Democrats Convene in Charlotte North Carolina | Artists Sing for Obama

Spirit of ‘08 Gone, Democrats Reunite Against GOP Threat New York Times

Their unity at this point is defined less by faith in Mr. Obama or a robust vision for what the party should stand for than by the prospect that Republicans could control the White House and Congress next year and enact a conservative agenda that would unravel much of what Democrats have stood for since Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society. Mitt Romney’s selection of Representative Paul D. Ryan as his running mate has only intensified the ideological fervor… .

In many ways the Democratic Party has reverted to form — an unruly conglomeration of sometimes competing interests, united in a belief that government has a crucial role to play in the economy and social justice, but often divided by priorities, means and values.

Update 8/5/12 11:39 pm After watching the Democratic convention for two nights, I’d say the New York Times got it wrong. At the least, they are being oversimplistic in this analysis. We’ve had two nights of extraordinary speeches and former president Bill Clinton just dismantled the vast majority of Republican claims against President Barack Obama.