At the Democratic National Convention, the problem turned out to be the solution.
The four-day convention, recast on the fly as a virtual enterprise when COVID-19 made the traditional version impossible, ended up reinforcing the party's fundamental message: A stark moment for the nation demands a somber response. Even at the most celebratory moment, as Joe and Jill Biden gazed up at a concluding spray of fireworks, they wore masks.
Pictures of delegates in outlandish hats, the sounds of "Happy Days Are Here Again" blaring as balloons dropped from the rafters, would have seemed tone deaf after a series of speakers had warned of a looming threat to democracy in November's voting and mourned the deaths of more than 170,000 Americans to the pandemic.
