By Emil Guillermo

“This is going to be a great week,” Vice President Kamala Harris declared in an unexpected early appearance that brought down the house on day one of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

It was already an emotional night after Jesse Jackson in a wheelchair was brought out in front of the crowd to cheers. The man who ran for president twice in the 80’s behind a rainbow coalition, didn’t speak. But his presence was all that was needed to let us know how far we’ve come.

Harris, the country’s first Asian and Black woman ever to be vice president, by the end of the week would become the first woman to be nominated as the standard bearer for the Democratic Party.

But she knew she had to honor the man who made it possible. Jackson?  No, Joe Biden.

“I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible President Joe Biden,” said Harris, who thanked the president for his leadership and lifetime of service, which includes stepping aside more than four weeks ago.

But first, Harris looked at the diverse crowd and promised them that “this November, we will come together and declare with one voice, as one people, we are moving forward with optimism, hope and faith so guided by our love of country, knowing we have so much more in common than what separates us.”

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It was a mini “anti-politics of division” speech, policy be damned, give me joyful rhetoric. It set the tone for the huge convention crowd that responded with the kind of energy we haven’t seen since the Obama years.

And then we waited more than two hours for the Democrats to send out Joe Biden.

BIDEN’S FAREWELL

Was this some left-handed honor?

If political conventions are really TV shows, Joe Biden didn’t even make prime time on his own night. On the west coast maybe, but in the east, he was on after the late news.

It’s the way the last five weeks have gone for Biden, wrestling with the notion he’s past his prime.

Or maybe the lateness was intentional to show everyone, all his detractors, the ones who deftly pushed him to the side, that a Joe Biden “in full” could still go nearly 50 minutes at the top of his game.

After an emotional introduction from his daughter Ashley (“He’s still my best friend,” she said), Biden was wide awake for this moment, setting the record straight about what he’s done and what he’s yet to do.

He saved his ire for Donald Trump, the man who, as Biden said, promised infrastructure, but “never built a damn thing.”

Maybe his own ego?

And all while being the man who would destroy our nation.

“He’ll be a dictator on day one, his words,” Biden said with zeal. “This sucker means it.”

It was an energized Biden, who had a few stumbles, but no one cared. He laughed it off. We all did, unlike the last few months when each word was scrutinized through an ageist filter.

But here he was more than functional and powerful, and about to let it all go.

I’m sure it made some people wonder that if this Biden had appeared at that June 27 debate, we’d be having a totally different convention this week.

“I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you for 50 years,” Biden confessed. He recollected how he was too young to be in the Senate because he wasn’t 30 yet, but now he was “too old to stay as president.”

That got a little laugh.

“But I hope you know how grateful I am to all of you,” Biden said. “I can honestly say, I’m more optimistic about the future than I was when I was elected as a 29-year-old United States Senator.”

And with that, he made peace with his destiny.

Biden went from being “the” guy, to “the guy who kept the presidential door ajar,” so that Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian woman, could go forward and through.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator on race, media, culture, and politics. See his secret podcast on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. Contact: www.amok.com

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