Party unity overcomes chaos…and the Bernie-or-Bust crowd

After a day and a half of Democratic disarray, the vibes of the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection descended upon the Wells Fargo Arena, and Democrats ended their first night on a high of excitement, unity, togetherness, and a single-minded goal of blocking Donald Trump from the White House.

What has happened in the last 36 hours reminds me of my first boss in politics, the late Secretary of Commerce and first African-American Chairman of the Democratic Party, Ron Brown, who always said a day is a lifetime in politics. No kidding.

{mosads}When I flew in to Philly on Friday, Democrats were feeling giddy about our upcoming convention, especially having come off of a week of Republican chaos, division, the plagiarism scandal and a downright apocalyptic aura emanating from the pessimistic and doomy-gloomy themes of most of the speakers, especially from the GOP nominee Donald Trump. 

Then we had our own chaos as a result of a Wikileaks email release from a Russian-backed hack of the DNC. Some of the emails contained inexcusable anti-Bernie Sanders discussions re-opening mostly on-the-mend wounds of Bernie backers who already believed that the DNC rigged the system in favor of Hillary Clinton. 

As the situation played out, Sanders supporters – rightly so – were furious; they showed it with protests, booing, and demands for the embattled DNC Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to step aside. She later did the right thing for party unity by resigning as Chair, passing on that responsibility to Democratic Party superstar Donna Brazile. 

But was that enough to quell the anger and unify our party? 

It was the right first step and, followed by an amazing array of Democratic Party speakers, I knew we would end the night on an overwhelmingly positive note. 

But what about those few Sanders supporters who seemed unforgiving and not willing to give Hillary a chance? The so-called Bernie-or-Bust movement was alive and loud in the arena, but will they actually stay home or vote for Donald Trump?

My guess is that the majority of them will come around and vote for Hillary, albeit maybe reluctantly, but polls show that 90 percent of Sanders supporters are already backing the former Secretary of State. And Bernie Sanders and his team deserve tremendous kudos for helping to unify the party, especially by Sanders’ speech last night and his full-throated, no-holds-barred endorsement of Hillary Clinton.

90 percent of unwavering Sanders supporters plan to vote for Clinton in November https://t.co/HAc6sw2gwk

— Maria Cardona (@MariaTCardona) July 26, 2016

I remember in 2008 being in the shoes of many Sanders supporters today. And it is not easy. You put your heart and soul into electing the person you think will be the best nominee and best president and that person loses. It is personal. It is heart wrenching. 

So for those who today still say “never Hillary,” I say give them time to reflect on what Sanders said today — “It is easy to boo, but not so easy to imagine Donald Trump in the White House.”

The other speeches of the night also helped with unification and healing. From progressive hero Elizabeth Warren’s fiery takedown of Trump’s character and lack of sensible policy proposals, to the visible unity metaphor of Senator Al Franken, a Hillary supporter, and comedian Sarah Silverman, who was an avid Bernie supporter but now backs Clinton.

They all helped to move unity forward. Ms. Silverman even took the additional step in confronting the audible Bernie supporters who kept trying to interrupt speakers with chants and boos. “And to the Bernie-or-Bust people, you are being ridiculous,” she said as she highlighted how Bernie’s movement would only survive if Hillary Clinton wins the White House.

On top of that, the star of the night was obviously Michelle Obama, who with grace and aplomb, proceeded to school Donald Trump — without ever mentioning his name — in America’s best traditions of history, progress, inclusion, fairness, justice, respect, grace and setting the best example for our young children, and how taking the high road highlights your opponent’s lowest weaknesses and lack of ability to compete with intellect and integrity. 

Senator Cory Booker also took the Wells Fargo Arena by storm with a poetic and electrifying speech about how America will rise, but only if we do it united, and with a philosophy that we are stronger together — a key theme of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention two other speeches that brought tears to the eyes of those watching. Anastasia Somoza, the beautiful, bright, young, disabled activist took the stage and took down Donald Trump and his savage discrimination of disabled Americans demonstrated by his juvenile mockery of a reporter earlier in the year.  She stated in no uncertain terms that Hillary Clinton sees her, hears her, and speaks for her, and that Donald Trump does not. 

Young Carla Ortiz along with her undocumented mother, described her panic at the thought of her parents being deported in the middle of the night, telling the audience that Hillary had hugged her and told her to let Hillary worry about that on her behalf.  It was a compelling argument to fix a broken immigration system that does nothing but rip American families apart. 

All of these amazing speeches were delivered in one night and on one stage by a more diverse group of people than what existed in the entirety of the four-day GOP convention. The themes reflected a unified, strong, enthusiastic, mobilized and focused Democratic Party, including a majority of Bernie Sanders supporters. 

I am confident we will go on from Philly after Hillary’s historic nomination to a general election where Hillary Clinton’s positive message of American strength, optimism and excellence will resonate and convince voters that she is the best candidate to keep our country safe, thriving and succeeding for all Americans. 

What a difference a day makes!

Cardona is a principal at the Dewey Square Group, a Democratic strategist and a CNN/CNN Español political commentator. Follow her on Twitter @MariaTCardona.

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