John is back, and we’re talking about last week’s Democratic National Convention. The DNC brought out the big guns to celebrate and nominate Kamala Harris: Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey all had prime speaking spots. And of course, Joe Biden passed the torch to his vice president, though not without, one sensed, a little regret. The event was jubilant throughout, the product of what appeared to me to be very carefully managed messaging discipline and an expertly orchestrated party (the fun kind of party) atmosphere.
But what did it all mean? After John and I chat about our plans for the coming semester and our summer reading, we get into the event’s big signifiers. I have to say, whatever I think of Barack Obama’s presidency, I see why so many corporations are eager to shell out big, big bucks for his and Michelle’s services as speakers. They exude charisma, and they know how to deliver a line. I was impressed by their skill, if nothing else. I tend to enjoy watching the national conventions, but John confesses that he doesn’t get it—what’s the point, he wants to know, of all this spectacle and exuberance? As I was watching, I jotted down some keywords that kept popping up, and I present them for John’s expert linguistic opinion: “weird,” “freedom,” “joy,” and “fight.” Yet, despite seeing the appeal of the event, I mistrust Kamala Harris’s speedy ascension to the nomination. John asks me why I insist on referring to the 44th president as “Barack Hussein Obama.” We mull Robert Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement of Trump. And to finish, I announce a forthcoming feature here at The Glenn Show.
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1:28 John heads back to the linguistic woodshed
3:55 Glenn’s nascent retirement plan
4:23 Glenn and John’s late summer reading
11:58 The “joy” of the Democratic National Convention
17:47 Ground News ad
20:11 The oratorical panache of the Obamas
25:37 John: What’s the point of all this performative joy?
30:16 Keywords from the DNC: “Weird”
34:17 Keywords from the DNC: “Freedom”
41:48 Keywords from the DNC: “Joy”
44:25 Keywords from the DNC: “Fight”
46:03 ACTA ad
47:52 Glenn’s distrust of Kamala’s candidacy
52:42 Why Glenn puts the “Hussein” in “Barack Hussein Obama”
56:04 RFK Jr’s endorsement of Donald Trump
1:04:51 Coming soon: Breakfast with the Lourys
Recorded August 25, 2024
Links and Readings
Percival Everett’s novel, James
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
James Baldwin’s essay, “Everybody’s Protest Novel”
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s memoir, Between the World and Me
Alex Haley’s novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family
John’s NYT column, “The Hidden Grammatical Reason That ‘Weird’ Works”
John McWhorter – Feeling the "Joy" at the DNC