An Hour of Democracy

By Karen Dunlap

Could you just let me hear the rest of Jimmy Carter’s speech? Could you let Patti LaBelle finish singing the song before you cut away? Okay, the panel of women senators is more photo op than compelling rhetoric, but is your panel-talk a significant improvement? Could we just settle down a bit?

I guess the goal was to hold those with a 15-second attention span, so the pace jumped. Both convention presentations and media coverage raced from one element to the next. A moving violinist solo of “Amazing Grace” by 16 year-old Gabe Lefkowitz lasted for only one verse. The Reverend David Alston continued his speech through applause as he plowed on to completion. Delegates cut off moments of celebration to get on to the next event.

Cable news coverage sped from panels to platform events to cutaways during events, and to special interviews. The evening had no shortage of characters. Familiar figures paraded before the cameras with less hair, more wrinkles, and noticeably more or less bulk. So many people, so many news channels, so much activity in so many different directions. Most of Night One coverage of the Democratic National Convention seemed over stimulated and underfocused.

The mood shifted at 10 p.m. (EST). The young violinist and Alston led into the keynote address. Major television networks joined in news coverage. The pace slowed and full speeches commanded audience attention. Networks settled down to simultaneous coverage, providing a comforting sense of shared agenda. Finally, the gathering seemed like a national political convention, a time for people up close to cheer, and those afar to join in or jeer. For just a moment there was a glimpse of speakers and commentators past, and a sense of “we, the people.”

For one hour, the democratic process returned.

Comments

[Jim Naughton]

Hip, hip, hooray for you, Karen. As an old politics writer who used to attend -- and listen to -- conventions, I was going crazy at all the I Know Better than You Do Talking Heads impeding the viewers' access to the podium. Yeah, yeah, I know conventions have become merely advertisements for the major party tickets, but c'mon, most sentient humans understand that; they can filter the rhetoric for themselves. Fortunately, there is an alternative. Thank God for C-SPAN.