Democrats Gave Harris a Strong Liftoff. Now Comes the Harder Part.

The Washington Post

15:59 JST, August 23, 2024

CHICAGO – Just over a month ago, Republicans held a coronation in Milwaukee. There was only one star on their stage; everyone else’s role was to reflect the singular glory of Donald Trump.

When the Democrats’ turn came this week, they instead assembled an ensemble cast that included two former presidents and the current one. They slotted diverse younger stars, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, into prime-time spots.

The effect was a narrative of generational handoff and a promise that their standard-bearer, Kamala Harris, will carry forward the best of the Democratic past into a vibrant, multicultural future.

The Democrats’ fresh exuberance comes from the drastic change in circumstance they have experienced in the past four weeks, which have seen President Joe Biden abandon his stumbling bid for a second term and Harris pick up the baton with a seamless ease that few could have anticipated.

They began their convention on a poignant note, bathing Biden with gratitude as he made his exit. The first night also featured Hillary Clinton, who served as a reminder of past disappointment and the exhilarating prospect of what could lie ahead with the election of the first female president.

“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,” said their 2016 nominee. “Because, my friends, when a barrier falls for one of us … it falls and clears the way for all of us.”

Then came Tuesday, when Barack and Michelle Obama invoked the magic of hope that had fueled the Democrats’ 2008 presidential campaign and reduced Trump from the colossus that Republicans had built into an insecure narcissist whose act has grown stale.

“Here’s a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago,” Barack Obama said. “There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes.”

Even the most successful presidential nominating conventions, of course, are temporary highs. The fact remains that this election is extraordinarily close. Both sides are so deeply dug in that the outcome will likely be determined by only a sliver of the electorate in a handful of states.

It will be a tricky thing for an incumbent vice president to present herself, to quote one of the convention slogans, as “a new way forward.” Republicans will be doing their best to saddle Harris with the dissatisfaction that 8 in 10 Americans feel with the direction of the country, according to the latest Gallup poll.

It helps, to be sure, that Harris’s very identity – a Black woman of South Asian descent – is itself a break with the past. Her record as a prosecutor will also serve her well, given that her opponent stands convicted of 34 felony counts.

And in picking Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, she has teamed up with a relatable Midwesterner – his years as a high school football coach got heavy emphasis during the convention – and someone who is comfortable on the attack.

Harris has also redefined the stakes of the election. Where Biden had built his campaign’s core message around the dark threat that Trump poses to democracy, Harris has chosen as her watchword “freedom” – a bit of political appropriation, given how many Republicans over the years have campaigned on that concept.

The theme is uplifting, forward-looking and newly resonant in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion. Again and again, delegates here have chanted: “We won’t go back.”

The concept, as the party intends to portray it, is far broader than that one issue. “When we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love,” Walz said in his acceptance speech Wednesday night. “Freedom to make your own health-care decisions. And, yeah, your kids’ freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.”

Granted, all of this has had to come together in a tight timeline. But the ticket will have to offer more than words and vibes to close the deal with voters – and soon, given that there are fewer than 75 days to go until the election. The economic plan Harris unveiled shortly before the convention is short on detail. She has given few clues as to whether and how her foreign policy would differ from Biden’s.

Harris and her newly invigorated party have drawn the broad outlines of what they believe they can offer the country going forward. Now they must fill in the details.