Democratic nominee Joe Biden delivered a perfectly competent acceptance speech Thursday evening at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
However, judging by how the press have covered the moment between now and then, you would think that Abraham Lincoln himself rose from the dead to deliver the sequel to the Gettysburg Address. (He did not, by the way. Lincoln is still very much dead.)
Biden’s speech was all right. It was not great. It was all right. But do not tell that to our apparently easily impressed news media. Newsrooms on both sides of the country appeared quite taken in with the speech. The following is a sampling of news headlines published Thursday and Friday in the hours after Biden formally accepted his party’s presidential nomination:
The New York Times: “Biden vows to guide U.S. out of ‘darkness.’”
The Los Angeles Times: “Biden offers a vision of ‘light.’”
The Washington Post: “Biden calls for hopefulness.”
The Washington Post again: “Joe Biden accepts Democratic presidential nomination, with a call for optimism at a time of fear.”
CNN: “Joe Biden takes on Trump-era traumas in career-defining speech.”
CNN again: “Joe Biden urges Americans to choose hope over fear in accepting Democratic nomination for president.”
And for good measure, CNN’s homepage bore the headline Thursday night: “Biden elevates campaign with career-defining speech.”
Politico: “Biden just made it a lot harder for Republicans to tag him ‘Slow Joe.’” The story’s subhead adds, “The Democratic nominee answered his doubters by delivering the biggest speech of his life without a hitch.”
The Associated Press: “Biden vows to defeat Trump, end US ‘season of darkness.’”
USA Today: “’Character is on the ballot’: Joe Biden accepts Democratic nomination as ‘ally of the light, not the darkness.’” USA Today’s editorial board also declared elsewhere in a headline, “Dynamic Joe Biden takes command in making his case to an America in crisis.”
NBC News: “Biden sticks landing to close cautious convention.”
NBC News again: “Biden accepts Democratic nomination: ‘We can and will overcome this season of darkness.’”
CBS News: “Biden accepts Democratic presidential nomination, vowing to unite the country.”
Also CBS: “Joe Biden accepts Democratic nomination and vows to ‘restore the soul of America.’”
I do not know about you, but I get the sense that the press really liked the speech. They really, really liked it, and they seem very eager to characterize it in the most generous way possible. Mind you, these are just the headlines. We have not even gotten into the personal reactions and tweets from journalists and news commentators at national news outlets (spoiler: they loved the speech, too).
Anyway, watch this space this same time next week. Let’s see how these same newsrooms cover President Trump’s acceptance speech. Should be an interesting exercise in contrasts.
