarks: "It has been the honor of a lifetime. I love my job, but I love my country more." And with grace and dignity, he handed off the potential future Presidency to Harris and Walz, stating that "I promise I will be the best volunteer that the Kamala and Walz campaign have ever seen."
As you wrote,
"It was a terrific start. During a night of many standout speeches, it is Joe Biden’s words that will echo through history. “America, I gave my best for you.”"