Former President Clinton is right, of course. The sword of Damocles haunts this assembly.

I wonder if weeping is a kind of emotional breaking of sweat that cleanses clogged spiritual pores? Watching Wednesday’s primetime program on my Macbook, I found myself blotting tears throughout the evening. So did a goodly portion of the conventioneers in Chicago.

The cameras pan constantly across faces of the congregants, a rapturous gallimaufry of humane DNA, a well-meaning cross section of the American persuasion which is a spectacle itself, apart from what’s on stage, that assuages blight and comforts funk.

It’s notable how many public speakers associate speechmaking in a large forum with bellowing, gesticulating and smiling excessively. The good ones — an AOC, a Warnock, an Obama, a Winfrey — know the efficacy of modulation, varied phrasing, strategic pauses, quiet hands and nuanced demeanour. I like seeing the tyros hone their chops at shucking down the corn. Some of them, future leaders, will figure it out. 

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