Democrats Win the Convention

First Read: “Hillary Clinton’s speech Thursday accepting her party’s presidential nomination was OK; she is never going to rhetorically outshine President Obama or her husband Bill Clinton. But what she and Democrats did achieve was produce a powerful convention that contrasted with Donald Trump’s last week in Cleveland.”

“While the GOP convention had high-profile no-shows (the Bushes, Mitt Romney, John Kasich) and a speech by a candidate who didn’t endorse Trump (Ted Cruz), the Democrats trotted out Obama, Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, and yes Bernie Sanders, who all testified on Hillary Clinton’s behalf. While the GOP convention focused on police, the Democrats featured both police and the mothers of Trayvon Martin and Sandra Bland. And while the GOP convention highlighted the violence that immigrants had committed and Benghazi, the Democrats introduced Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim-American Army captain, who delivered arguably the week’s most stinging critique against Trump.”

“In totality, the Democratic convention itself was flawless — with two exceptions: 1) the Debbie Wasserman Schultz mess; and 2) the few dozen Sanders delegates who disrupted Clinton last night. Taken together, the two conventions matched the persona of their nominee: Cleveland was chaotic; Philadelphia was disciplined.”