Big money donors and Democrat workers took the opportunity to press the socially-distanced flesh with the party's leaders as the DNC held its annual holiday season bash on Tuesday evening. While these events are often mini rallies that preach to the choir, this year added a little splash of something different: Delusion.
Instead of lamenting recent losses and touting better days ahead, the event held at the Hotel Washington was in a full state of denial. From claims that Joe Biden is the "perfect" president to grandiose predictions of election victory ahead, one wonders whether this shindig was crafted for the dedicated followers or the next day's headline news.
Rainbows and Unicorns
Opening the celebration for the 400 attendees (outdoors, naturally), newly ensconced DNC Chair Jaime Harrison set the tone for the evening. He began, "I'm not exaggerating when I say the Biden-Harris administration has delivered one of the most consequential first years of any presidential administration ever."
The word "consequential" can cover a lot of sins. Should Mr. Harrison be referring to the highest rate of inflation in 40 years, soaring crime rates, or shockingly low approval on the handling of just about every significant issue, then this presidency is, indeed, consequential. But the DNC chair was not to be outdone.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took to the stage to deliver perhaps the most startling line of the evening. She said:
"Our country could not be better served than with this most experienced and capable hands than yours, President Biden … Just perfect. The timing couldn't be better."
The idea of Joe Biden as the "perfect" president might surprise American voters who, according to the RealClearPolitics average, put him underwater by seven and a half points. In fact, on almost every issue of note, the public gives the commander-in-chief a negative rating. But perhaps Pelosi means that he is "perfect" for the Democratic Party?
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Man of the Hour?
Biden himself delivered an address that only the party faithful could be expected to buy. With blustering confidence, he predicted midterm election victory is all but inevitable, saying, “Now we look at 2022; I want to tell my Republican friends: Get ready pal, you're in for a problem." He reiterated, "Let me say this again for the press: We're going to win in 2022."
Biden appeared to base this prognostication on the idea of message clarity, insisting that only his party is being loud and clear with the folks back home. "We know what we're for. But Republicans don't seem to be for anything. Name me something they are for - they're against everything,” he decried.
No party would be complete without at least one marked jab against Donald Trump, and Joe Biden wrapped his criticism in what may well be a platform of the upcoming congressional elections. He warned:
"The right to vote is under unrelenting assault by Republican governors, attorney generals, secretaries of state, state legislators. They're following my predecessor deep into the abyss.
"It's a sinister combination of voter suppression and election subversion. It's un-American, it's undemocratic, it's unpatriotic, and sadly, it is not unprecedented now."
For External Use Only
The lobbyists, donors, and party workers are intelligent people. They possess enough political savvy to know when a message is meant for them and when it is for the purpose of spin and headlines. This event was for external use only; a way of signaling through the Fourth Estate that Democrats are united and confident.
But the American public is also smart. Decades of reading between the lines, deciphering news broadcasts, and filtering propaganda have trained them in the ways of Washington, D.C. While the activists and blue-checked Twitterati may faithfully echo the message as it is handed down, it is a brave – or foolhardy – politico who thinks the modern voter swallows the spin.
~ Read more from Mark Angelides.
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