The Angle

The Angle: Model for Biff Edition

Slate’s daily newsletter on the Democrats and the black church, the fight for paid leave, and Hillary’s “we” message.

Balloons in Philadelphia, on Thursday night. So many balloons.

Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

Listening to Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech on Thursday night and comparing it with Donald Trump’s last week, Will Saletan points out that the appeals of the two candidates are miles apart. We have a vision of self-rule, exemplified by Clinton’s use of the collective “we,” competing with one inflected by authoritarianism. “This contrast—Trump’s ‘I’ against Clinton’s ‘we’—is the fundamental choice in the 2016 election,” Saletan writes. Clinton “isn’t running against Trump for the same job. She’s challenging his view of what the job is.”

The optimism on display at the Democratic National Convention is a different species from Reagan’s “Morning in America” style, and its tone owes much to the black church. “Pay attention to the tenor of this optimism, to the rhythms of its expression. It isn’t the self-satisfaction of Reagan, champion of the status quo. It is hard-won hope, an optimism born of struggle,” Jamelle Bouie writes. “What is remarkable is the extent to which this kind of patriotism is rooted in black traditions of political and religious rhetoric.”

Clinton and Trump, now official nominees, are about to receive intelligence briefings. Terrifying, right? Don’t worry too much, writes Fred Kaplan. “These briefings contain no material classified higher than Secret,” Kaplan writes. “And, as anyone familiar with such matters knows, nothing very sensitive is revealed in documents marked Confidential or Secret.”

Elissa Strauss writes that the movement advocating for paid leave has been a low-profile, but undeniable, force behind the inclusion of the issue in the Democratic platform this year. “Many still associate effective activism with Occupy Wall Street–style protests or marches, the latter of which tend to have little impact these days,” Strauss writes. “The fight for paid leave has not been fought this way, largely because those who need paid leave the most, workers who also care of others, tend to have the least amount of free time.”

For fun (times two): A darling interview with the 91-year-old who designed that “woman president” T-shirt Walmart wouldn’t stock. And a DNC video about Trump and bullies that pretty much nailed it.

Biff “Trump” Tannen,

Rebecca