Image by Dana Stewart
Hillary heats up Day 2 of Democratic National Convention
By Dana Stewart
Published: August 27th, 2008 | 10:10am
Sweat is what I’ll remember about the second day of the Democratic National Convention. Temperatures reached into the 90s, and everyone was glad for the over-cooling of the convention’s main site, the frosty Pepsi Center. Given that I’d spent almost seven hours in the place on Monday, and even though it was steamy today, I spent more time out and about in Denver instead of watching the hours of nonenthralling speeches that preceded Tuesday’s headliner,
Hillary Clinton.
In the early afternoon, I stopped by the “Big Tent,” a hut for bloggers and new-media folks, with a panel forum sponsored by the “Campaign for America’s Future” (a typically ambiguous phrase for this event, as far as I can tell). In the Big Tent, I caught the last half of a speech by Huffington Post founder and syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington. Huffington, looking smashing as always, espoused some views on “truth in journalism” that seemed a bit controversial, even to me. Essentially, she said that there is often only one truth in a story and journalists just need to find it. And once they do, they should feel no obligation to present both sides of an issue. In the example she gave, that of environmentalists vs. global warming deniers, this theory might hold true; as a blanket statement about journalism, however, it’s somewhat suspicious.
Later, I happened to walk by the MSNBC stage near Denver’s Union Station, where Chris Matthews was hosting his show, Hardball, live in front of a loudly opinionated audience. It would seem that today was the day for acrimony; at the MSNBC set, all I could hear was chants of “9-11 was an inside job!” over and over, and all the conventioneers had to make their way past the vociferous and unsettling anti-choice protesters, with their huge posters of medical waste (“dead babies”) and bullhorns funneling their moral opinions out onto the 16th Street Mall. The gals from Code Pink, ever optimistic, tried their best to neutralize the effect of the scare-tactic anti-choice people with their characteristic jubilance and pink feather boas. I also discovered the official Press Lounge, an oasis of couches, bar pretzels, and free Captain Morgan. I abstained, for today, but I sure am glad I know where to find it now.
Even though the heat was making everyone move a little bit slower, the excitement in the Pepsi Center was palpable as the evening wore on. The role of both Clintons at this convention has been an overriding question on all the pundits’ lips, and it seemed no one really knew what the effect of Hillary’s speech on Tuesday night would be. Fittingly, the theme of the day was split evenly between “Women” (today being the 88th anniversary of the Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote) and “The Economy.” On the “Women” front, the Democrats had a parade of women politicians, my favorite being Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin. On the “Economy” front, they had a number of speakers echo the exact same phrase: “We can’t afford four more years of (fill in the blank).” I suppose, just like the multiplication tables, drilling and rote memorization does work, sometimes.
Other favorites include Illinois State Representative Rahm Emanuel, who, apart from representing the North Side of Chicago, holds a soft spot in my heart for also being one of the few males to attend my alma mater, Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Emanuel did his best to take a few humorous pokes at the Republicans (“John McCain wants to dig us further into this economic hole with George Bush’s shovel!”), perhaps responding to the TV pundits’ claim that Democrats are not “fighting dirty” enough. The jabs at Bush continued, though never reaching true vitriol, and the program was utterly boring until almost 8:30 p.m. (including keynoter and former Governor of Virginia Mark Warner, whose predictable words landed with a resounding thud), when Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer took the stage. Schweitzer brought the house down with his folksy, Western-style oration, and managed to bring just about the entire crowd of more than 15,000 to their feet. After the joy of Schweitzer’s speech, a surprisingly effective short film narrated by Hillary’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton, preceded headliner Hillary Clinton. Chelsea then introduced her mom in person, much to the jubilation of the majority of delegates on the floor. Clinton’s speech was good, if not electrifying, and it’s my opinion that she did as good a job as anyone could of convincing her still-disgruntled supporters to follow her to Obama’s side.
I made it an early night, however, in order to be sharp for the third day; speakers to include Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Chicago Mayor Daley, and the somewhat unpredictable Bill Clinton — apparently, the Democrats were saving most of the fireworks for Wednesday.
Issue #35
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