Why the Republican and Democratic National Conventions still matter

In any other year, tens of thousands of Democratic party faithful would be descending upon Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to officially nominate Senator Joe Biden as the party’s choice to take on United States President Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election. Delegates, past and current elected officials, activists, and other supporters would be treated to a week of policy-making, rousing speeches, and the prime time introduction of Senator Kamala Harris as Biden’s running mate.

It’s not hard to imagine how electric it would be in person to see Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican parents, take the stage for that historic moment.

A week later, the Republicans were meant to gather in for Charlotte, North Carolina — which was cancelled because of COVID-19 concerns and the state’s governor’s stance on masks and social distancing. On a whim, the Republicans relocated the convention to Jacksonville, Florida, a place particularly hard-hit by the pandemic. In the end, it appears that the President wants to officially accept the nomination from the White House. There are a number of legal concerns about doing so, and, as with so much else, it’s impossible to know where Trump will land.

The conventions serve a real purpose. Biden is not the official presidential nominee for the Democrats until he’s voted as such at the end of the convention by delegates. The same is true for Trump — he’s not the official Republican candidate until the party says he is.

The functional aspects of a typical party convention have become largely perfunctory over the past 20 years, but the delegates that Biden won in the primary election still need to vote for him in the formal nomination process. The strong urge to project party unity corresponds with the rise of TV, and then the Internet, as mediums for information. Major parties are keen to avoid the spectacle of being divided on their candidate, platform, or both, in the eyes of voters.

This sort of stage management of political leaders and their party faithful is a symptom of a larger issue within American politics, and politics generally, of inauthenticity. One does not need an advanced degree in American politics to know that there are deep divisions on core issues within both parties, especially the Democrats. At the convention, however, it will be cordial, supportive, and as unified as it can be.

There is a vast, grassroots Left wing of the party that doesn’t share a lot of excitement for the Biden candidacy; they see the Democratic party as too mainstream, and too willing to accommodate an increasingly-extreme Republican party — and they see Biden as being the political embodiment of that. There are real policy differences, and the convention is where the party’s policy programme is set. The choices of speakers, issues, and priorities matter; and I expect the party’s platform to be the most progressive in history.

Despite two consecutive primary losses, Senator Bernie Sanders — an Independent who calls himself (rightly) a Democratic Socialist and caucuses with the Democrats — commands a loyal, Left-leaning, and active support base, and they will be well-represented in the party’s policy process, if not on the stage. Progressives have made huge electoral gains throughout every level of government over the past four years, and a COVID-19-ravaged American economy very likely needs exactly what they support — a social system that is more equitable, functional, and affordable, and a government that puts regular working people at the forefront of its spending and legislative priorities.

The COVID-19 crisis is only set to get worse. Protections against evictions and enhanced unemployment benefits have expired, and there is talk of a new spending bill that may eclipse the $1 trillion mark. Expect several days of pointed attacks on the Trump administration for its lack of leadership on COVID-19 — America has 170,000 dead and is approaching 6 million total infections — and the lack of a plan for addressing what may well become the greatest economic and unemployment crisis the country has ever seen.

The Republicans, to the detriment of America and the entire world, have cast their lot with President Trump and continue to support him — 85 percent of the Republicans say they support his re-election. As with most presidential incumbents, his re-nomination was never in doubt.

Even virtually, I expect to see some fireworks. Although progressives appear to remain sceptical of Harris, there’s no denying that she is one of the Senate’s most liberal members. From her post on the Judiciary Committee, few have done more to hold the Trump administration officials to account. When she takes the virtual stage and people see a powerful woman of colour talking about core progressive issues, the rule of law, and addressing America’s creeping pariah status, it will be inspiring.

Sree Sreenivasan is Marshall Loeb Visiting Professor of Digital Innovation at Stony Brook Journalism School in New York, and cofounder of Digimentors, a social, digital and virtual events consultancy. Twitter: @sree. Views are personal.

(Lookout for Sree Sreenivasan’s take on the upcoming US presidential elections every fortnight.)