It’s the Obamas’ World, Harris and Walz Just Live in It

On the menu today: If you’re a Democrat, the two things that are spoiling your otherwise ebullient mood this morning are the thought that Michelle Obama and Barack Obama could have and should have started their grand-slam speeches earlier in the evening, and the realization that Tim Walz (tonight) and Kamala Harris (Thursday) will almost certainly not be as good as either Obama in their convention addresses. Meanwhile, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker make a perfectly contradictory pair of earlier-in-the-night speakers for the Democrats.

The Obamas: Still the Galvanizing Force within the Democratic Party

Oh, sure, if you’re right-of-center or intend to vote for Donald Trump, you’re more likely to contend that the speeches by former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama weren’t all that compelling or persuasive. But they weren’t designed to persuade you. They were designed to fire up Democrats, sell Kamala Harris as the natural and worthy next carrier of the Obama torch — which is distinct from the Democratic Party’s torch — and assure every American who voted against Donald Trump in previous cycles of the cruciality of doing it again.