Joe Biden with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

The Democratic Party is holding its 2020 National Convention from August 17-20 , and the big news is that Biden has chosen U.S. Senator Kamala Harris as his vice presidential running mate. Although based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the convention will actually take place at various locations and landmarks around the country, because Democrats are serious about public health, specifically, not spreading COVID. Thus, for example, the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee will be used for broadcasting and production. Essentially, the convention will be coordinated and directed from Milwaukee. However, there will only be a few hundred personnel on site, comporting with state and local requirements regarding public gatherings. Accordingly, when Joe Biden is formally offered and accepts the Democratic Party’s nomination for president at the convention, he will do so from a location in his home state of Delaware. Other scheduled speakers, including, presumably, Kamala Harris, will also appear from various remote locations.

Last weekend, President Barack Obama gave a pair of stunning speeches by video to this spring’s high school and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) graduates, respectively. The speeches were full of all of the things so many voters love about President Obama, especially his intelligence, empathy and Democratic themes of positivity and progress. Likewise, Obama touched upon the theme of empowerment for which he is known, telling the graduates that they need to vote and otherwise be involved in their communities and society in order to create the positive changes they desire. What may have been most jarring to Americans and others around the world was the contrast between President Obama’s intelligent, articulate, positive and unifying speeches, and the very different kinds of remarks that Donald Trump has been making. Below is the video of President Obama’s speech to the high school graduates:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden teamed up again this week.

Presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden has had a big start to his week. On Monday, Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Biden’s candidacy, just five days after ending (the modern parlance is “suspending”) his own presidential campaign. Sanders, whom we have criticized in the past, deserves kudos for ending his campaign and endorsing Biden before the Democratic National Convention, if any, takes place. In 2016, even though Sanders was similarly all but eliminated from a mathematical standpoint by Hillary Clinton at this point, he kept his campaign going through the convention, which led to a lot of ugliness and divisive attacks that arguably hurt Clinton in the general election against Donald Trump. This time around, although Sanders regrettably is asking supporters still to vote for him in the remaining primaries so that he can amass more delegates and possibly gain more liberal concessions from Biden, at least Democratic voters, office holders, and other officials can now make the shift toward the general election campaign against Trump.