Of course it was the weather

Weather forecast forces move indoors

Venue change goes from seating for 74,000 to 21,000

I love politics. If you believe that Thursday night’s big night for President Obama was moved inside to the arena where the rest of the Democratic National Convention is being held, instead of the football stadium where the NFL’s Carolina Panthers play, because it might rain, well … I will leave you to your delusions.

Of course that is not the reason, and yes, of course, the reason is that the Democrats were having a hard time coming up with enough people to fill the stadium to capacity … and every empty seat was going to be pointed out by the Republicans as evidence of the president’s slipping popularity.

This is an argument as old as … I don’t know, but it seems as old as time itself. Politicians always, given the choice, are going to play to a picked and packed house if they can arrange it. It is a matter of perspective.

For example, during World War II, the Germans bombed London, England, and as a result of one of those air raids during the Blitz as it was called, the building that housed Britain’s House of Commons was severely damaged and had to be rebuilt. Under the directions of Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, probably one of the most astute politicians of his day and a statesman of the first order, when the House chamber was rebuilt for some reason there wasn’t enough room on the benches for all the members of Parliament to sit.

Of course, Americans who watch coverage of its Congress on the CSPAN cable network are used to seeing a sea of empty seats in the chambers when CSPAN is showing what is going on in each house. A lot of Americans, thusly, get the impression that their representatives are being remiss at their jobs and some fail to realize that the great speeches given on the floors of our legislature usually are given to nearly empty audiences.

Churchill, being the clever politician he was, solved this problem. By making it impossible to seat all the members of Parliament at one time (in fact, leaving a vast number stuck outside) he recognized that the movie and television cameras that would be recording events in the chamber always would have the leaders playing to a packed house. Packed houses being better at convincing the viewing public that not only was their business being attended to, but that a rousing debate was being conducted. Actually it was all part of Kabuki Theater to make people believe that was happening.

So are the speeches at the Democratic National Convention on Sept. 6. They too are a form of Kabuki Theater. It is better to play to a packed house (even if it is smaller) than to play to a partially empty stadium (even if it has twice as many people there).

Isn’t politics wonderful?