TWO FORECASTS for the Democratic Convention.

In many ways I expect the Democratic National Convention to be more of the same. Oh, I doubt that the convention will blazon the Clinton name larger than the American flag across the stage as she speaks. But you can expect her to paint a republic in crisis, one where women are practically indentured servants of their male managers, where the police routinely use civilians for target practice, and of course, where Republicans roam among us, tirelessly impoverishing the poor and oppressing the oppressed. Who can save us now? Only one person, of course. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s — HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON!

That case will, of course, be a lot more challenging to make given that Barack Obama has been president for eight years — which is why to hear Democrats talk, you’d often think that George W. Bush was just completing his fourth term in office. So they will spend the week pinning America’s flaws on Republicans.

So it’s business as usual, then.