On the first day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention ironies abound.

The Wikileaks release of email and other documents hacked from the Democratic National Committee has caused great embarrassment to Hillary Clinton supporters at the DNC.

Many of the Democrats, now outraged by the hacking, supported Edward Snowden, employee of a National Security Agency contractor who leaked massive secret government records of international communications interceptions by the NSA. Snowden ultimately exiled himself in Russia. Bernie Sanders in particular praised Snowden for starting an important debate.

In still another twist, however, release of the leaks comes too late to do any good for Sanders. Had they been released a few months ago when they were apparently available they would have given him a potent weapon in his campaign against Secretary Clinton.

The Clinton campaign is trying to spin the story as one of the Russians trying to help the Donald Trump campaign. It seems a little soon for Clinton to be reminding us that the Russians are inclined to hack private email servers with interesting political information on them.

Snowden himself says that if the FBI really thinks the Russians hacked the DNC, they can release evidence proving it.

Michelle Obama delivered a beautifully written speech with truly professional skill. As she praised America as “the greatest country on earth,” it was almost hard to remember the candidate’s wife who, during the 2008 primary campaign, said, “for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country.”