CHICAGO — A day after President Biden’s farewell address to the Democratic Party was pushed well out of prime time, convention organizers tried to minimize it as a slight delay.
They also promised to speed up the programing so that Tuesday night’s marquee speaker, former President Barack Obama, will deliver his speech in prime time as scheduled.
Organizers said the start of Mr. Biden’s speech got pushed long past 11 p.m. Eastern time because there was so much love in the room for him.
“We had so much energy and enthusiasm for our president and our ticket from our speakers, and the audience reaction, that we recognize that did put us a little bit behind schedule,” said convention executive director Alex Hornbook on Tuesday.
Thanks to a long list of speakers and some lengthy speeches, Mr. Biden did not walk onto the DNC stage until 10:30 p.m. Central time. The 40-minute delay meant that his address, which was roughly an hour, went on past midnight on the East Coast.
Organizers at the last minute had to cut out a performance by James Taylor and nix other speeches, including one prepared by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat.
The delay was widely criticized, and some even theorized it was intentional and aimed at ensuring as few people as possible would be watching the 81-year-old president’s swan song.
Mr. Hornbrook didn’t address the criticism but said organizers aim to avoid a repeat on Tuesday. They’ll also start the programming earlier.
“We are working with our speakers and making some other adjustments for this evening,” he said, “to make sure that we stay on track for that tonight.”
The delay prompted criticism and speculation about efforts to sideline Mr. Biden, who was pressured off the ticket in July by Mr. Obama and other party leaders following his disastrous debate performance and escalating questions about his fitness to serve a second term.
“The media is very East Coast focused though, you’ve gotta be pretty naive to think the prolonged DNC [Monday night] is for any reason other than diminishing Biden’s visibility,” Nate Silver, a prominent polling and political analyst, posted on X.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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