Democrats to kick off convention with Bernie Sanders, Michelle Obama’s addresses
The four-day convention — to officially nominate Joe Biden as the Democratic party nominee for president — will be a two-hour daily mix of pre-recorded videos and live speeches, all done virtually because of the Covid-19 epidemic that continues to ravage the the US.
US Democrats will kick off Monday night their first virtual convention yet with Senator Bernie Sanders stressing party unity as a lead speaker. Michelle Obama, the former first lady, will close the evening, possibly with an inspiring speech similar to her “we go high as they go low” in 2016.
Sanders had been a hold out at the 2016 convention and only nominally offered truce after a bruising primaries in which party officials had brazenly worked to help Hillary Clinton clinch the ticket. He is truly on board this time and is expected to exhort his legions of supporters to rally behind Joe Biden.
“I understand we do not agree with Joe Biden on all of the issues — believe me, I know that, I ran against Joe Biden,” Sanders told delegates in a call last month, as reported by The New York Times. “But at this moment, what we need to do is engage in coalition politics with the goal of defeating Trump.”
Former first lady Obama remains extremely popular in the party and is an inspiring speaker. She had set up Clinton’s 2016 run as a glowing contrast to Donald Trump’s divisive campaign.
“Our motto is, when they go low, we go high,” she had said. That phrase was all her own, her speech writer has said since, and continues to reverberate till this day.
The four-day convention — to officially nominate Biden as the Democratic party nominee for president — will be a two-hour daily mix of pre-recorded videos and live speeches, all done virtually because of the Covid-19 epidemic that continues to ravage the US. It remains the worst-hit in the world with tens of thousands of new infections every day and hundreds of fatalities.
The convention was preceded Sunday by an interfaith service that included Sikh leader Pardeep Kaleka and Hindu leader Neelima Gonuguntla
The Trump campaign will be stalking the convention with a plan called “The Real Joe Biden”, a mixture of on-ground activities, ads and live speeches.
President Trump is expected to speak live just hours before the start of the convention on Biden’s “economic failures”. And the campaign will have live commentary till the end of the day. That’s the plan for the duration of the convention, with Trump expected to pick a new issue every day.
The two parties continued to clash over the Trump’s attempts to curtail mail-in voting by overhauling the US postal service. The president has alleged, without proof, that mail-in voting is vulnerable to widespread fraud. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called a session of the House to pass a legislation blocking Trump’s attempts to overhaul the US postal service.
