The 2020 Democratic National Convention was, officially, a program celebrating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the party’s nominees for president and vice president. But throughout the past week, it was clear the event belonged to former President Barack Obama.
Democrats did their best to make the untested virtual format all about Uncle Joe. A parade of amiable celebrities and charming family members offered up home videos and testimonials about how much they like the Democratic nominee. Julia Louis-Dreyfus gushed about the prospect of returning “decency and normalcy” to the White House. Biden’s grandchildren said he calls them every day. Thirteen-year-old Brayden Harrington offered a genuinely moving note about Biden’s support for a fellow stutterer.
When Biden finally took the podium for a recorded address, he suggested that the power of his sheer goodness would lead the country out of “shadow and suspicion,” bathing it in “hope and light.” “Character is on the ballot,” he said. “Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy ― they’re all on the ballot.”
It was a speech devoid of big ideas, and also devoid of small ideas, like most of the four-day event preceding it. Biden does indeed seem like a nice guy. But almost nowhere did anyone talk about what Biden and Harris might actually do with power. Nothing of substance on climate change, nor on inequality, nor on corruption or war or even how to deal with the myriad effects of the mismanaged pandemic, beyond testing and masks.
And based on the early reviews, that’s just fine with most Democrats. Biden didn’t run his primary campaign on big ideas; he ran on being friends with Obama, and that was good enough to win him a smashing victory over his qualified and impressive challengers left, right and center. | 
