Conventional Boredom

David Frum is lamenting the boring TV coverage that will surely come from both nominating conventions:

Summon to mind the most memorable moments in television convention coverage:

George McGovern's late-night speech to the nation in 1972 from a platform filled with his scowling party rivals.

Police clubbing protesters in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention.

Barry Goldwater proclaiming that "extremism in defense of liberty is no vice" in the San Francisco Cow Palace in 1964.

Senator Everett Dirksen literally pointing a finger at former Governor Thomas Dewey in 1952 to accuse him of leading Republicans "down the road to defeat."

Great TV! But terrible politics.

Contrast these exciting events to, say, the first night of the Republican convention of 2000. Wedged between country rock medleys, Ben Stein interviewed a former Miss America about the excellence of the Texas public schools under George Bush. Next came three video "profiles in compassion." Followed by a speech by a Latino single mother. Followed by a performance by inner city elementary students. Followed by hyperglycemic shock.

Terrible television -- but better politics.

Since the 1970s, the parties have become much more skilled and sophisticated at running their shows. They adjusted their rostrums to look more appealing on television: red, white, and blue gave way to salmon, cream and aquamarine. Speeches have been shortened; politicians have ceded place to celebrities and telegenic ordinary folks, all intended to create a cult of personality around the ultimate nominee that would be almost sinister if it did not so often absurdly backfire. ("I'm John Kerry, and I'm reporting for duty!")

The talking heads on television blame the parties for mounting a boring show. The talking heads should blame themselves: The parties made the conventions dull in self-defense, because anything exciting can and will be used against them.

It does not have to be this way. The conventions could be made useful, interesting and important again. That will require some reinvention. But the conventions have been reinvented before to adapt to the needs of their time, and they can be reinvented again.

Frum has some good ideas, none of which will be followed by the parties, to make nominating conventions worth watching. You can read them here.