All the people in the audience shouting Bernie and waving signs seem young and white. (Most seem to be female -- especially those that are crying.)
He's disappointed about the outcome of the race. "No one is more disappointed than I am." His revolution continues.
He moves on to "the 1%." Nap time.
Bernie says this election has never been about the candidates or what the media spent so muc time discussing. It's about the needs of the American people and the kind of future we create for our children and grandchildren.
Bernie says this election is about ending inequality of wealth in America. (Now the 1% has become the top 1/10 of 1%.) He's awash in statistics. He moves to (what else) Wall St. This is not what this election is about to me.
Finally, he mentions Hillary, and says she must become the next President of the U.S. I hear mostly cheers, and chants of "Hillary" but some will probably disagree with me.
Good point he makes: The Supreme Court is reason alone not to sit this election out.
He says he and Hillary "have come together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in this country." For families earnings $125k or less, their kids will be able to go public college or university tuition free. He says that's 83% of kids. The proposal also reduces student debt.
"This campaign" is about universal health care. (Did he mean this election?) He says Hillary believes everyone 55 and older should be able to buy into Medicare. Hillary understands seniors and veterans are struggling with the high cost of prescription drugs. Medicare must negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies and the drug companies should not be making so much money.
Finally he gets to immigration reform and reform of the criminal justice system. We should invest in jobs for the young not jails. He says Hillary understands this.
It's no secret he and Hillary disagree on a number of issues. That is what democracy is about. At the platform meeting, there was a coming together, and we have the most progressive platform in history.
The platform calls for "21st century glass siegel act" (no idea what he's referring to), opposition to trade (or is it anti-trade) agreements, like TPP. One of his overly made-up young female supporters mouths the word TPP into her cell phone as she takes a selfie -- hysterical.
His speech is way too long. What about foreign policy? I don't remember him mentioning it.
The evening ends with a female rabbi from White Plains, NY. She shouts "G-d is great" several times. She was so forceful in her pronouncements, I couldn't even tell you what she said after that, all I could think of was ISIS and "Allahu Akbar", which in Arabic means "G-d is Great."
Final thoughts: Bernie did his part tonight. His endorsement took a while, but in the end, it was clear and unequivocal. The media overplayed the protests of Bernie Sanders' supporters. Except for some overwrought millennials (and maybe Susan Sarandon), the majority of his supporters in the audience seem more than willing to vote for Hillary and fully cognizant of the unacceptable danger of a Donald Trump presidency.
C-Span interviewed a male Bernie delegate afterwards who said he is emotional tonight, all Bernie supporters are, but he agrees with Bernie that they must support Hillary. He said Bernie convinced him of that. They had a female caller who said she doesn't believe Hillary really has the most delegates. She sounded unhinged. But then the next caller called in and called Trump a bunch of names and said he was making a secret deal with the Russians. I turned off the TV.
I'm going to disagree with the rest of the Democratic universe and say Elizabeth Warren's speech was the worst of the night -- she took the lowest road possible, calling Donald Trump every name in the book. Totally low-class attack and inconsistent with her claim (and Michelle Obama's reminder) we're better than that. We are better, unfortunately Warren is not.
Tonight is just the first night of the convention. After Democrats hear from Bill Clinton and Obama, and then from Hillary, I have no doubt the party will be just fine.
