WASHINGTON — Democrats have a bigger political star bench to draw from for their convention in Chicago than Republicans did in Milwaukee earlier this month.
It’s way too early to confirm who will be speaking at the Democratic convention in Chicago, which kicks off Aug. 19 at the United Center — or the Hollywood, Broadway and musical stars who will appear along with the party giants. But if, as Shakespeare wrote, the past is prologue, we have some educated guesses.
Barack Obama. Michelle Obama. Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton.
All are powerful speakers who will make the case for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presumptive nominee and the TBD running mate she needs to pick in the next few days.
The biggest suspense may be what Republicans the Harris team can woo to speak — with the highest value targets being people who worked in the Trump White House and really know best former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee.
Modern political conventions are produced prime-time shows. The viewers are the main audience — not the delegates, donors and party activists inside the convention hall.
In Milwaukee, the biggest viewing audience, according to the Nielsen ratings, came on the last night, with people eager to hear Trump talk about the assassin’s bullet that struck his ear just days before. When Trump’s vice president pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, spoke on the third night, he attracted 17.9 million viewers, according to the ratings service, compared to 25.3 million for Trump.
With the Republican Party transformed into the Trump MAGA party, no former GOP president, vice president or White House nominee attended, much less spoke.
In Chicago, Harris will have a second chance to make a first impression.
That’s crucial, since the point of a convention is to gain the vote of people who may have not been paying much attention to politics.
For Democrats, those are people who were not enthused about President Joe Biden, who dropped his re-election bid on July 21; swing voters who are persuadable, and Republicans who want nothing to do with Trump but have a hard time voting for a Democrat.
Twenty years ago this week, on July 27, 2004 at the Democratic convention in Boston, the world discovered the oratorical power of a then fairly unknown keynote speaker, a state senator by the name of Barack Obama who was running for a Senate seat from Illinois.
Obama’s speech was so powerful — there are no red states, no blue states, just the United States — that it put him on the path to the White House. Obama is one of the most popular Democrats with an incredible ability to communicate.
With the home field advantage in Chicago, remarks from Obama, the nation’s first Black president making the case for the woman who may be the second, will be much anticipated.
Former first lady Michelle Obama, who remains extremely popular, is also likely to speak about a candidate who would be the first female president.
It is inconceivable that Michelle Obama would deliver a speech that did not take into account her humble upbringing just a few miles away in a tiny apartment on the South Side.
As good a speaker as her husband, at the 2016 Democratic convention in Philadelphia — the one nominating Hillary Clinton — Michelle Obama in her speech delivered her now famous call and response. You remember it — “When they go low, we go high.”
Former President Bill Clinton has delivered speeches at every Democratic convention since 1980 and there is no reason out there to think he won’t go for one more in Chicago.
At the 2012 Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C. Clinton was tasked with nominating Obama for a second term. Clinton’s speech was a master class in making complex government policies and issues simple and why people should vote for Democrats. Since then, Clinton has been known as the “Explainer-in-chief.”
Within hours after Biden stepped aside, Harris was able to all but claim the nomination, invigorating Democrats, especially women.
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton, in a fundraising appeal, reflected back on her history-making nomination at the 2016 Philadelphia convention, where she became the first woman to lead the Democratic ticket.
“We made history that day,” Clinton wrote. “The excitement was palpable. Shattering the long-awaited glass ceiling of a woman in the White House felt closer than ever before. Now, we have the chance to make that dream a reality.”
It would be a shocker if Hillary Clinton, whose dream was dashed by Trump’s surprise 2016 victory, did not show up at the Chicago convention to help frame the case for Harris to do what she could not — defeat Trump, become the first female president and finally, finally, shatter that glass ceiling.