First, on the speech … rock solid. I doubt her advisors and press people thought it could have gone much better. At the beginning I thought it might be understated somehow. Not bad at all, but understated, a bit quieter than we expect from these speeches. But as it progressed I realized she was developing an emotional audience, in person and on television. This came through later in the speech when she ranged from intense to boisterous to categorical. It worked with a mixture of intensity and authenticity. There’s no point in my doing more interpreting of the speech. It hit every point and hit every one well. The most telling comments were those from Republican commentators who couldn’t find their way around saying that it was a strong speech before, of course, reassuring listeners that Harris is obviously terrible and they agree with her about nothing.
Some other points are less obvious.
Tonight’s speakers didn’t necessarily have the star power of earlier nights — MacBath, Kinzinger, Panetta, Cooper et al. But each hit a critical demographic-thematic point essential for this night when viewership will be at its highest.
On its face, to note just one example, why were we hearing from Leon Panetta, a storied but today little heard from former congressman and high-ranking national security official? Panetta was never known as a powerful or terribly compelling public speaker. He was a tough and able administrator across numerous positions in the executive branch after years in Congress. His tone and mode were more avuncular kibitzer. But he delivered a powerful endorsement of Harris’ national security credentials. He vouched for her in a way that connected more powerfully than I would have imagined.
What I took from this is a sense of focus and discipline from the people running Harris’ convention and campaign — not getting lost in glitz or stagecraft but defining a specific list of critical deliverables and then methodically checking them off the list. This was going on in the midst of what was unquestionably a high-powered and high-energy event. There was a mix of discipline and ability there that could not fail to have an impact but was also, in the intensity of the final day of a convention, easy to miss.
The other nights had some of this too. But it came through to me most clearly tonight.
I continue to think there’s more going on in this campaign than much of the political and commenting class has yet understood or reckoned with.
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