Dem convention, night three: Warren, Hillary, Obama, and Harris

Here’s the live feed for those watching on a computer. Read on.

Can’t sum up the first two nights of the program any better than this:

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If that trend holds, this evening we should get Elizabeth Warren discussing racial authenticity, Hillary musing on being a good loser, and Obama praising the virtues of small government. Then Harris will appear to show off the magic that earned her four percent of the vote in the primary before she bowed out.

Sounds like O’s speech is going to be preachy even by his standards:

I know what you’re thinking and yes, it is strange that he’s paying tribute to the Founders as we’re wrapping up a summer of lefties defacing statues of slaveholders. But in fairness to him, he’s less of a fan of cancel culture than the party’s younger DSA cohort. As for our democracy supposedly being at stake, that would be a more effective pitch if Obama hadn’t already used it several times before:

Our democracy was at stake if we didn’t elect Ralph “Coonman” Northam governor of Virginia in 2017? If you say so, my dude.

Most of the speeches tonight are predictable. Warren will vouch for Biden’s progressive bona fides to court lefties. Obama will do a grander-scale version of Kasich’s “fork in the road” speech from a few nights ago, offering a choice between neoliberal light and Trumpian darkness. Harris will do the standard VP thing of gushing over the nominee and unloading on the other party’s candidate, plus some stuff about the women of color who paved the way for her to be on a major party’s ticket.

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Hillary is a little less predictable. She’ll make the same broad points as Obama about America emerging unrecognizable if it spends four more years under Trump’s influence, but the tone could be different. This is her I-told-you-so moment, says The Hill:

The live address, which will come just before Sen. Kamala Harris’s (D-Calif.) speech, will be forward-looking for the most part, with a we-could-have-done-this-better sentiment in the backdrop, according to Clinton allies.

“This is a chance I’m sure she’s been looking forward to for a very long time,” said one longtime Clinton ally. “I think she’s anxious to put this dark period behind us and get the nation back on track.”…

In many ways, say confidants and those who have worked for her, Clinton’s address on Wednesday night is also a personal story of a prominent public figure who could have been president but fell short.

“I’m sure it’s very surreal for her,” said one longtime aide. “In some ways, she’s still hurting. She thinks about all of these things all the time.”

The pathos. How many times will she mention Russia?

The last two nights have seen Dems roll out surprise guests in the form of people who are, or were, Republicans and who’ve crossed the aisle this year. If there are any more surprises in store, tonight’s the night we should have them, as night three is the evening for heavy hitters. I doubt Democrats want anyone overshadowing Biden on night four. If there’s a James Mattis or a Rex Tillerson in the pipeline, they’ll materialize this evening.

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Here’s the handy dandy Twitter widget for live commentary during the proceedings. The thread below is open for comments.

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David Strom 10:00 AM | April 16, 2024
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