Going into the last day, I’m inclined to say that the convention has amazing momentum, and I hope that it’s not going to get fucked up. The speakers have all been on message. A clear pro-woman case is being made, which makes me really happy. But what’s really jumping out at me is that the Democrats are showing an uncharacteristic but hopefully soon to be characteristic amount of determination to win this thing. The media manufactured this PUMA story in hopes of making it true, and the party is pushing back with a strong show of unity and purpose. I’m impressed.
What’s especially interesting is how humility is being deployed nicely, which I think is a major strength for a number of reasons. Like Ezra said about Kerry’s speech:
he message of Kerry’s speech could be summed up like this: “From one flip-flopper who would say anything to get elected to another, Mr. McCain.” Kerry was brutal.
Here’s the thing---the media narrative about Democrats is that they’re out-of-touch elitists. And too big for their britches. And they think they’re better than you. And you can’t fight back against those sort of accusations by being defensive. But what you can do, and what I’m seeing, is that you can simply behave in ways that appear humble and let your actions speak for you. I think that’s how Al Gore regained his reputation. For those of us who already liked him, the scenes in An Inconvenient Truth where you see Gore crouched in planes or walking through security like everyone else, where he’s a humble everyday man who has gone on this mission, well, those scenes were a little corny. But for people trained to see him as a yappy elitist who thinks he’s so much better than everyone else, those scenes brought him down to earth.