Editor’s Note: Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator, was a political consultant for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992 and was counselor to Clinton in the White House. He is a consultant to the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA Action. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
Story highlights
The Democratic Party convention has been taking place this week in Philadelphia
Paul Begala: President Obama handled his most pressing task with typical grace
When it comes to strength, it’s hard to top the commander-in-chief.
Rather than a well-earned victory lap, President Barack Obama showed a steely resolve as he ruthlessly dismantled Donald Trump and enthusiastically endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Let us begin with his disembowelment of Trump.
“We are not a fragile or frightful people,” the President declared. “Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order. We don’t look to be ruled.”
We don’t look to be ruled. A few miles from the Wells Fargo arena, the ghosts of Jefferson and Franklin, downing an ale near Independence Hall, said, “Damn straight, Mr. President.”
Trump is betting that we are a fragile and frightful people. Following the GOP’s fear-themed Cleveland convention, the party of Trump surged to a small lead in the latest CNN poll. Observers should not have been surprised. Although the Democrats love to say “Love Trumps Hate,” fear is a potent political weapon. If you can make people fearful enough, they can turn on each other. If you can make them angry enough, they can scapegoat those who don’t look like them. If you make them anxious enough, they might even turn to a bombastic con man who offers bumper-sticker slogans and cheap bravado.
The Democratic National Convention
On Wednesday night, the Democrats sought to answer Trump and redefine strength. And no one – no one – is stronger than Joe Biden. Our Vice President, who defines grace under pressure, quoted Hemingway, who said, “The world breaks every one, and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” Anyone can bring a partisan crowd to a roar, as Biden did when he said Trump “doesn’t have a clue about the middle class.” But then he hushed them, called them to be more sober, more serious. And in hushed tones he extolled the virtues of Hillary Clinton.
Sadly, the Vice President was not the only grief-stricken parent in the house. The delegates heard from the heartbroken daughter of the principal murdered at Sandy Hook; a woman who has found the strength to take on the gun lobby. The convention showcased the amazing grace of the mothers of Charleston, who have the strength to forgive the racist terrorist who murdered their loved ones during Bible study. The crowd gave a massive roar to war hero/astronaut Mark Kelly and his wife, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who has shown superhuman strength in recovering from being shot in the head.
CNN Opinion commentators on the RNC
Then came the warriors: Rear Admiral (ret.) John Hutson, who opened a can of whup-ass on Donald Trump from the jump, telling the crowd he was an expert in two things Donald Trump doesn’t know anything about: law and order. The former Republican expressed outrage at Trump’s invitation to Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s email. “This morning,” he said, “[Trump] personally invited Russia to hack us,” Hutson said in his speech at the Democratic National Convention. “That’s not law and order. That’s criminal intent.”
“We cannot afford an erratic finger on our nuclear weapons,” Leon Panetta said. “This is no time to roll the dice and to gamble with America’s national security or with the American Dream.”
Panetta, a serious man who has run the CIA and been White House chief of staff, belittled Trump, saying, “Donald Trump says he gets his foreign policy experience from watching TV and running the Miss Universe Pageant. If only it were funny. It is deadly serious.”
Tim Kaine introduced himself to the country with wit and charm. He is in many ways the future of the Democratic Party. But Wednesday night belonged to the man who is perhaps not fully ready to become the party’s past: the grey-haired President who, 12 years ago, was a fresh-faced state senator. And he handled his most pressing task with typical Obama grace. Summoning all his hard-earned gravitas, the man who saved the American economy, rescued the auto industry, expanded health care coverage and gave the order to have Osama bin Laden killed, handed the baton to his onetime rival, now his close friend.
“There has never been a man or a woman,” he said, “not me, not Bill, nobody – more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as President of the United States of America.”
And so the torch was passed.