Sunday, July 31, 2016 | 2 a.m.
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I was wrong.
Last week I quoted the great Charles Dickens from his “A Tale of Two Cities” when I wrote about the just-finished Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention, which has now ended.
I said the Donald Trump show was dark and dangerous and pessimistic — or words to that effect — and compared it to the convention in Philadelphia that would nominate my friend, Hillary Clinton, as the Democrats’ candidate for president of the United States. I suggested that the Democratic conclave would be about hope and optimism and inclusion, not division. It would, indeed, be a tale of two cities — one very dark and in stark contrast to the other. I didn’t think I could be any clearer or paint a picture any more vivid in its descriptions of two very different Americas or two very different futures.
I was wrong. I wasn’t even close!
Tens of millions of Americans watched the conventions. Many more millions didn’t. The good news is the world is digitized, so anyone who is curious enough to care about this election, who hasn’t made up his or her mind, can still, as they say, go to the tape.
What people will see and hear are some of the most compelling speeches from some of the most talented people I have ever heard in support of the first woman ever nominated for president by a major political party. There was a dearth of such people and words in Cleveland.
It started with Michelle Obama’s impassioned endorsement of Hillary on Monday night. The first lady raised the bar to an impossible-to-reach height.
What followed over the next couple of nights was extraordinary. Everyone expected something special from President Bill Clinton. He didn’t disappoint. It started “when I met a girl in 1971” and took us through a love story that has lasted 45 years. The bar inched up even higher.
Then came Vice President Joe Biden. He hit on all cylinders. Vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine introduced himself to the country and showed us all why the people of Virginia kept hiring and promoting him throughout his career. The bar moved upward again.
Former New York mayor and political independent Michael Bloomberg told the world about the businessman named Trump whom he has known for a long time and, in so doing, warned us that Trump should never be president. Bloomberg set the bar of truth high and set the record straight on Trump’s phony claims to business success.
There were poignant moments along the way too. The mothers of people lost to violence on the streets; the Congressional Medal of Honor winner who would follow a President Hillary Clinton as his commander in chief; the parents of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim who was killed in action in Iraq while saving his troops from certain death, who schooled Trump on patriotism and the Constitution; and the forceful case made by retired four-star Gen. John Allen, that there is just no other choice for commander in chief; all served to keep that bar at a level almost too high to surmount, even for the Hillary Clinton the public has watched all these years.
Not that the bar needed a boost, but President Barack Obama gave what many believe was the best speech he has ever given — which is saying a whole lot — and the challenge to Hillary became an impossible dream. The oratory. The prose. The passion. Even the president’s detractors had to grudgingly admit his genius at the podium.
In the middle of the first night of the Democratic convention, I got an email from a friend from back East. He lives in a dark world and deals with bad people. Optimism is not his strong suit, and Trump is still on his radar. My friend told me that my column was premature. He was caught up in the pro-Bernie Sanders demonstrators and the DNC email dump and expected the next few days would be even worse.
He, too, was wrong.
He underestimated Hillary Clinton’s resolve, her determination and her work ethic when it came to unifying a party in need of unification. He underestimated her ability to get things done.
I was wrong because I thought the messages of the two conventions would be defined by two simple words: optimism and pessimism. I was wrong because I thought Hillary might have a difficult time following the star power and oratorical flourishes that preceded her.
If you haven’t watched her speech, do yourself a favor and do your country a favor: Listen to her words, see her passion and witness the skill of a real leader.
In short, Hillary Clinton cleared whatever bar was set for her by a country mile. She cemented the support of those already on her side and earned an honest look by those who never thought they would consider voting for her.
Hillary Clinton told us who she is and how we will all move forward together.
She showed the country that person — the caring, hard-working, determined, loving and responsible person — so many of us have known for a long time.
Hillary succeeded in bringing the disparate parts of the Democratic Party back together. She reached out and connected to the business community — the real businessmen and -women represented by people like Mayor Bloomberg — and made her case with the help of our military leaders that she was the only candidate ready, able and temperamentally equipped enough to be our commander in chief.
This past week, Hillary Clinton committed to the country that she will always have our back and that she, with the rest of the country’s help, will move us forward toward that “more perfect union” that our founders envisioned.
She promised us, based on her lifetime of working to help people in need, that she would always be with us. That is reason enough — given the alternative — to be with her.
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.
