With President Joe Biden giving the headline introduction, the first night of the Democratic convention looked like it was going to be about passing the torch. And it was — the Democrats on stage didn’t make that clear.
Biden’s address was delayed. It started around 11:30 p.m. ET, so late that some pundits decided the DNC Purposefully buried his speech (A theory denied by conference officials). When the president finally spoke, he completely avoided the obvious question raised by his presence: Why him and not him? Biden spent large chunks of the speech touting his own record in office, casting Harris as a champion of his legacy without spending a word explaining why he needed a champion in the first place.
In this, Biden was hardly alone. Throughout the night, Democrats made sure not to acknowledge the unprecedented move that resulted in a sitting president giving the leadoff speech instead of concluding the convention. The convention essentially worked as if Biden were a second-term president legally barred from running for office, not a The president is pushed away by his own party.
It may seem awkward. But it was probably the best possible way to handle the situation.
The elephant in the donkey’s house?
A political convention is, in theory, a multi-day event for the hosting party. They should be carefully calculated to present the party in its best light by highlighting its best issues, most talented politicians and clear points of unity.
At this point, Democrats have a pretty good story to tell. Harris is winning the election, buoyed by a level of enthusiasm among the party’s base Barack Obama has not been seen since topping the ticket. The economy is strong, crime is down, and no American soldiers are dying in large-scale foreign wars. Things are so good, in fact, that electoral models and prediction markets alike have him as a slight favorite to beat Donald Trump in November.
The last thing you want to do is destroy the party by dwelling on the recent past — especially the nasty, still-fresh infighting over whether to replace Biden with Harris. Yet can Democrats really avoid admitting that the party made history by swapping the presidential nominee after the primary?
Yes, it turns out – they can.
For most of the night, it felt normal. The programming focuses on the choices voters face in November, contrasting Harris (good!) and Trump (bad!). There was little need to be on Biden because he is not on the ballot.
It only started to get weird as the night moved toward Biden’s address, with speeches from Biden-world figures: Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, First Lady Jill Biden and the president’s daughter Ashley. there is Report The president has been angry and upset about the whole thing, and it’s hard to imagine that pushing his speech so late didn’t feel like salt in the wound.
“It’s horrible. He literally set up a campaign and handed it to them – should they drop him from prime time? Grabs a Biden aide Axios reporter Alex Thompson.
Yet when the time came, Biden stuck to the script. He certainly talked about himself, but didn’t say or do anything that could be perceived as obvious sour grapes about Harris. He, like everyone else, ignored the inheritance question. And the problem more or less took care of itself.
The nod reflects Biden’s more general political style.
“Biden really built and relied on a coalition rather than a cult of personality, to a far greater degree than almost any modern POTUS,” wrote Georgetown political scientist Matt Glassman. “He’s not beloved in the way that Obama or Clinton or Reagan or, well, Trump was. This is found in his approach to policy-making, his approach to public relations and his relationship with party factions.”
Arguably, this is why Biden caved to partisan pressure while Trump would not (hereafter Access Hollywood tape, say, or the January 6 Capitol riots). But it also explains why Biden can resist the temptation to impeach himself and proceed as if it never happened.
He is ultimately a team man.
