A convention without a roaring crowd, confetti cannons, funny hats — a gathering in name only — delivered the Democratic presidential nomination to Joe Biden, the culmination of a lifelong pursuit that comes at a time of crisis. Here are key takeaways from the final night of the Democratic National Convention. BIDEN MET THE MOMENT Biden needed an eloquent, emotional, clear speech accepting the Democratic nomination to dispel the criticisms lobbed at him almost daily by President Donald Trump, and even to allay the concerns of some of his supporters about whether, at 77, he was up to the job. He delivered. His performance in many ways sounded more like the Biden of his early Senate career, when he was considered one of the finest orators in his party, than the Biden in winter who at times has been halting in speeches and debates. He offered contrasts of character, and policy, with Trump, pledging to unify a country that has grown more polarized during Trump’s time in office. It was clear Biden wanted voters to end the night seeing optimism and possibility, even as he continued his dire warnings about Trump, whose name he did not speak. “If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst,” Biden countered. “I’ll be an ally of the light, not the darkness.” It’s a delicate balance, because Biden has spent his campaign sounding the alarm about Trump. But his purpose Thursday was to reframe his experience in government and his personal family suffering into a would-be president that Americans can find as an appealing alternative, not just a necessary one. On the pandemic and a wounded economy: “The president still does not have a plan. Well, I do.” On the pain of those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19: “I know what it’s like.” It wasn’t new for Biden to say he wants a country “united in our pursuit of a more perfect union.” But it was a key moment for him to project that message to a new audience. “Easily the best and most affecting speech Biden has ever delivered,” historian Michael Beschloss said on Twitter. FAITH AT THE FOREFRONT Biden and the Democrats also put faith at the forefront, making a point not to cede the issue to Republicans. Sen. Chris Coons, who represents Biden’s home state of Delaware, spoke of a “private” faith that is personally defining for Biden, a practicing Roman Catholic. Coons said the nominee “believes in the power of prayer” and in “the dignity of all people” because they are “made in the image of God.” Simone Campbell, of the social justice activist group Nuns on the Bus, delivered the invocation. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms praised the late civil rights icon John Lewis as a “God-fearing man.” Another segment from historian Jon Meacham leaned on Martin Luther King Jr.’s final sermon. A video from a CNN town hall in February showed Biden explaining his faith as he discussed the 2015 killings of nine Black men and women by a white supremacist at a historically Black church in Charleston. “They forgave him,” Biden said of the victims’ families. “The ultimate act of Christian charity. They forgave him.” Trump maintains an overwhelming advantage among white evangelicals. But marginal shifts […]
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