Michelle Obama Showcased the Calm and Urgent Power of Pragmatism
It is so far a very different Democratic National Convention to the one convened four years ago in Philadelphia. It wasn't just that, courtesy of this very charming era in human history, no one could actually convene, and so there was all the less opportunity for moments of genuine human spontaneity. There was little chance, for instance, for any replica of the moment that occurred then between Bernie Sanders and his brother, Larry, who spoke on behalf of the Democrats Abroad delegation in 2016. He announced their delegates would go to Sanders, and in the process broke into tears while declaring that their parents loved the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and how proud they would be to see their son renew that vision of America once more.
Still, Sanders spoke again, and showed that this time was different in another way: the Trump experiment is no longer theoretical, and the results have been catastrophic. At this point, it threatens to blow up the lab. As my colleague, Charles P. Pierce, outlined this morning, Sanders was entirely unequivocal in his endorsement of Joe Biden's candidacy. It was another showcase of his political pragmatism, for which he rarely gets enough credit. But there was also another sign of how far we've ventured into the dark. When it came time for Michelle Obama to speak to cap the night, she laid out the stakes. But she also spoke through her own calm, determined pragmatism, a simple urgency that meets this moment. There's no time for histrionics now. The job simply must get done.
‘Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country … It is what it is’ — Former First Lady Michelle Obama #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/I43gJlhCja
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 18, 2020
There was a lot of focus on Obama's inversion of Trump's now infamous line—"It is what it is."—while discussing the horrific American death toll in a pandemic he has betrayed his duty to contain, and rightfully so. It was a stunning exhibition of his malignant narcissism. But the larger message here might be more potent still. We hired the president to do a job. He has shown, over and over again and in a thousand grotesque ways, that he is incapable of doing it. He should be fired, and only we can fire him. This calm and simple pragmatism was there elsewhere in Obama's speech when she walked the listener through what may be required on Election Day: brown-bag dinners, and maybe even breakfast, because you might have to wait in line a while to get rid of this guy. He's made sure of it.
Bernie Sanders was correct to lay out the dangers Donald Trump poses to the republic. Others were right to cite his virulent racism, and his betrayal of the American Idea. But for some segment of listeners, Obama's message may have been the one to resonate in a time where the rhetoric ranges only between bubbling and boiling. Forget all the rest: He can't do the job. He doesn't do the reading, and he doesn't care. It is what it is. Fire him and get someone else.
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