With the Democratic Convention in full swing, now is as good a time as any for Democrats to shine. Political conventions are, after all, the big show. The event is designed expressly for one mammoth group hug when all differences are put aside, and brotherly love fills the United Center in Chicago. But unity may be a bridge too far for a group of people who don't seem to like each other very much.
There are several reasons why a warm and fuzzy kumbaya moment is missing at the DNC. Protests, resentments, and power plays top the list.
The Chicago setting, replete with angry people shouting from bullhorns in front of boarded-up businesses, has often been compared to 1968 — and for good reason. Everyone remembers the ugly scenes from that traumatic year, but who remembers the electoral outcome?
Let's just say it didn't end well for Democrat Hubert Humphrey.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd may have put her finger on the pulse of what's wrong with the party festivities this year when she predicted, "It’s going to be a glorious coronation — except that everyone’s mad at one another.” The lady has a point: The top party apparatchiks shoved aside the will of the rank and file by staging a political coup. Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has been handed the top spot and the sitting president has been put out to pasture, the deed may be done, but the aftertaste is bitter.
Proletariat whining at Democratic nobility is only one element of discontent. Despite all the bouquets and lauds thrown at the president's feet, resentments lingered as Joe and Jill Biden were ushered out of the spotlight at the Democratic Convention on Monday (Aug. 19). Whether the dismissal was done with grace and diplomacy or abrupt and cold calculation, the boot is still the boot, and Biden loyalists have not gotten over the sting of a political junta.
Then There’s the Big Divide
Last but not least are the various rabid anti-Israel groups vying for as much attention as they can garner from the news media at the Democratic Convention. While Biden previously managed to give the pro-Palestinian movement lip service, many middle-of-the-road Democrats worry that Harris is more than happy to go further, and the stench of antisemitism will be hard to wash away.
Dozens of anti-Israeli organizations make up the mayhem going on outside the United Center, but the most dangerous of these is likely the Uncommitted National Movement (UNM). Self-styled as the “campaign driving the anti-war, pro-peace movement,” the UNM is an initiative paid for by Arab Americans for Progress. The sister of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Layla Elabed, serves as a pivotal powerbroker for the movement. These are the people behind the tens of thousands of “uncommitted” write-in primary voters. Harris’ VP pick, Tim Walz, has already met with the group. “But now that Harris is running for the presidency, the movement is pushing her to pledge fealty to their cause,” noted The Free Press.
Democratic Convention -- Can Somebody Give Me a Kumbaya?
Abraham Lincoln famously quoted the Bible in his “house divided” speech, which eloquently spoke of the impossibility of the slave and free movements to coexist in the United States. The Scripture Lincoln referred to is found in the gospel of Luke, which reads, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls” (Luke 11:17, NKJV). The biblical context is that a house (or kingdom) cannot stand when there is division within.
Thus, the parallel: If the Democratic Party is not up to the job of reconciling these many factions — rank and file versus party power players, resentful Biden loyalists, and the pro-Palestinian movement — one wonders if it can succeed no matter whose name tops the ticket.
Political party conventions are generally not the time or place to work out substantial differences of opinion, considering one of their essential functions is to display party unity. It may be that these issues won’t matter to Democratic voters in the long run, and they’ll pull the lever or mark the bubble next to anyone’s name so long as it doesn’t end with Trump. But going into the final stages of a national election with so much inner-party turmoil is not optimal and will likely make for a bumpy ride toward Election Day.
