WASHINGTON (AP) – Four days before the Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago, the party’s proposed platform is naming the wrong candidate for president.
The Democratic platform — essentially a document outlining the goals and policy positions the party supports — has not been updated since the draft was released on July 13, eight days before President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
The committee responsible for putting together the platform worked for more than a year to prepare it, among other things, leaving room for key voters to comment and make changes earlier this summer. But the language on the floor of Congress to be passed by delegates has not been changed since Biden left the race. The rules body is not scheduled to meet to update the platform before the convention begins on Monday.
Harris has not released a detailed list of his policy positions since moving to the top of the Democratic ticket, though his campaign aides have suggested he is no longer sticking to some of the more liberal positions he took in his first run for president in 2020, including hydraulic acceptance of the ban on demolition. The political platform, which usually spells out the party’s positions with strong input from the presidential candidate’s allies, also does not currently provide insight into his direct views on key issues.
The platform is not binding. But some Democrats criticized Republicans for not being more open when they adopted their party’s 16-page platform at the GOP convention last month in Milwaukee — including changing the document to more closely follow former President Donald Trump’s positions on abortion and other key issues.
“The Democratic Party platform embodies the values of our party and builds on the historic accomplishments Democrats have made during the Biden-Harris administration,” the Democratic National Committee said in a statement Thursday. “The platform committee worked diligently with stakeholders from all corners of our party to create a bold, progressive agenda for the next four years, and the platform delegates will vote on at the convention reflects that process.”
Yet the introduction to July’s preliminary draft states, “President Biden, Vice President Harris and the Democrats are running out of steam” — which, of course, is no longer true now that Biden is out of the race.
The Democrats’ proposed platform is 80 pages long and focuses carefully on how the Biden-Harris ticket differs from Trump’s, language that could still be used even if the party’s ticket is now different.
It mocks the former president and current Republican presidential candidate “focused not on opportunity and optimism, but on vengeance and revenge; It accuses Trump and his party of seeking to “tear away our foundation of personal liberties, dictate what health care decisions women can make, ban books and to tell people who they can love”.
Most of the platform’s core conclusions support the work of the Biden administration. Since launching his presidential campaign, Harris has spoken publicly of his support for the top goals of the Biden administration.
That means the retention draft platform aligns with many of his views — though the fact that the nominees’ names haven’t been changed suggests that the new ticket hasn’t had as much input as is typical when crafting a list of what it should fight for if it wins the White House.
The Democratic platform draft calls for restoring abortion rights nationwide, promoting green energy initiatives that can create jobs and slow climate change, limit child care costs for low-income families and urge Congress to approve a way to obtain US citizenship for “long-term” people in the country illegally.
It also says Israel’s right to defend itself is “ironclad” and supports the Biden administration’s efforts to broker a lasting ceasefire that could halt fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
