Being a liberal means complaining about the Democrats. It’s as axiomatic a law of life as the fatalism of Red Sox fans. More specifically, it means complaining about Democratic messaging: the weakness, the confusion, the inconsistency, the bajillions of opportunities missed when Republicans do something nuts, the backpedaling, the hem-hawing, the failure to state principles forthrightly—is that enough? Believe me, I could go on.
Well, I don’t know who exactly is running this convention, in terms of deciding who speaks when and what they say and approving all those little film intermezzos, but whoever you are: kudos. This year’s Democratic Party—Kamala Harris’s Democratic Party—is asserting big, broad principles, redefining them, stealing them from the Republicans after years or decades of intellectually lazy passivity, and it’s an amazing and even historic thing to watch unfold here in Chicago.
It’s best exemplified by Wednesday night’s star, Minnesota governor and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, and the way he was presented. The idea of getting 15 of his former football players out there on stage with him was brilliant. You think it was hokey? You think football is disgusting and violent? Get over it. There’s a time to have that debate, but it isn’t now. This is stagecraft designed to win an election, to send signals. And the signal this sent to middle America, to the kinds of voters Republicans have relied on as theirs for many elections, was clear and profound.
Walz went very “coach in the locker room at halftime” in terms of his delivery. In fact, a little too much so for me. What I love about Walz, and what I suspect resonates more deeply with people than him channeling Vince Lombardi (as my pal Harold Meyerson, with whom I sat, put it to me), is his smile, his joy, the innocently mischievous sense of delight when he cracks a joke. I wanted more of that Walz. But I understand the decision that was made. They wanted to reinforce the Coach Walz image, and they sure did that.
It’s often said that a presidential candidate’s choice of vice president represents her or his first presidential-level decision. If that’s true, then Harris passed with bright flying colors. And Donald Trump? He should be held back.
Walz also elaborated effectively on the key word of this campaign: “Freedom. When 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 a better life for yourself and the people that you love. 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.”
It’s hard to overstate how big a deal this is. The American right has owned and redefined and perverted the idea of freedom for decades. If the Democrats can convince Americans that their definition of freedom is the right one, they will flip the assumptions that have ruled American politics for four decades.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was the first to till these rhetorical fields, and he also gave an excellent speech last night. But again, let’s look to the standard-bearer. Another presidential-style decision a nominee makes is what the broad theme of her campaign will be. Harris chose freedom, helped along by the fact that it’s also the title of a great Beyoncé song. Again, Harris made a decision that makes me, and I suspect many millions of Americans, trust her judgment.
There was a lot to like Wednesday night. The party’s bench is just so deep with smart and talented and serious people—Shapiro, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Senator Cory Booker, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who delivered what may be the convention’s most out-of-nowhere brilliant single line so far (to the GOP and the Supreme Court, she said, “You can pry this wedding ring from my cold, dead, gay hand”).
Stop and connect the dots here: 16 years ago, maybe even just eight years ago, that line would have been considered a bit outré. Today, it’s a thunderous applause line—and it’s a firm manifestation of this new idea of freedom. That’s a change brought on by thousands of activists and embraced, eventually, by the Democratic Party (led on this question by none other than then–Vice President Joe Biden).
Compare these people to the grifters and liars and half-wits who are rising “stars” in the GOP. Jim Jordan. Marjorie Taylor Greene. James Comer. How is that guy not embarrassed to be alive? Two years of epic fails on trying to pin some nonsense on Biden, and now he just casually turns around and starts saying that because Tim Walz has visited China a lot, he’s an agent of the regime? He is out of his tree. But he’s a “leader” of a party that is completely intellectually bankrupt.
Messaging takes time. It means pounding away for days, weeks, months, years. I hope the Democrats remember this. Nothing is going to be fixed or changed in one week, and not everything fits neatly into any narrative frame. And of course we’ll see how Harris does tonight. But for now, this is a big deal. The Democratic Party is unified behind an actually compelling idea. People were worrying about a replay of 1968? Unless something really unexpected happens tonight, Chicago 2024 is the final burial ceremony of Chicago 1968.
