It took a few detours to get here, but Monday night’s tribute to President Joe Biden was the tribute it promised. After a moving introduction by his wife, Jill, and rarely seen daughter, Ashley, Biden came out to Jackie Wilson’s “Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher.” He hugged his daughter, wiped tears from his eyes and basked in a five-minute standing ovation.

He began his story with his inauguration, recalling staring at the fence that kept out violent insurrectionists and looking back at the Capitol that had been ransacked just two weeks earlier. “You can’t just say you love your country when you win!” he told the adoring crowd. Then he declared, “Democracy has survived.”

At least for now.

Biden again explained how the white supremacists in Charlottesville had inspired him to run for president, but with new passion and detail. The neo-Nazis’ “veins were bulging” and they were chanting “anti-Semitic bile.” He recalled a conversation with Susan Boo, the mother of murdered protester Heather Heyer. He said he ran for president to “defend an America where everyone has a fair chance and everyone has a safe haven.”

Biden enjoyed his greatest successes, overseeing “four years of the most extraordinary progress in history” – investments in manufacturing and green energy, most of which went to Republican states, he noted. He boasted of being the first president to successfully negotiate drug prices under Medicare. He said his infrastructure bill would spread high-speed rail the way Roosevelt’s investments spread electricity across the country. He boasted of 500 new electric vehicle charging stations across America, with more on the way.

He gracefully spoke repeatedly of “Kamala and I” or “Kamala and I.” When the crowd erupted in “Thank you, Joe,” he responded, “Thank you, Kamala.” Biden repeatedly supported her: “It’s time to put a prosecutor in office, not a convicted felon.”

He spoke with regret about having to call Trump a “liar,” but he did it. He criticized him for torpedoing (thanks to Republicans in the House) a compromise on border control that passed the Senate with bipartisan support.

Biden said he had worked out “a peace deal for Gaza” a few days ago and promised “a flood of humanitarian aid” there. He added: “The protesters in the streets are right.” A reference to how the late Henry Kissinger approved of his Ukraine policy did not go down quite as well.

He even addressed the conflict over his decision to end his re-election campaign. “All this talk about how angry I am that people told me to resign. That’s not true,” he insisted. “I love my country more than my job.” We need to vote for “Kamala and Tim” to continue to fight “corporate greed” and “lower the cost of food and medicine.” While some pundits claimed Harris’ progressive economic proposals on housing supply, subsidies and consumer price gouging went beyond what Biden would support, he seemed to support all of that.

“And like many of our best presidents, she was vice president. That’s a joke,” he joked. “She will be a president who will leave her mark on America’s future.” He promised to be “the best volunteer” for Harris and Walz.

I don’t mean to complain, but the program was backwards. It should have started with Biden and his family instead of banning him from primetime on the East Coast. Since Biden had talked about doing better before, why did he appear at 10:30 Central Time (which was 11:30 his time). It’s not that he stumbled, quite the opposite. The rest of the premiere program was good, and with a thoughtful transition of Biden passing the torch to Harris, it could have been great.

Conspiracy theorists, including the formerly respected Nate Silver, insisted that the DNC did this to hide Biden. I subscribe to Hanlon’s razor, which says, “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence.”

The first three hours of speeches were traditional convention fare, devoted largely to promoting Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. A strong panel of labor leaders and a heartfelt, well-worded tribute to the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who ran for president 40 years ago, were excellent.

When Harris took the stage after a commercial of Beyonce’s “Freedom,” it was a turning point for the evening. “I want to start by thanking our incredible President Joe Biden. We are eternally grateful to you.” It was exciting. I thought she was going to start the Biden tribute part of the evening now.

It wasn’t. Still, many wonderful speakers followed. Golden State Warriors progressive coach Steve Kerr came to spread the coach’s magic and praised Walz. UAW President Shawn Fain, in his “Trump Is A Scab” T-shirt, brought the house down. “The rich think we’re stupid. But working-class Americans see it for what it is.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez followed with all her compassion and charisma. “Thank you, Joe Biden, for your leadership!” But perhaps her most important line was insisting that Harris “work tirelessly for a ceasefire in Gaza.” She was the star of the evening.