STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This year's Democratic convention gives the party a chance to show where they want to take the country and also where they've been.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise early appearance, so she was on hand for the speech by President Biden, who stepped aside in her favor.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you. For 50 years, like many of you, I've given my heart and soul to our nation. And I've been blessed a million times in return with the support of the American people.
MARTÍNEZ: Unlike the Republican convention, which many senior party figures avoided, the Democratic event includes multiple presidents and presidential nominees. They also welcome past leaders like Jesse Jackson.
INSKEEP: NPR's Stephen Fowler has been watching it all. Stephen, good morning.
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: One of our sleepless correspondents in Chicago. What were Democrats trying to say with this first night?
FOWLER: It was a message and a way to pay tribute to what Biden did as president and also pave the way for Harris' time in the spotlight. There were prominent union leaders and lawmakers from across the country praising Democrats and occasionally attacking Donald Trump. We heard women share their abortion stories and allies of the president and vice president really setting up this final stretch of the campaign. It's sending a message that it's a new Democratic Party now and with a new message, too. There's the symbolic passing of the torch. I mean, it's no longer the party of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. It's Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and a deep bench of a younger generation with a very specific vision for the future, like New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who hasn't always seen eye to eye with the establishment in the party.
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ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Thank you, Chicago, for your energy. Thank you, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, for your vision. And thank you, Joe Biden, for your leadership.
INSKEEP: It is interesting to hear that prominent progressive figure praise Biden, who had been seen as a more moderate figure once upon a time.
FOWLER: Yeah, I mean, it really was this culmination of Biden's half a century of public service and time in office. I mean, he was greeted by nearly five minutes of a standing ovation from all corners of the party. He teared up. Kamala Harris teared up. It's an emotional moment. I mean, this time last month, Biden was supposed to be the one speaking on the final night accepting the nomination, but now he's imploring Democrats to finish the job, beat Donald Trump again and save democracy.
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BIDEN: It's been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your president. I love the job, but I love my country more.
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BIDEN: I love my country more.
FOWLER: Steve, his decision to step aside and endorse Harris to run against Trump will likely be a key moment in history. This speech was largely a reflection on his legislative accomplishments since taking office. I mean, what Biden wanted to be an exclamation point in his career became a question mark and now, after this speech, is a final period on his legacy.
INSKEEP: When you say a key moment in history, I think you're right. Whether Harris wins or loses, people will look back on that decision. There is, of course, the other ticket out there. How are Donald Trump and JD Vance counterprogramming?
FOWLER: Well, because of the last-minute switch, both parties are trying to define Kamala Harris to voters, so Trump and Vance are in battleground states trying to attack Democrats on the policies they're weak on, like national security, immigration and other topics, because people are voting very, very soon.
INSKEEP: NPR's Stephen Fowler is in Chicago. Stephen, thanks so much. Get a nap.
FOWLER: Thank you.
INSKEEP: Now, the location of the Democratic convention invites comparisons to history.
MARTÍNEZ: The 1968 convention in Chicago included anti-war protests, which police brutally suppressed. Many protesters and police were injured on live TV. This week, protesters have returned, opposing U.S. backing for Israel and its war against Hamas and Gaza.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: One, two, three, four, we don't want to (inaudible) this war.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: One, two, three, four, we don't want to (inaudible) this war.
INSKEEP: OK, so how are police doing this time? NPR's Martin Kaste covers police, and he has that angle for us this morning. Martin, hi.
MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: So how did police do? And how was the confrontation with protesters?
KASTE: Well, the police superintendent here, Larry Snelling, started the day yesterday sounding pretty optimistic. He's talked about having a respectful working relationship with the leaders of the protest and looking forward to supporting the marchers' right to free speech without a problem. And for much of the day, that was in fact the case.
INSKEEP: For much of the day.
KASTE: Yeah. Well, the march started out with a few thousand people moving in an orderly fashion, with hundreds of bicycle cops flanking them as they went. It all seemed very choreographed. But then they got to this small park just north of the United Center, where the DNC is being held, and there things went sideways. I brought a little tape to capture that scene here.
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KASTE: There you can hear, that's the tall steel fencing that forms the outer security perimeter for the DNC. You don't get past that without credentials and security check. But a group of mass protesters just went for it. They pulled down several sections and then started calling other protesters to follow them through. And then they started going for the interior fence, shaking that, and that's when the police caught up with them. It was kind of a surreal moment - the cops closing in on them from opposite ends, everybody sandwiched between these two fences, and even the Chicago police superintendent, Snelling, was right in there with them.
INSKEEP: OK, so I'll just emphasize - we're hearing lots of different perspectives on the Democratic convention, different perspectives over time on the protests. What you're focused on this morning is the police and how it looks to them. How did they manage this challenge of allowing free speech while also keeping order as they see it?
KASTE: Well, compared to Chicago police in 1968 or even 2020, they were pretty restrained. They could have arrested a few dozen people in there for breaching that security zone. But they ended up arresting only a handful, and the police stayed calm while this was happening. Everybody was watching them, of course. Superintendent was right there. But even as protesters were lobbing sticks over the fence and other objects over kind of onto their heads, they were calm. Then the day became very strict after, though. They cleared that park of tents and protesters. So you get the sense here that they also are worried about losing control of the situation if they give too much.
INSKEEP: What did the protesters at large say about the relatively small number who went through the fence?
KASTE: Well, some of them stayed in the park to support the ones who'd gone through. Many more, though, continued on with the original march. And then I talked to Alice Farley. She's - she was sitting on a bench near the fence. She looked a little deflated. She's from New York. And she cares deeply about the Palestinian cause, but I asked her if she thought this incident would change any minds in the convention.
ALICE FARLEY: They won't see that. They're back in there. The only thing is you'll get one little three-second flash on the news about it, like a bunch of rowdy people, not the people who have been talking about this for 10 months, if not 47 years.
INSKEEP: Is it true that the protesters were largely invisible to the convention-goers?
KASTE: Well, this is a big site - hard to see things from inside there. After the arrests, I went around to the other side, saw a bunch of delegates lined up for security. None of them had heard or seen any of this.
INSKEEP: NPR's Martin Kaste, thanks so much.
KASTE: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says Israel has agreed to a cease-fire proposal for the war in Gaza.
MARTÍNEZ: That announcement came after the U.S. secretary of state met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for three hours yesterday in Jerusalem. After announcing Israel's backing of the deal, Blinken called on Hamas to do the same.
INSKEEP: NPR's Kat Lonsdorf is in Tel Aviv to give us the latest. Hi there, Kat.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey, Steve.
INSKEEP: I feel like I've heard this before. The United States is saying that Israel is on board. What is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying?
LONSDORF: Yeah, well, as usual, it's a little complicated, but basically Netanyahu has not said directly that he's endorsing this new proposal put forward by mediators at the end of last week in Doha. You know, it's meant to bridge the final gaps between Israel and Hamas. We've seen this before, Steve. Like you said, just because America says that they have an agreement from Israel, it doesn't mean that's what we're hearing from Israel. Netanyahu's office did put out a statement last night after his talk with Blinken, but it did not mention agreeing to this bridging proposal. Instead, it focused on efforts to get as many hostages out of Gaza as possible. Hamas, on the other hand, has put out a statement responding pretty negatively to this bridging proposal, saying that they're for a cease-fire and want to end the war, but this new proposal, put forward last week, caters to Netanyahu's demands too much on several key sticking points, and they blame him for fully obstructing the deal. Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his office blame Hamas for obstructing the deal.
INSKEEP: You just called it a bridging proposal. Do you know what's in it?
LONSDORF: No. Blinken and the others have not said exactly, you know, how this proposal would overcome the outstanding issues, but we do know what those issues are. First, Hamas wants a permanent end of the war, and Netanyahu won't make that promise. Second, Netanyahu wants to keep Israeli forces along the border between Egypt and Gaza. That's something that neither Egyptians nor Palestinians want. And third, Israel wants some kind of screening process to make sure Palestinian civilians returning back to the north in Gaza are unarmed. These have been really key sticking points, and neither side has seemed that willing to budge on them in the past.
INSKEEP: OK, so that's what Secretary Blinken says he got out of a visit to Israel. What does he do now as he heads to other countries, other powers involved, Egypt and Qatar?
LONSDORF: Yeah, so these are the two other countries that mediated this agreement along with the U.S. Egypt is expected to host the renewed cease-fire talks later this week. Qatar is where some Hamas officials are based, so it's very likely that Blinken will be there, pushing for Hamas to sign off on the deal. You know, Steve, I should say all of this diplomacy has added urgency because of threats from Iran and its proxies to retaliate for an assassination on Iranian soil that Israel was widely presumed to be behind. The feeling is that, you know, as long as a cease-fire in Gaza is a possibility, Iran will hold its fire.
INSKEEP: I was thinking about that - just the drama, if that's the right word...
LONSDORF: Yeah. There's a lot of it here.
INSKEEP: ...Of Iran being ready to strike, of Hezbollah being ready to strike, maybe, maybe not. And I guess we should note that the war in Gaza continues. Israel continues its offensive there. What's going on?
LONSDORF: So according to health officials in Gaza, more than 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes there just in the past few days. If there had been a cease-fire agreement last week, those casualties could have been avoided. And more than 100 Israeli hostages are languishing and possibly even dying in captivity there as well. The Israeli military just announced this morning that six bodies of hostages were recovered from Gaza overnight. All of them are thought to have died in recent months. Also, disease is spreading in Gaza. Just last week, the first confirmed case of polio was reported, and international health officials are warning of an outbreak if they can't get in and vaccinate. So on the ground in Gaza, people really don't have days or weeks to wait while these details get hammered out.
INSKEEP: NPR's Kat Lonsdorf is reporting from Tel Aviv. Thanks as always.
LONSDORF: Thanks so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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