Column: Democrats are embracing that hopey-changey thing again in Chicago. Will it work?
Go ahead, Democrats, party like it’s 2008.
In just a month, Democrats have gone from dreading their 2024 national convention that starts Monday in Chicago to dying to attend. Some Democratic officials and operatives had scheduled August vacations to have an excuse to skip the four-day affair, I’d heard. Now they’re sorry. Be there or be square.
Different candidate, different convention. Instead of renominating President Biden amid polls showing him behind Donald Trump, the Democrats will crown a far spunkier Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s already gotten under Trump’s thin skin, drawing such large crowds that he claims photos of her rallies are AI-generated, and she’s pulled ahead of him in the same polls that formerly had Biden losing.
Once again Democrats are embracing that hopey-changey thing they last savored 16 years ago, when they made Barack Obama their standard-bearer.
Conventions are political theater scripted to a party’s advantage. (OK, there was that previous Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968, and at this one, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters could make trouble.) These gatherings are the single biggest opportunity for candidates to grab voters’ attention before the election; 25 million viewers caught Trump’s meandering acceptance speech last month at the Republican convention.
So, enjoy the week, Democrats. It could well be the high point of your 2024 campaign.
Because once Harris leaves Chi-town with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, they face 10 weeks of trench warfare with a gutter-dwelling rival who knows no bounds. Racism? Misogyny? Trump is already playing those cards. In the weeks since Biden reluctantly exited the race and endorsed Harris, a rattled Trump has cursed the Democrats’ switcharoo and the reversal of his political fortunes.
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He ludicrously claims Democrats staged an unconstitutional “coup” against Biden. He unashamedly hurls slurs at Harris to see what sticks, explicitly disregarding advisors’ pleas to stick to issues like the economy. So far, he’s squandering his chance to credibly define Harris and her record, leaving her free to reintroduce herself positively to voters who’d previously recoiled at having to choose between two fogies.
Yet eventually some part of the Trump attacks might land. Harris could and probably will make a mistake; for all her current polish and pizzazz on the stump, Democrats still brace for any sign of the internal dysfunction that quickly derailed her 2020 presidential campaign. Some embarrassing revelation could surface; already Walz has been thrown on the defensive for misleading descriptions of his 24-year service in the Army National Guard and his arrest three decades ago on a drunk driving charge.
The convention itself poses challenges as well as opportunities for Harris.
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Were the familiar Biden still the candidate, the show likely would have focused on Trump, painting him as so unfit for another term that voters would shelve their misgivings about Biden — in keeping with the president’s saying, “Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.” With the less well-known Harris as the nominee, the convention must showcase her, not Trump, and in a way that persuades fence-sitters that she can be president, and a president who fights for them.
Sure there will be lots of Trump-bashing; he’s earned it. But until a month ago, Harris — like most vice presidents — was little known and little more popular than Biden. As the convention tells the Harris story, expect to hear a lot about her job at a McDonald’s one summer during college, to blunt her coastal cosmopolitan persona. Harris’ acceptance speech, the convention’s finale Thursday night, will be more crucial than the usual: Typically, nominees come to the podium as familiar figures who’ve been campaigning for up to two years, not four weeks.
In selling herself, Harris also must sell the achievements of the Biden-Harris administration; too many Americans remain unaware or unbelieving. But, more than that, she must flesh out a vision for the next four years beyond just “finishing the job,” as Biden promised.
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Another imperative: countering Trump’s “other”-ing of her as not quite a “real American,” the identity that MAGA Republicans claimed for themselves at their convention. Harris’ “We love our country” line wins cheers on the campaign trail, and calculatingly contrasts with Trump’s constant denigration of the United States as a third-world hellhole. She, and Democrats generally, must continue to take back the flag and “freedom.” Might Beyoncé appear to sing her song of that name? Stay tuned.
Beyoncé or not, by the time Harris reaches the podium, she will have had plenty of high-profile help setting the stage. On Monday, prime-time speakers will be Biden, who’s likely to receive a rapturous reception in gratitude as much for passing the torch as for his service, and Hillary Clinton, who’d hoped to be the first woman president but, poignantly, will argue for that honor to be Harris’. Tuesday night spotlights Obama, the first Black president extolling a possible second. Bill Clinton’s turn is Wednesday, followed by Walz’s nomination and acceptance speech.
That lineup telegraphs another contrast between the Democratic Party and a Republican Party dominated by a single vengeful man. Recall the no-shows at Trump’s convention: former President George W. Bush; former Vice Presidents Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle and Trump’s own, Mike Pence, and the party’s 2012 ticket, Sen. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Paul D. Ryan.
Democrats expect to be one big, happy family in Chicago. And just like actual families, they’ll need their unity and harmony for the inevitable rough road ahead.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
