That is the key takeaway from this week’s Democratic National Convention where the overwhelming theme was Trump’s failure of leadership and apocalyptic warnings about what might happen if he wins in November.
A distant second was any detailed explanation of Joe Biden’s policy proposals beyond brief broadbrush statements, including in Biden’s acceptance speech on Friday (AEDT).
This tactic might prove a winner for the Democrats given Trump’s current unpopularity over his handling of the coronavirus and the economic recession, but it is far from foolproof.
In 2016 Hillary Clinton made Trump’s character a key theme of her campaign and still lost. The challenge for Biden and the Democrats in the months ahead will be to prove they offer much more to voters than just not being Donald Trump.
The Democrats calibrated their convention to attack Trump with maximum force over his handling of the pandemic and the crushed economy as well as on his character and leadership.
In successive nights they rolled out Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and then their most potent weapon in Barack Obama, each of whom unleashed blistering attacks on Trump himself.
While these elder statesmen acted as attack dogs, the convention portrayed Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris in a softer light, as empathetic leaders who would steady the country in its time of need.
Biden used his acceptance speech to cast a more positive tone than did either the Obamas or the Clintons, focusing on his optimism for America and its potential despite its current woes.
Biden portrayed himself as old school, empathetic and experienced, as someone who would be a steady hand in a storm.
Many Democrats seem to believe these qualities are not dull or quaint but are exactly what American needs now as an antidote to the volcanic reign of Trump. But there are also many Democrats, especially from the party’s liberal wing, who don’t think much of Biden but are backing him mostly because they want to get rid of Trump. These are the ones who buy the popular bumper stickers ‘Any Functioning Adult 2020’.
For Kamala Harris, the convention served the useful purpose of introducing herself to voters more broadly. She used her speech to tell her life story as a black daughter of immigrants, punctuating her comments about family and values with warm smiles as if to deliberately counter Trump’s description of her as “nasty”.
Another key theme throughout this convention was the constant hammering home of the need to vote on November 3. Many in the party believe Trump’s victory in 2016 was in large part because so many Democrats, especially black voters, sat idle in 2016 rather than vote.
That’s why it fell to Hillary Clinton, the ultimate loser from that outcome, to warn Democrats that when it comes to voting: “This can’t be another woulda coulda shoulda election.”
The convention went out of its way to target moderates and women – those who are most likely to determine the election outcome – rather than the left wing of the party.
Although Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders was granted an eight minute speech on the first day, the rest of the convention was dominated by moderates with liberal identities like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez relegated to bit parts.
Women and the highlighting of women’s issues played a central role with Harris’ historic vice presidential nomination, Michelle Obama’s keynote speech and a lengthy introduction to the impressive Jill Biden. Democrats hope this will help to accelerate the striking drop in support for Trump among female voters this year.
The appearance of so many pro-Biden Republicans at the convention, from former Secretary of State Colin Powell to former Ohio Governor John Kasich, was also squarely aimed at persuading moderate Republicans that it’s OK to abandon Trump and vote for Biden.
But what impact will this convention actually have on the election? It may be impossible to tell given that it is the first virtual convention of its kind. Television viewership was down but many more Americans are now using streaming services which cannot be measured, so the size of the audience is impossible to know for sure. For those who watch, did they think a virtual convention was more powerful than the real thing?
A convention traditionally leads to a bounce in the polls for the nominee, but any bounce for Biden will be muddied by the fact that the Republicans also hold their own convention next week, giving a likely similar boost to Trump.
Biden says of his battle with Trump that “character is on the ballot”. This week’s convention suggests the Democrats believe the question of character will be their biggest weapon in removing Trump from the White House.
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
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