Democrats Failed The Convention Optics Test

Very few people tune in to these things who aren’t already decided about who they want to support. Undecideds are often the spouse of the decided viewer, gleaning information about what a party is presenting by osmosis and learning who these political figures are for the first time. Another aim is establishing a permission structure: the Republican convention’s design was clearly intended to give upper middle class white people a shield, the image of a diverse racial coalition citing reason after reason (First Step, Education, HBCU dollars) to come back home to vote Trump. You want a rationale for telling your coworker why you’re voting for Trump? Send your friend that Ann Dorn video, or Alice Johnson’s speech, or Kayla Mueller’s parents trying to choke back tears, and there’s your argument.

On the surface, most conventions look very similar. Lots of red white and blue, lots of boring speeches media folks pretend are memorable, and a balloon drop at the end. What mattered more this year was the total divergence in optics. Even if you didn’t watch the conventions – most Americans didn’t – you saw the images. Joe Biden in darkness, with no one close by, talking to Zoom screens as if he’s in a sci fi movie. Even the fireworks display was uncomfortable – the idea that Biden needs to socially distance from his own Vice Presidential nominee is absurd, even as a matter of modeling behavior for the public. 

It comes across not as a good example, but one of fear and constant endless lockdown. The Biden campaign is even running ads with his mask hanging off one ear in multiple shots, wafting in the breeze, because he’s outside. It doesn’t look serious, it looks ridiculous. And combined with his Zoom calls into MSNBC and CNN, and sending out Kamala to give a prebuttal to Trump, it doubles down on the idea in the mind of those who aren’t that partisan that Biden is a weak figure, operating out of fear, with no answer except a return to lockdown and mandatory masks outside until a vaccine is widely available.