Democrats were told their party was divided. They just proved that wrong.

PHILADELPHIA — Early in the first day of its 2016 convention, the Democratic Party’s train threatened to jump the tracks. As the convention was gaveled into session, delegates for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) loudly booed Rules Committee chair Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) and other speakers. Coming on the heels of the acrimonious exit of Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz over hacked emails that showed DNC officials’ animosity towards Sanders, things could easily have taken a turn for the worse.

But the train stayed on the rails, thanks largely to a deep bench of the sort that the Republicans were unable to muster last week in Philadelphia.

A week ago, the most Donald Trump and company could offer to viewers their first evening were Melania Trump, a single U.S. senator and several Trump advisers. Monday night, Democrats rolled out not just current First Lady Michelle Obama, but a half-dozen senators and other elected officials representing multiple wings of the party, including progressive heroes in Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

The presence of these heavy hitters on the stage sent a powerful message to the attendees skeptical of Clinton, and held their attention when perhaps lesser lights would have been unable to. What were loud boos when the day began quickly became more and more scattered. By the time Obama, Warren and Sanders spoke, interruptions were either shushed or quickly petered out on their own. Obama gave the best speech of the evening — her line “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves” will be tough to top the rest of the week — and she and Sanders both made powerful cases that the stakes in the general election are too high for disappointed progressives to reject voting for Clinton in November. Sanders also smartly reminded his supporters of the tangible results of their success, including the most progressive platform in the party’s history and Clinton adopting part of his plan on higher education.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/07/26/democrats-were-told-their-party-was-divided-they-just-proved-that-wrong/?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1