The second night of the Democratic National Convention straddled themes of national security, presidential accountability and continuity between the past and future leaders of the party. Like the opening night on Monday, it took the form of a kind of political variety show. Hosted by the actress Tracee Ellis Ross, the program skipped between recorded tributes from political luminaries, personal testimonials from activists and voters, and various forms of music and entertainment.
Two tributes by Republicans carried particular symbolic weight for a Democratic candidate seeking to appeal across party lines: Colin Powell, the retired general and former secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration, delivered a message of support for Mr. Biden, whom he had previously endorsed. And Cindy McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain, appeared in a video about Mr. Biden’s relationship with her husband.
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Mr. Powell drew an unsubtle contrast with the current president, saying Mr. Biden would reject “the flattery of dictators and despots” and project American moral values overseas. Foreign leaders, Mr. Powell said, “will know he means business.”
Daniel McCarthy, New York Times:
Colin Powell is an impressive man who put his prestige behind a needless and disastrous war in Iraq, which Biden backed, too. Powell and the videos before and after him were a reminder that Biden is the candidate of the war party.
And here was Colin Powell, who was Bush’s secretary of state during the illegal invasion of Iraq. Film-maker Michael Moore, who was a Bernie Sanders campaign surrogate, tweeted sardonically: “Can’t wait for Colin Powell’s ‘irrefutable and undeniable’ case for a Biden presidency tonight! Nothing unites our country more than all of us fondly reminiscing about the US bombing, invading, terrorizing, & pillaging Iraq on the basis of lies this man told to the United Nations.”
Colin Powell, a Republican former U.S. secretary of State, supports Democrat Joe Biden for president.
Cindy McCain praised Joe Biden’s ability to reach across the aisle to work with Republicans like her husband, the late Sen. John McCain. “It was a style of legislating and leadership that you don’t find much anymore,” she said in a video aired during the second night of the Democratic National Convention.
