The Democratic convention that thrust forward Kamala Harris and Tim Walz was the most compelling and united in modern American political history.
There was no blood on the floor of the convention in Chicago. No wounds to heal.
The speeches given reflected a common distilled wisdom of five values – and one weapon of choice – that Democrats embraced with abandon to take Trump down and win the election in November.
We are better than this and we can do better. “Even if we don’t agree with each other, we can find a way to live with each other,” Barack Obama said. “The vast majority of us don’t want to live in a country that is bitter and divided.”
Going into the election, Bill Clinton asked: “Will a president take us forward or backward? Will she give our kids a brighter future? Will she make us more united or more divided?”
Freedom and democracy. Trump cornered the market on the politics of alienation – the Deep State keeping hard working Americans from getting ahead. Democrats learned how to put a reverse choke hold on that frame. Walz laid it out:
“When the Republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office. Corporations – free to pollute your air and water. And banks – free to take advantage of customers.
“But when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make your own health care decisions. And your kids’ freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.”
For all the speakers, there was an urgency about saving America’s democracy. "This is the first election we’ve had since January 6. We saved democracy in 2020 and we must save it again in 2024,” Biden said. Kamala concluded her acceptance speech with this: “America, let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for. Freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities.”
The politics of joy over the politics of grievance. From the moment Harris declared her candidacy, her ebullience has fed an aura of the politics of joy that is surrounding her. The Kamala we are coming to know embodies the thirtieth Psalm that was quoted repeatedly: “Joy cometh in the morning.”
Joy trounces Trump’s endless grievances. “Here is a 78-year-old billionaire,” Barack Obama said, “who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator 9 years ago. It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually getting worse now that he’s afraid of losing to Kamala.”
Tim Walz is in the tradition of Minnesota hero Hubert Humphrey, known as the “Happy Warrior” for civil rights and working Americans who also became vice president under Lyndon Johnson. Harris and Walz are determined to do Trump in, smiling with joy every moment.
Values and character. It was Michelle Obama who relentlessly defined Trump. “For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of 2 hardworking, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be Black. Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs’? It’s his same old con: doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better.”
Kamala drove the message home: “Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails, and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.”
We are not going back – we go forward. Eight years later, Hillary Clinton relived the ecstasy of being the first woman to be nominated for the presidency by a major party, and the agony of her defeat. She cracked the glass ceiling but did not break it. 2024 is different. “On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris raising her hand and taking the oath of office as our 47th president of the United States. This is our time, America. This is when we break through.”
Barack Obama was emphatic. “We do not need 4 more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse.” Walz said, “I’m ready to turn the page on these guys. So go ahead, say it with me: We’re not going back.”
The coup de grace, the weapon of choice to stop Trump for the last time is not a sermon on democracy or pleas to ensure Trump the convicted felon is nowhere near the Oval Office again.
The weapon to take Trump down is ridicule. The ridicule heaped on Trump in Chicago leaves him naked and seen as caring only about himself – always.
Barack Obama said: “It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually been getting worse now that he is afraid of losing to Kamala. There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes.”
Hakeem Jeffries, leader of Democrats in the House, made it personal: “Bro, we broke up with you for a reason.”
The Democrats left Chicago wanting to make sure the country sees it that way. Indeed, the polls are consistently moving in Harris' direction. Her momentum is feeding a wave of hope that is exceeding the actual state of the race: neither Trump nor Harris has a secure hold on the outcome.
Harris will take these themes into the arena in her debate next week with Trump, and will wield the sword of ridicule to cut Trump down to size. In the words of a paragon of American democracy, Thomas Jefferson, written in 1816: “Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions.” Of which Trump has a massive supply.
Kamala will be well armed.
