Welcome to Opinion’s commentary for Night 2 of the Democratic National Convention. In this special feature, Times Opinion writers rate the evening on a scale of 0 to 10: 0 means the night was a disaster for Kamala Harris; 10 means it could lead to a big polling bump. Here’s what our columnists and contributors thought of the event, which included speeches by Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, Doug Emhoff and Michelle and Barack Obama.
Best Moment
Kristen Soltis Anderson, contributing Opinion writer Doug Emhoff’s description of Kamala Harris as a “joyful warrior” could be a formidable theme for the next few months.
Binyamin Appelbaum, member of the editorial board The rocking state roll call, featuring the rapper Lil Jon as Georgia’s hype man.
Josh Barro, author of the newsletter Very Serious Democrats played a short video that offered voters a clear choice between Harris’s plan to lower drug costs, build three million new homes and give over 100 million Americans a tax cut; and what she described as Donald Trump’s plan to repeal Obamacare and impose a national sales tax (!) so he can cut taxes for billionaires. Expect to see this in ads soon.
Charles M. Blow, Times columnist Michelle Obama taking direct swipes at Trump. She still hasn’t gotten over — and may never get over — the way Trump harassed her family. It is a grudge worth holding.
Michelle Cottle, political writer for Opinion Barack and Michelle. Their speeches were very different — she had way more edge than he did — but I refuse to choose between them, and you can’t make me.
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