PHILADELPHIA — Democrats pounced on the Republican convention in Cleveland for portraying a dark, violence-ridden nation that was coming apart at the seams. They promised that at their convention, speakers would paint a much sunnier portrait of America as it grows into the 21st century.
Ultimately, however, Democratic speakers portrayed two different Americas. One was an America that had overcome deep economic problems and achieved great progress toward a more tolerant society, and whose best days are ahead. But the other America was one in which the economic and political system is still rigged in favor of the wealthy and powerful, where workers struggle to make ends meet and put their children through college.
The two competing portraits are at the heart of the divisions that played out all week among supporters of now Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and the passionate followers of her chief rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
“This election is about ending the 40-year decline of our middle class, the reality that 47 million men, women and children live in poverty,” Sanders said in his convention speech endorsing Clinton. “It is about understanding that if we do not transform our economy, our younger generation will likely have a lower standard of living then their parents.
He continued, “This election is about ending the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we currently experience, the worst it has been since 1928. It is not moral, not acceptable and not sustainable that the top one-tenth of one percent now own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, or that the top 1 percent in recent years has earned 85 percent of all new income. That is unacceptable. That must change.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, recalling her rise from being a janitor’s daughter to U.S. senator, said it showed that America was a nation of opportunity.
Then she said, “I’m deeply grateful to that America. I believe in that America. But I’m worried. Worried that my story is locked in the past. Worried that opportunity is slipping away for people who work hard and play by the rules.”
Warren continued, “Look around. Americans bust their tails, some working two or three jobs, but wages stay flat. Meanwhile, the basic costs of making it from month to month keep going up. Housing, healthcare, child care — costs are out of sight. Young people are getting crushed by student loans. Working people are in debt. Seniors can’t stretch a Social Security check to cover the basics.”
The problem, she said, is that “the system is rigged.”
The tone struck by Warren was at odds with the one struck by the Obamas in their speeches.
First lady Michelle Obama declared, “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on earth!”
This theme was expanded on when President Obama addressed Democratic delegates. “America is already great,” he said. “America is already strong.”
He added, “Ronald Reagan called America ‘a shining city on a hill.’ Donald Trump calls it ‘a divided crime scene’ that only he can fix. It doesn’t matter to him that illegal immigration and the crime rate are as low as they’ve been in decades, because he’s not offering any real solutions to those issues.”
The Sanders and Warren portrait of the nation is one that speaks to those on the Left who believe the Obama presidency came up short — that his healthcare legislation left too much power in the hands of insurers and that the Wall Street regulations treated the big banks with kid gloves.
In her own acceptance speech, Clinton attempted to thread the needle between acknowledging problems while expressing an optimism that the nation can overcome them.
“Now we are clear-eyed about what our country is up against,” she said. “But we are not afraid. We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have.”
She went on, “Too many people haven’t had a pay raise since the crash.
There’s too much inequality. Too little social mobility. Too much paralysis in Washington. Too many threats at home and abroad. But just look at the strengths we bring to meet these challenges.”
If Democrats portray the state of the nation in an overly negative light, they invite the obvious retort: Why should we elect Clinton, and have four more years of the same? On the other hand, if the picture they portray is overly rosy, it provides an opening for Trump to portray Democrats as out of touch.
The divergent pictures of America in 2016 will be part of Democrats’ political balancing act from now until November.
