Democratic convention goes virtual

WASHINGTON－The almost entirely virtual 2020 US Democratic National Convention, or DNC, kicked off on Monday night. Among the highlights was a stirring delivery from former first lady Michelle Obama, who belittled US President Donald Trump as being "in over his head".

During the four-day event, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will accept the nomination and California Senator Kamala Harris will be nominated to be his running mate.

The quadrennial event's host city this year－Milwaukee, Wisconsin－will not see tens of thousands of people gathering for the occasion like in previous years. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced convention organizers to scale back the event by moving most of its activities online, with each of the four nights' events being broadcast.

Originally, an in-person convention with around 50,000 people had been planned for July, but organizers postponed it due to safety concerns over the pandemic.

The nominal main venue in Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Center, is being used for announcing voting results and as a control center to coordinate the livestreaming feeds, keeping the number of people on-site below 250 following an ordinance by city authorities that also requests the wearing of masks in indoor and outdoor public places.

Other guest speakers for the inaugural day, including Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont and Biden's last rival during the Democratic primaries, addressed a series of challenges facing the nation, including the pandemic and the economic recession. They also tackled the persistent racial injustice and inequity most recently exposed by the death of black man George Floyd at the hands of white police officers in May.

During her speech, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser ripped into what she said was Trump's effort to fan "the flames of racism" while "plotting" to suppress peaceful protesters demonstrating near the White House in June during the heyday of the "Black Lives Matter "movement.

Philonise Floyd, George Floyd's brother, called upon the nation to "carry on the fight for justice", saying the actions will be the legacies of George Floyd and other black people killed by police brutality.

Saying the country is "in crisis", New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state was once the national epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, said that over the past few years, "America's body politic has been weakened, (and) the divisions have grown deeper".

"Only a strong body can fight off the virus, and America's divisions weakened it," he said.

Former Ohio governor John Kasich, one of the few Republicans invited to address the DNC, said that while he was "a lifelong Republican" and "proud" of his Republican heritage, "that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country."

'Not normal times'

Kasich said it "would probably never happen" in normal times for a Republican like him to cross the political aisle and endorse a Democratic candidate. "But these are not normal times," he said.

As the last speaker on Monday night, Michelle Obama delivered a hard-hitting speech, sweepingly denouncing Trump's presidency and bluntly calling him "the wrong president for our country".

"If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me they (Republicans) can; and they will, if we don't make a change in this election," the former first lady said in a video clip that was pretaped.

The president "has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head", she said. "He cannot meet this moment."

"I know Joe, he is a profoundly decent man guided by faith," she said. "He was a terrific vice-president. He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country."

Trump, who was at a campaign event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on Monday, reacted to the wife of his predecessor Barack Obama, saying: "Who wants to listen to Michelle Obama do a taped speech? No you've got to get her up there."

In addition to Wisconsin, three other swing states－Minnesota, Arizona and Pennsylvania－are also on the president's travel schedule this week, where he has planned to give pointed speeches to counter the DNC.

Xinhua - Agencies