'We heart Joe': tearful Democrats hail Biden at Democratic National Convention in Chicago

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00:00Well, for more on the opening of the DNC in Chicago, we can bring in Mitchell Robinson,

00:05a fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford in the UK.

00:09Thank you very much indeed for being with us here on France 24 this morning.

00:13Biden, of course, we shouldn't forget, was forced out of the presidential race by his

00:17own party over concerns about his age, his vitality.

00:21What sort of performance did he give on Monday night?

00:26Good morning. Thank you for having me.

00:27I mean, I think he gave a really good, a really good performance.

00:30I think this is right in his element.

00:32This was Monday night was all about Joe Biden.

00:35It was a crowd that was eating it up with we love Joe signs.

00:38I think he did a really, really good job.

00:41It may not have been enough to convince them that this guy should have been our nominee,

00:44but I think it was a really nice end in some ways to Joe Biden's political career.

00:49And Biden did speak about Trump rather explicitly on a number of occasions,

00:56perhaps in contrast to the way he's talked about his political rival in the past.

01:00Was that a clear decision on Biden's part, do you think?

01:05I think so.

01:06I mean, he would have been given.

01:07I think this was part of the deal when he left the presidency.

01:10He was given a large amount of discretion about what he could do this evening.

01:14And he gave a speech that, as you say, in some ways reminiscent of what we've

01:17heard from the president, but also it allows him.

01:20What happens with these conventions is different people play different roles.

01:24And so Paris, I think, will be looking to play more the unity role and the sort of

01:28I'm for all Americans.

01:29Joe Biden, now that he's no longer on the ticket,

01:32can be a bit more forceful about the president, former President Trump.

01:37And it's also acted as a sort of swan song, didn't it?

01:39This was a chance for Biden in front of the Democratic faithful and the world

01:44to really go over his achievements in office.

01:48Absolutely.

01:48It reminded me this is some way a feature of these Democratic,

01:52sorry, of the American political conventions.

01:54I was thinking of Ted Kennedy, the last big member of the three Kennedy brothers,

01:59his farewell at the 2008 Democratic Convention, a sort of way that we can put

02:04these tussles behind us and say, thank you for your service.

02:06This was what this was about last night.

02:08I don't think there'll be too many delegates

02:12wishing they'd made a different decision, but to say to President Biden, thank you very much.

02:16And then over the next three nights, we look forward to the future.

02:19And there were, of course, a lot of references, unsurprisingly, to Kamala Harris,

02:23a lot of references to Kamala and I, us, we.

02:26This was a speech very much intended to cement Kamala Harris as his natural heir.

02:31Would you agree?

02:32Absolutely, completely, completely agree.

02:34There was a lot of Kamala and I.

02:36Also, that he directly addressed, there's been some reports in the media saying that,

02:39you know, he's not been happy with Pelosi and other people who suggested very firmly

02:43that he stepped down.

02:44In fact, he addressed those head on and said, you know, look, I'm happy with this.

02:49And I'm very happy to endorse Kamala Harris as his successor.

02:52I think people would have been watching very closely.

02:54These speeches were being watched, analysed very closely.

02:55If he hadn't done that, but he fulfilled the role that was required of him last night

02:59for the Harris.

03:01And we are, of course, just one day into this national convention.

03:04I want to talk for a moment about the enormous Gaza protests that we've already seen and

03:08we're expecting to see throughout the event until Kamala Harris's closing address on Thursday night.

03:15Do we think these protests are going to expose deeper rifts within the Democrats over the

03:21next few days?

03:23Yeah, well, the great historical analogy here with the convention being held in Chicago

03:28is back to 1968.

03:29And that was slightly stronger, perhaps a month ago, when what happened in 1968, Lyndon

03:33Johnson stood down from the presidency under duress in some ways like Joe Biden.

03:39And then the second part of that, the myth, the sort of legend of 1968, were the huge

03:44protests about the Vietnam War outside the convention that turned violent and really

03:49derailed the campaign.

03:50That's what some people suggested we may have seen, we may see with these Gaza protests.

03:54I think we'll just really have to wait and see what goes on outside the convention, what

03:59goes inside the convention about policy change as well.

04:02But we really will know that over the next four days.

04:04But it really is something to keep a close eye on.

04:06And I think it's fair to say that Kamala Harris's nomination has injected the Democratic

04:11Party, this campaign, with new life, certainly a lot of excitement for people observing the

04:18campaign, people like ourselves.

04:20Do you think she can keep that up?

04:23I mean, this is a really interesting, a really interesting campaign because it is a sprint,

04:28much more like a British or Australian kind of election where she was on the ticket for

04:33about 100 days.

04:34And so I think it's a lot easier to maintain that momentum over 100 days rather than really

04:38Donald Trump has been the presumptive Republican nominee for four years.

04:42And he's been having enthusiasm as well amongst his crowds, don't get me wrong.

04:45But I think this is a really interesting campaign to see this enthusiasm and see how it catalyzes

04:50over the next three days when we really lock in some of those key policies and also some

04:55of the key messages that we're likely to see in the next couple of months in the run up

04:58to the election.

05:00Mitchell Robertson, I'm afraid that's all we've got time for.

05:02Thank you very much for speaking to us today.

05:03Mitchell Robertson, a fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford.

05:09My pleasure.

05:09Thank you for having me.

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