President Joe Biden waves during the Democratic National Convention Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
“This is going to be a great week,” Vice President Kamala Harris declared in an unexpected early appearance that brought down the house on Day One of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Harris was the reminder it didn’t matter that most of the Asian Americans you saw on your TV screen weren’t on the main stage, but in the cutaway shots watching the action.
Yes, that was California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the highest ranking Filipino American-elected in the nation’s most Asian state holding up a “Jill,” as in Biden, poster during the First Lady’s speech.
He’ll have his turn in the spotlight in the future. As governor of California? Or does he follow the footsteps of Harris nationally? And there was a flash frame of Democratic mainstay Rep. Doris Matsui of Calif., a former key Asian American inside the Clinton White House, on the screen during Hillary Clinton’s speech.
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My AAPI-dar was working sporadically looking for Asian presence, but who needs it when an AAPI is at the very top of an historical presidential ticket.
There’s the reason for all the exuberance. Harris, the country’s first Asian and Black woman ever to be vice president this week becomes the first woman to be nominated as the standard bearer for the Democratic Party.
“I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible President Joe Biden,” said Harris, who thanked the president for his leadership and lifetime of service, which includes stepping aside more than four weeks ago. For that, this was to be his night.
ADVERTISEMENTBut first, she looked at the diverse crowd and promised them that “this November, we will come together and declare with one voice, as one people, we are moving forward with optimism, hope and faith so guided by our love of country, knowing we have so much more in common than what separates us.”
President Joe Biden embraces Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris during the first day of Democratic National Convention, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
It was a mini “anti-politics of division” speech, policy be damned, give me joyful rhetoric. It set the tone for the huge convention crowd that responded with the kind of energy we haven’t seen since the Obama years.
And then we waited more than two hours for the Democrats to send out Joe Biden.
ADVERTISEMENTWaiting for Biden
Was this some left-handed honor? Sure, there were good speakers like Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) who gave a fiery speech in praise of the working class and how she would be proud to be a bartender again.
“There’s nothing wrong with working for a living,” AOC said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks during the Democratic National Convention Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
And there was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who got such sustained applause as she entered. We were all reminded how she came so close and how she should have been the Democratic woman to have broken the glass ceiling and beaten Trump in 2016.
When a strong Clinton from the podium excoriated the convicted Trump, convention goers spontaneously burst into a haunting refrain, only with the pronoun reversed: “Lock him up.”
Keep it classy, Democrats?
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waves at the Democratic National Convention, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Biden’s time, finally
If political conventions are really TV shows, Joe Biden didn’t even make prime time on his own night. On the West Coast maybe, but in the East, he was on after the late news.
It’s the way the last five weeks have gone for Biden, wrestling with the notion he’s past his prime.
Or maybe the lateness was intentional to show everyone, all his detractors, the ones who deftly pushed him to the side, that a Joe Biden “in full,” could still go nearly 50 minutes at the top of his game.
After an emotional introduction from his daughter Ashley, (“He’s still my best friend,” she said), Biden was wide awake for this moment, setting the record straight about what he’s done and what he’s yet to do.
“With a grateful heart, I stand before you now on this August night to report that democracy has prevailed, democracy has delivered, and now democracy must be preserved,” said Biden.
Delegates hold signs as President Joe Biden speaks during the first day of Democratic National Convention, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
For any doubts about the strength of our nation as a global leader, Biden lashed out at Putin by name. “He thought he’d take Kyiv in three days, not three years,” Biden said. Then he declared to big cheers, “Ukraine is still free.”
With protestors on the street on Day One, Biden wasn’t afraid to mention Gaza, and how he is trying to get a ceasefire in his remaining days.
But he saved his ire for Trump. The man who, as Biden said, promised infrastructure, but “never built a damn thing.”
Maybe his own ego?
And all while being the man who would destroy our nation.
“He’ll be a dictator on Day One, his words,” Biden said with zeal, “This sucker means it.”
On the border policy? Biden recounted how Trump killed the strongest bipartisan border deal in the history of the United States so he’d have something to run against. “Typically, Trump, once again putting himself first and America last,” Biden said.
It was an energized Biden, who had a few stumbles, but no one cared.
President Joe Biden waves on Day One of the Democratic National Convention, at the United Center, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024 in Chicago. (Mike Segar/Pool via AP)
He laughed it off. We all did, unlike the last few months when each word was scrutinized through an ageist filter.
But here he was more than functional and powerful, and about to let it go.
I’m sure it made some people wonder that if this Biden appeared at that debate June 27th, how we’d be having a totally different convention this week.
The one that was supposed to be, instead of the one that was meant to be.
Could Biden have commanded the same kind of love in the room, when seemingly the only one who wanted him to run are his opponents?
That’s how quickly politics changed in 2024. Everyone flip-flopped, and by all appearances, was just fine with the newfound shot of adrenaline Harris provided.
In the run-up to the speech, it was more than a suggestion that Biden was angry at how things went. “That’s not true,” Biden said. “I love my job, but I love my country more.”
He even spoke glowingly of Harris and Walz and said he’d be their No.1 volunteer.
Still, whatever anger he had must have dissipated as he stood in the room and sensed there was more love for him leaving than staying.
It set up the final portion of his speech, the acceptance, the close that gave closure.
Biden’s best good night
From the lyrics of a song called “American Anthem,” Biden read aloud:
“The work and prayers of centuries have brought us to this day.
What shall our legacy be? What will our children say? Let me know in my heart when my days are through, America, America, I gave my best to you.”
President Joe Biden enters the stage to deliver a speech during the Democratic National Convention, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
There was nearly a full 30 seconds of applause, cheering and chanting, until Biden cut in.
“I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you for 50 years,” he confessed, then recollected how he was too young to be in the Senate because he wasn’t 30 yet, but now he was “too old to stay as president.”
That got a little laugh.
“But I hope you know I’m grateful I am to all of you,” Biden said. “I can honestly say, I’m more optimistic about the future than I was when I was elected as a 29-year-old United States Senator.”
And with that, Biden went from being “the” guy, to the guy who kept the door ajar with his foot, so he could hold it wide open for Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian woman, to walk through it. And make history.
Emil Guillermo is a columnist for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. He does a secret talk show on YouTube.com. Contact him at www.amok.com
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