To be decided

Last night as I watched the opening of the four-day Democratic Party convention in Chicago, I was impressed by the high level of speech-making and the choreography of events. Speaker after speaker sounded like a professional with words written that seemed to come – and may have – from a small cadre of writers who produced fine work.
Whether it was New York Governor Kathy Hochul, former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, or the three Bidens, daughter Ashley, First Lady Jill, or the President himself, all climbed the pinnacle to give one of the best speeches of their lives.
The president overcame all befuddlement that had previously plagued him. He even told a few jokes on himself, something a wise politician should always include. For example, he quipped that he was too young to join the Senate when he was elected at 29 and “too old” to be president. And there was a frank admission: “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you.” I must admit, however, I could have done with more spoken paragraphs and fewer shouted lines throughout his more than fifty minutes at the podium. 
More importantly, the concluding three hours – the event didn’t end until after midnight – rolled along without any interruption from any of those CNN panels of which we’ve seen all too many. For a political junkie like myself, however, the whole thing was an end-to-end success. Kamala Harris, who is scheduled to deliver her main speech Thursday, gave a brief address that was a foretaste of things to come. 
Another aspect why last night worked both at home and in the arena were the signs that individuals held up at the appropriate moment. Each attendee must have been given a pack of signs that included such slogans as USA; We Fight, We Win; Union YES!; Jill; and Thank You Joe. All showed a unity of approach.
In January, when I blogged my predictions for 2024, I said Donald Trump would be elected president. For the first time, I’m happy to say I might have been wrong. Most polls now give Harris a slight edge – but it’s still early days before the November vote.
We don’t yet know where the Democrats and their leaders stand on matters relating to Canada, but a teenaged Harris lived in Montreal for five years and graduated from Westmount High School. Her running mate, Tim Walz, is the governor of Minnesota, a border state, so he knows about trade and other relations with Canada. Those backgrounds are two twigs to hang onto which is better than us trying to make any kind of point to a blustering Donald Trump who thinks the world revolves around him.