The Democratic National Committee has released the themes chosen for each night of the convention in Denver. It’s an interesting match of ideas and speakers.
The theme of Monday, August 25, is “One Nation,” and the headline speaker is Michelle Obama. As part of this show of unity, it seems likely that Republicans will put out a lot of material highlighting Mrs. Obama’s less inclusive moments, such as her sometimes-dark ramblings about an unspecified enemy she referred to as “they” and how “they” conspired to stop her husband from winning the Democratic nomination.
The theme Tuesday is “Renewing America’s Promise,” and the headline speaker is Hillary Clinton. I had thought this evening was going to make use of the fact that Tuesday is “Women’s Equality Day,” marking the anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Maybe it will be worked in under the larger “America’s Promise” theme.
The theme for Wednesday is “Securing America’s Future,” and the headline speaker will be Obama’s running mate. At first I thought this might be a clue that Obama has decided to choose someone who will shore up his national security credentials. But my guess is that the Dems mean this in a much broader sense, so that anything that they want to do, from instituting universal health care to raising taxes to “redeploying” from Iraq, will fall under the heading of “Securing America’s Future.” So it would fit with any nominee. Right now, the veep buzz seems focused more and more on Evan Bayh, who isn’t at the top of anybody’s Democratic foreign-policy list, but has the basic Senate national-security checkoffs — Armed Services and Intelligence committees — and has executive experience as well. So of course he will be part of “Securing America’s Future.”
And, no surprise, the theme for Thursday’s big show will be “Change You Can Believe In.”