Having observed a good portion of both political conventions that transpired over the last two weeks, I would like to weigh in with my impressions.
Firstly, I would like to say that I am biased because I'm a Democrat. However, I am also a political junkie who keeps an open mind and tries not to be influenced by pundits' talking points.
Watching the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio was difficult for me. The doom and gloom presented as well as pure vitriol directed at Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton made my stomach churn.
It all started Monday night with Pat Smith, a mother who lost her son in Benghazi saying she blamed Hillary Clinton. I have seen many RNC conventions but never have I heard calls from the convention floor to lock up the opposing candidate as transpired after Smith's moving testimony.
There were seven congressional hearings including and an 11-hour grilling of Secretary Clinton on Benghazi and they came up with nothing on her. And whether you agree or not with the FBI and State Department's assessment of no criminal wrong doing with use of a personal email server, this seemed mean spirited and beyond the pale to me.
Conventions are supposed to present their candidate's vision for the country and what they will do to get there. I heard very little of that from the speakers or the nominee especially on economic issues. It was more about tearing down Hillary Clinton than building up Donald Trump.
I still don't know how he will make America great again. And one could say the whole four days were more about how bad things were in the country (something the DNC disputed) and how we should be afraid, very afraid of ISIS and civil unrest, and crimes committed by illegal immigrant criminals (which are actually are a very low percentage comparatively). It was midnight, not morning in America and Gotham City, not a shining city on a hill.
In a blog about the 2012 RNC, I praised the speeches of Governor Susana Martinez (NM) and Secretary Condoleezza Rice. Neither woman was there this time. Then I remembered this year's GOP nominee had insulted Martinez personally and Rice's boss, President George W. Bush. They are not the only prominent Republican members not to attend. Two sitting presidents and one vice president plus the last two nominees were not there as were not many elected GOP officials including the sitting Governor of the state and former primary rival, John Kasich, where the convention was held.
None of the speeches I heard reached the levels of these two strong women in 2012. That is not to say there were not good speakers. Fox political pundit Laura Ingraham gave a rousing battle cry to the GOP holding out their support of Trump (she was criticized later on social media for apparently giving a one arm Hitler-like salute at the end. I think it was unintentional and we are all a little too jittery.)
Senator Joni Ernst (IA) spoke well about tenacity, freedom, her life story and defeating Clinton but it took nine minutes before she even mentioned the nominee's name. Also, she spoke after 11 p.m. on Monday to a half filled hall. Poor planning. Maybe Trump was angry that she refused to be considered for VP. Many had left after Trump's wife, Melania gave her speech which later was said to have plagiarized First Lady, Michelle Obama.
Ironically, Melania's speech was one of the most uplifting ones of the evening. Now I know why. It was the words of Michelle Obama. I was hoping for more personal anecdotes and stories about her relationship with the Donald but maybe she is a private person.
The Trump kids (Don Jr., Tiffany, Eric and Ivanka) did well in their respective speeches. They all were good teleprompter readers who showed how much they loved and respected their father. Ivanka even came out for equal pay for women and paid family leave. Is she a true Republican? Sounds like a Democrat to me. I never heard her father mention those issues and they are not in the GOP platform.
The most frightening speech to me was delivered by former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, by not so much what he said but how he said it. He was screaming and lecturing the Black Lives Matter movement. I was hoping he wouldn't have a heart attack.
And as Governor Chris Christie (NJ) was prosecuting Hillary Clinton and having the crowd shout "guilty", I was thinking: is he the best person to be doing this what with his Bridegate scandal?
The small number of celebrities (Scott Baio, Antonio Sabato Jr., Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty and Kimberlin Brown) that spoke were unmemorable.
The most surprising speech was that of Senator Ted Cruz ((TX). It was expected that he would endorse Trump. Instead he told Republicans to vote their conscience. He got booed. That took guts.
The sad thing for the GOP is that Ted Cruz's speech overshadowed the VP nominee, Governor Mike Pence's big moment. Pence actually gave a good speech although he is not the most exciting of speakers. It actually had substance and policies in it.
The crowning spectacle of the convention was supposed to be the acceptance speech of the nominee, Donald J. Trump. I have to admit during the primaries I was glued to my TV listening to him at his rallies and press conferences and TV talk shows and watching to see what outrageous thing he would say next. He is entertaining. It is not a mystery why he won. He is a celebrity with charisma. According to his fans, he says what other people are afraid to say.
However, I am now at a point where I don't want to watch him. I don't know if it's because I'm sick of hearing his racist rhetoric or his boasting, or his lies.
His speech at the convention was excruciating to me. I could barely sit though it. It was too long. I kept praying for it to end. It was dark, smug, and insulting. I learned nothing new from him as to how he will implement his plans. I really cannot remember anything he said. No inspiring rhetoric. Doom and gloom and fear.
How he got any kind of bump from that convention is baffling to me. I think Hillary and the Democrats observed its darkness and decided to present the opposite approach.
There could not have been more contrasting conventions. Even with the Democratic National Committee hacked email scandal threatening to widen the rift between Bernie Sanders' supporters and Hillary Clinton, the Democrats came together and presented a more positive, hope filled vision for the future while they defended America's greatness right now. I never saw so many American flags and cries of USA at any DNC before.
As for diversity the DNC out of 4,766 delegates had 2,887 women, 1,182 blacks (as opposed to 18 delegates of color at the RNC), 292 Asians, 747 Latinos, 633 LGBTQ, and 147 Native Americans.
There were actually more DNC women speakers than men: 119 out of 236 (50.4 percent) as opposed to 26.1 percent at the RNC.
There were many more big name celebrities and entertainers performing and speaking in Philadelphia, PA (home of the DNC). The convention was a huge success and I was proud of my home city.
And the list of star political speakers was incredible: President Barack Obama (who gave what some have called the best speech of his life), former President Bill Clinton (who humanized his wife as a nominee spouse should), VP Joe Biden, VP nominee Tim Kaine, former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (who called Trump a con man), Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders (who came out strong for his rival), and First Lady Michelle Obama (who electrified the crowd and united the party.)
But one could say that the real stars were the ordinary citizens who shared their stories and how Hillary's personal actions impacted them. The ones who touched me the most were Lauren Manning, a 9/11 victim who was burnt over 80 percent of her body who said that then Senator Clinton visited her every week in the hospital; Joe Sweeny, a 9/11 NYPD First Responder; the Mothers of the Movement whose children were killed by gun violence; Sarah McBride, the first transgender speaker at any major political convention; and Mr. and Mrs. Khizr Khan, Gold Star parents whose son was killed in Iraq, whose passionate rebuke to Donald Trump has ignited a firestorm.
The videos presented at the convention were produced well and were quite touching especially the ones for President Obama and Hillary Clinton (how can you go wrong with Morgan Freeman narrating?)
But the highlight for me was Hillary's acceptance speech. It was history in the making: the first woman nominee of a major political party. And after a moving introduction from her daughter, Chelsea, she delivered. She laid out her plans. She highlighted differences between her and her opponent. She talked about with no glass ceiling the sky is the limit and love trumps hate. And America is great now. She had many fine lines to walk. Realism but optimism. A steady economic recovery but further to go. A smart approach to terrorism. Inclusion, not division of Americans. Appealing to both Bernie progressives and disenfranchised Republicans who don't like Trump.
She was brilliant and struck the right tone. As she has said in the past, speaking is not her forte. But I thought it was the best speech of her career. It capped off what had been an amazing four days of showing the real Hillary who has devoted her life to public service.
Clinton has gotten a bigger convention bounce than Trump and I think that is because the DNC was a more positive and uplifting experience than the RNC. Maybe Americans prefer optimism to pessimism. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was a tale of two conventions.