What Was Missing on the DNC’s First Night

A thin policy discussion was made even thinner by some notable oversights.

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The first night of the Democratic National Convention featured a star-studded lineup of failed Democratic presidential hopefuls, ex-Google lobbyists, and Republican converts. The overriding message of the opening activities was that, in Joe Biden’s Democratic Party, the tent is big. Like, huge. Former Fox News host John Kasich had one of the night’s biggest speeches. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, a onetime guest on Alex Jones’s InfoWars, followed George Floyd’s family. A gigantic tent.

The prepared remarks were heavy on exhortation—healing the nation, battle for the soul, bringing people together—and light on policy. That holds true to the campaign Biden ran, which habitually avoided policy, especially compared to his most formidable challengers. In fact, the only real mention of Biden’s platform came from Bernie Sanders himself, in the penultimate slot of the night, over 90 minutes into the festivities. 

Sanders rattled off a list of policy commitments that would’ve been surprising even to close watchers of Biden’s campaign: A $15 minimum wage, universal pre-K, expanded access to unionization, criminal justice reform, investments in green energy, and lowering the eligibility age for Medicare were all rattled off in quick succession. All are part of the Biden agenda, and the Sanders-Biden unity task force recommendations.

But several notable provisions went missing from Sanders’s list. For example, he failed to mention the public option, a cornerstone piece of Biden’s health care program during the primary season, which the party has recently considered dropping, according to The Hill. Party leaders reportedly want to pass something similar to what the House passed earlier this year, which increases subsidies for private insurance but offers no new public alternative. That would be an astonishing disappointment in a party where nearly 90 percent of its voters support Medicare for All, and something of a rerun of the late scrapping of the public option in the original Obamacare bill.

Absent, too, was any mention of foreign policy. That’s of particular concern for progressives, as Biden has openly courted a number of the party’s most hawkish and financially conflicted operatives in recent months, including Susan Rice, Michèle Flournoy, and others. Biden hasn’t acceded to progressives on issues like conditioning Israeli aid to prevent settlements, and the lack of any mention of ending armed conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and elsewhere, including promises made in Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, should be noted.

The left has won concessions from candidate Biden on a number of issues. But on a night when nearly everyone and everything got their 60 seconds, two of the most important issues to Democratic voters—ending endless wars, and universal health care—didn’t make an appearance. That’s something to watch going forward.

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