So today was day 2 of the Democratic convention. It was noticably calmer than the first day, but not necessarily because Sanders supporters calmed down. There were still protests outside, some of them attended a Jill Stein rally, many people wore tape on their mouths to indicate the DNC trying to silence them, and apparently, most of them stormed out after Bernie conceded the nomination to her. So if you're wondering if the party is more united, it appears that way on the surface, the way the mainstream media is covering it, but in reality, the people pissed off just weren't covered and went home.
As for Bernie conceding, I felt disappointed. He essentially moved to nominate Clinton as the nominee when they got to Vermont's votes, surrendering the nomination to himself. I understand what Sanders is doing. He's trying to bow out gracefully and unite the party, but honestly, I feel like he just surrendered to an inferior candidate. He's too soft, he's too gracious, especially after they screwed him. I'm sorry Bernie, but I can't follow suit here. I won't support Clinton. I'm supporting Jill Stein, someone who I feel actually shares my values and wants similar solutions to problems that I want.
As for the convention itself, it wasn't really much different than day 1 substance wise. Most speeches were boring. They focused on Hillary being the first nominee for president who is a woman. They focused on Hillary's caring about women and children. They tried to focus on this whole emotional connection Hillary has that makes some people tear up, but really does nothing to move me. Strangely, there was a lot of talk about 9/11 and how much Hillary did after it as senator of New York. There was a lot of bashing of Trump, most of which was legitimate (keep in mind, no matter how much I dislike Clinton, I dislike Trump much much more). They focused on reproductive rights, which was the one argument that did move me, since I'm very liberal on social issues. On economics, it was a mixed bag. One guy talked about the American dream and needing to keep it alive and I'm just thinking "ugh, not this crap again"...it's really reminding me how much further left I am of the democrats these days. Others were a little more on point rhetorically, but it just doesn't click with me because I know they're full of crap. It's basically the same as the republican convention. They talk about the problems, sometimes they even hit a nerve and are dead on...but at the end of the day, are they going to fix them? The answer is a resounding no. Clinton is just the third term of her husband, or of Obama. They have little in real solutions to fix the country, and let's be honest, just like we have problems after 8 years of Obama, we will have the same problems in 2020 and 2024 even if she gets elected. The dems are just too far right to fix our problems. So all this excitement and energy for Hillary just seems so fake to me.
As for Bill Clinton's speech, it was largely more of the same. He literally gave us his life story of falling in love with her and how much she cares about people. He discussed her experiences throughout her life, which was good, but ultimately, no disrespect to Clinton, I just don't believe she's the right person for the job, maybe better than Trump, but not as good as Sanders would be. She may have done great things, but our problems are larger than she is willing to take on and I don't believe Clinton is willing to do so. Yes, she pushed for healthcare in the 90s, but she's the obstacle to universal healthcare today. And yes, change is hard as Bill said, but I really don't believe Clinton is willing to try, full heartedly, like Sanders is.
Maybe I'm biased, or maybe I'm cold. I'm just not really touched here. I think the democrats bet on the wrong horse, and while Clinton wouldn't be an awful president, she wouldn't be great. I don't expect any changes here. I am glad they pushed for more positive reasons to support Clinton that ultimately don't fall into lesser of two evils thinking, but ultimately, it's ineffective. It's too emotional. Too based on feels. I do care about some of the ideals Clinton was for, but her approach is too incremental for my tastes. You can't run a country on feels or picking up these pet causes here and there. We need a strong leader who looks at the problems systematically and proposes big solutions to them. I doubt Clinton's ability to do that. As such, you'll find me with the Bernie or busters joining Jill Stein.
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