UNCONVENTIONAL! or ZOOMA ZOOM ZOOM IN THE BOOM BOOM ROOM!
ITEM: The Democrats have staged the first ever Democratic National Convention held entirely on Zoom.
Although I did not watch it, I shall nevertheless blog my opinions about it.
1. Judging from the highlights reels, it went reasonably well. So much so that some people have suggested they should do it this way from now on - or at least the roll call. I don't think that will happen, unless COVID-19 never goes away ever again. But I never watch conventions live anyway (the highlights reel is plenty convention for me … obviously), so it doesn’t make a huge difference to me.
2. Vox has listed the winners and losers of each night here, here and here, if you’re interested.
3. A lot of people have complained about how AOC only got 60 seconds of air time, though she used them well. And they have a point. Matthew Yglesias wrote a good piece about how the Democratic National Convention speaker list was more about celebrating past glories than looking to the party’s future, which has to deal with a far more diverse, complex and polarized voter landscape than ever before. AOC and the Squad are a lot more attuned to that landscape than (say) Bill Clinton.
There are probably decent tactical reasons for focusing on the elder statesmen, and they did balance it out with a lot of more ordinary speakers like Philonise Floyd, Kristin Urquiza and lots of young people.
4. People have also complained that John Kasich got air time at all (and more than AOC did). I do understand the reason for it. Kasich was the only sane guy running against Trump in 2016, and he’s the face of establishment Republicans who are dismayed at the fact that their party has been hijacked by Trump and QAnon, but still need a good reason besides that to swallow their pride and vote Demo.
And, you know, maybe it says a lot that for many Repubs, Trump’s batshit presidency isn’t enough reason to vote Biden/Harris - to say nothing of the fact that the evolution of the GOP to the Trump/QAnon White Party is a monster of the GOP’s own making. So their dismay is kinda disingenuous, but then I’ve learned in the last 20 years never to underestimate people’s capacity for self-delusion.
And anyway, a vote’s a vote, so I can’t blame the Demos for reaching out to every possible voter bloc. Still, I’m not sure Kasich is the person to make that case. Maybe Rick Wilson would have been more fun?
5. Anyway, I have to say that the Demos managed to pull off a remarkable feat - a Zoom convention with no major hiccups and an impressive line-up that arguably worked better in a virtual setting than it would have in a packed convention hall.
6. It will be interesting to see how the GOP convention goes. They’re sticking to a live event, and even with social distancing and masks, I can’t imagine that will end well.
7. Also, it’s interesting to me that both conventions serve as a remarkable metaphor for both parties - one embraces new technology and innovation to adapt to an emergency situation and ensure maximum safety, while the other clings to a decades-old format in denial of the same situation and thus puts lives at risk just so their leader can have an adoring audience to cheer him and feed his ego.
I mean, which one would you trust with the future direction of the country?
Leave meeting,
This is dF
This entry was originally posted at https://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1648424.html. Please comment there using OpenID.