Friday, August 23, 2024

Today's News: Kamala Harris, the Serendipity President

As I watched Kamala Harris's great speech tonight, I pondered the serendipity of the moment, the incredible chain of accident and surprise and coincidence and luck that brought her to that stage:
First, in 2020 Biden had picked her for VP, so she achieved a national profile and, eventually, hired an excellent staff.
Then, in 2023, Biden decided to seek another term, so the Democratic primaries last spring were not contested by democrats with much more political credibility and experience -- I suspect dems like Pete, Whitmer, Newsom, Booker, Warnnock, Beto, and Kelly, even AOC, might well have beaten Harris in primary voting last spring; she wasn't recognized as much of a campaigner and anyway she would have been stuck in Washington for Senate votes.
Then, the Republicans were so successful with their "he's old" smear / whisper campaign -- too successful, because it doomed Biden's reelection chances.
Then, Biden did himself no favours either. He was either so pigheaded or so poorly advised that he stretched himself too thin over the last year - agreeing to the Hur interview last Oct 8, when it looked like the Middle East would go to war, and to the June debate with Trump, even though he was sick, and exhausted from two overseas trips,  So ultimately, by July, Biden was losing so badly that even a slam-bang press conference couldn't save him, even though millions watched. So fnally Pelosi and, I think, Obama were able to persuade him to withdraw.
And the last serendipitous event: when Biden called Harris that Sunday, she was ready. She had obviously prepared for it to happen, she had set up her team, decided on her plan, and jumped into it so quickly, making hundreds of phone calls that very day, lining up endorsements and taking advantage of Zoom organizing sessions, with such verve and panache that no one else could catch up. 
And in the weeks since, she hasn't made an error or a flub.
The result was this magnificent speech:
Jonathan Chait Kamala Harris Gave The Best Acceptance Speech I've Ever Seen 
... Kamala Harris rose to the occasion with a perfect nominating acceptance speech. I’ve never seen a nominee target their political objectives so precisely. The text was ideally suited to the electoral challenge she faces, and her delivery exuded strength and inspiration. I have not hesitated to criticize either the substantive merits or the political shrewdness of Harris’s choices. I could find nothing to criticize in this speech. 
Robert Reich The President We Need:
...I’m elated because she elicits an energy, enthusiasm, and ebullience that America desperately needs.
I’m also amazed at how quickly it happened. She took the reins a bit over four weeks ago and immediately opened a floodgate of excitement I didn’t see coming.
...Her choices — of vice president, of the rollout of her campaign, of the staging of the convention, of campaign staff — have been superb.
What’s also become clear is that she’s the perfect foil for Trump.
In every way, she’s his antithesis. She was a prosecutor; he’s a convicted felon also indicted for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. She’s kept her ideals; he’s kept his cynicism. She wants an inclusive America; he wants an exclusive one. She uses the power of joy and hope in politics; he uses the power of fear and revenge....
We have learned that Trump cannot be beaten at his own game. He cannot be out-threatened. He cannot be shouted down. He is beyond shame or guilt. He emits lies at such volume and repetition they cannot be corrected.
The only way to beat him is by playing an entirely different game — a game that draws on qualities that are the opposite of his, that appeals to those aspects of the American character diametrically opposed to his.
Lincoln spoke of the better angels of our nature. Those better angels are still there but have lain dormant since 2016. Biden tried reviving them, but he didn’t have the energy or stamina to pull it off. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz do.
She will make a great president. Walz will make a great vice president.
It’s wonderful to feel excited again, isn’t it? Now, let’s make this happen.

earnest posting here, but both the walz and harris speeches focused on neighbors and friends and community in a way that resonates really fucking deep with me.

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) Aug 22, 2024 at 11:37 PM
The last word on Obama's dick joke:
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