Now THAT was a Convention
Dems have new life after Kamala Harris stuck the landing
It is no secret that I have seen a few things, been around not just the block but the whole damn city. I can tell you all about national political conventions. I’ve covered 32 of them, going back to 1960. Here’s my takeaway from Chicago 2024: It wasn’t just well done, it was a spectacularly produced event. Frankly, I can’t recall a convention that went off this smoothly or looked this good.
In big games, you always hope your best players will be in top form. In Chicago, all the big Democrats showed up, ready to play. From the old-school Dems (the Obamas and the Clintons) to the new kids on the block (Governor Walz and the party’s bench of young, rising stars), the speeches were spot on. That was especially true for the newly minted nominee. Vice President Kamala Harris’s address was one of the more impressive acceptance speeches I have heard. Most nominees in the modern era have months or longer to prepare for the biggest night of their political lives. Harris pulled it off with 30 days notice.
For all of the stagecraft wizardry, her speech needed to be everything all at once, a high-wire act with no net. What she said and how she said it could mean the difference between winning and losing.
First, the how. Harris is not just a trained trial attorney but a prosecutor. She has honed her oratory skills in front of a jury. She used that skill to her advantage Thursday night. As one pundit put it, she made her case like a lawyer, not a poet. The country doesn’t need poetry right now — it needs a bulldog. That is what she promised she would be, for all Americans.
She was confident and poised. She spoke with authority but without condescension. She felt relatable and authentic while appearing presidential. She was able to toggle from grace, when talking about being raised by her fiercely capable and intelligent mother, to fiery, when lambasting the Republicans for their draconian plans on abortion. “Get this. He plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions. Simply put, they are out of their minds,” she said.
It would be easy to get sucked into making Donald Trump a punching bag for the entire speech. There’s certainly enough material there to talk for hours. But Harris was strategic in her chiding of her opponent. Starting with this salient point: “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences — the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious. Consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the last election.”
Which brings us to the what. Harris had to walk a thin line when talking about policy. She isn’t the incumbent, but she works for him, and he is not terribly popular. She was able to articulate her own ideas for how to improve American lives without throwing her boss under the bus.
Harris spoke of creating an opportunity economy, protecting body autonomy, supporting veterans, and fixing border security. She was particularly strong on foreign policy, promising to shore up NATO and not to cozy up to autocrats. She was able to assert Israel’s right to protect itself while lamenting the plight of the Palestinian people and promising to help end their suffering — something President Biden has not articulated.
Thematically, the speech was a testament to how different Harris is from Biden. She has moved the party from darkness to light. She was able to pivot away from dire warnings about the end of democracy to a promise to protect freedom. Her flip from a negative campaign to one of positivity mirrors many people’s feelings about the race, from one in which they said they were voting against Trump to now voting for Harris.
Speaking of, her ability to confront the bully in the race with measured strength is admirable. Let’s hope she can maintain that composure when she is on the same stage with him at the debate next month.
Democrats have a long history of not dancing to the same tune, while Republicans are known to be more disciplined and united. This convention, with Harris as the leader of the party, has turned that narrative on its head. The Democrats appear to be unified in a way we have seen only once before in this century, with Barack Obama in 2008. And the Republicans are acting like cult members blindly following their undisciplined leader.
I was thinking last night, as the thousands of red, white, and blue balloons were descending from the rafters of the coincidentally named United Center, that no one, in the hundreds of years of American political history, could have predicted the turn of events that brought Kamala Harris to accept her party’s nomination.
The Chicago celebration is in the rearview. Anytime you party hard, the next morning brings a reckoning. Now, the hard work of trying to win begins, with only two and a half months until the election. No one should kid themselves. This is still an uphill fight. Trump and the MAGA right will be coming for Harris hard, tough, and ugly. And the presidential debates are still to be had. This might be a good time to hold on tight, stay steady, and watch this space. Traditionally, presidential campaigns begin in earnest after Labor Day.
Democrats should know this: Their convention was a rousing success. The party has a second life. The joy is authentic. At the very least they now have a fighting chance, which a month ago they didn’t have. The question is, can they build on the new momentum and ride it to victory.
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