The current Democratic candidate did not create a grassroots movement that would propel her to the top. She was appointed from above and became the face of an already existing movement – the wave of opposition to Donald Trump. It must be admitted that this is not just any face. Americans love the news, and she is the first black woman to run for president, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants. Differences in agenda aside, this fact alone leaves Trump perplexed.
He considers women a luxury item, is afraid of strong, independent women, and doesn’t know how to talk to them. And his rival’s origins undermine his chauvinistic, anti-immigrant, crypto-racist demagogy. Although Kamala’s parents came from “shithole” countries—as the former president puts it—they are not “thugs, lunatics, drug dealers, pimps, cannibals.” When Trump Sr., a New York tenement owner, was suing the government over potential increased discrimination against black tenants, Kamala’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was conducting biomedical research at Berkeley, and her father, Donald Harris, was teaching economics at Stanford.
Just a month ago, Biden was supposed to speak on the final day of the event, when the party’s nominee traditionally thanks his fellow nominees for the nomination. He stepped forward to pass the baton to Kamala. So she, too, broke with tradition. Just like Trump, who couldn’t deny himself the pleasure of showing off at the Republican convention and graciously accepting honors from the very beginning. He had an excuse – 48 hours earlier he had miraculously escaped the assassin’s bullets, admirers wanted to see if he was safe and sound.
The vice president’s job includes delivering eulogies, so Biden’s eight years as Obama’s replacement have prepared him well to deliver his own. Very late. In the past three decades, I have not seen a single Democratic convention go ahead on schedule. Military discipline is the domain of the right. Due to an organizational snafu, the 81-year-old appeared onstage at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time, rather than in prime time. The frenzied ovation with which the delegates greeted the occupant of the White House did not obscure the fact that they had earlier expelled him. The president wiped away tears of emotion, or—as the snidely put it—of anger, and then delivered a historic 52-minute speech with great efficiency.
He looked 10 years younger than he had during the disastrous debate with Trump. It was hard to resist wondering whether he would really be able to handle the difficulties of the campaign and the challenges of a second term. But three-quarters of Americans thought he wouldn’t, so the party forced him to resign, even though he had won 3,905 electoral votes in the primaries, compared to his rivals’ 7. Under pressure from activists, he freed his delegates from the obligation to vote according to the preferences of the general electorate and recommended Ms Harris for the nomination.
When the chants of “We love you, Joe” died down, he launched an attack on Trump. He did not spare epithets like “loser,” “liar,” “criminal,” “coward.” He recalled the Republican’s flirtation with neo-fascists and the attempts to rig the elections, culminating in the attack on the Capitol. He assured that by nominating Kamala as vice president, he made the best decision of his life because she is tough, experienced, and extremely honest. And that’s it. He didn’t really dwell on it.
We won’t know how he really felt until he publishes his memoirs, and maybe then, too. With a deafening roar of “Thank you!” after all, the party was honoring him not for half a century of public service, but for his dismissal from other services. If there are limits to hypocrisy in politics, the palace coup leader Nancy Pelosi has certainly crossed them with her “We love you, Joe” sign.
A generational changing of the guard
The glorious past of the Democratic Party was also personified by Hillary Clinton. Without false modesty, she emphasized her role in breaking the “highest and hardest glass ceiling” that limits women’s potential. Now it’s Kamala’s turn: she will break the last barrier and sit in the Oval Office. The former Secretary of State did not fail to recall that the man who accused her of imaginary crimes was found guilty of 34 criminal charges. And the audience remembered the slogan chanted against Hillary at Trump’s rallies, but in the version “Lock him up!” Very appropriate, because the president is actually facing prison.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez radiated positive energy. Over the past 6 years, she has gone from local to national star and has yet to say the last word. Demonizing her alleged left-wing extremism, like many other right-wing propaganda tropes, does not stand up to reality. It is the Republicans who have strayed from the mainstream of voters’ needs and expectations. Trump recently threatened that “Camel (sic!) wants everyone to have healthcare”! Even his most loyal fans could not bring themselves to be outraged by this communist heresy. Well, it is hard to be both a working-class hero and a guarantor of big business privileges.
From the moment it became clear that Harris would be nominated, Democrats have contrasted Trump’s gloom with the optimism of a candidate who represents a generation that may not be entirely young, but at least not decrepit. The president, against the advice of strategists, is using the same rhetoric he used eight years ago. He terrorized the Republican convention. Illegal immigrants are murdering hundreds of thousands of Americans. They have taken 107 percent (that’s what he said, I swear) of the jobs we’ve created. Inflation is at an all-time high. The planet is burning. Democrats are rigging elections and persecuting the opposition through a corrupt judicial system. World War III is about to break out. America is in danger of total collapse.
Harris lifts the spirits of her countrymen, promising a bright future, while constantly convincing them that she and her vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, are having a great time. Okay, we get it, we get it: You’re having a great time. Even the usually boring reporting of each state’s electoral votes was an excuse to party. New York’s famed DJ Cassidy had something fun for everyone.
Alabama’s delegates were treated, of course, to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama”, Arkansas – Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” (the anthem of Bill Clinton’s first campaign), Florida – Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down”, New Jersey – Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” He played rock’n’roll, punk, hip-hop, soul – et pluribus unum. And all this diversity was personified and united in a new quality by the nominee – Lenny Kravitz’s “American Woman” (from The Guess Who). Trump played God’s music, which almost no one hears every day. No hitmaker has allowed Republicans to use their songs.
Joy, great joy
Historically, voters have always preferred candidates who appeal to hope rather than fear. Like JFK, Bill Clinton (the man from Hope Town), Barack Obama. However, American politics is becoming increasingly similar to European politics. Trump plays the tunes composed by populists from the Old Continent, which brought them victories in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and considerable success in France and Germany. He did the same, of course, but only once, eight years ago, but every American builder knows the popular wisdom: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Hence the invectives “crazy laugh”, “very low IQ”, “weak-headed”, “nasty witch”. Personal trips attract a tough electorate, so there is no point in moderating the rudeness and arrogance that come so easily and naturally. Side note: has anyone heard Trump laugh? Sometimes he makes a strange grimace indicating a smile, but for example, although I have observed the president for longer than I would like, often at close range, I have never seen him amused, happy or cheerful. Sociopathy – according to his niece and psychology professor Mary Trump? Or just huge complexes that make it impossible to let one’s guard down, even for a moment?
The Obamas descended from Mount Olympus to the United Center in human form. Television goddess Oprah urged us to “choose joy.” In addition to Hillary, her husband Bill spoke. He clarified that it was a “great joy.” “Let’s go crazy with joy,” encouraged John Legend. Pop culture credibility was also given to the phenomenon of Kamala, a superheroine who brings joy, hope for a better future and freedom (the second leitmotif of the campaign): Pink, Stevie Wonder, Common, Patti LaBelle, The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks), Spike Lee, Lil Jon, Eva Longoria, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), James Taylor, Stephen Colbert, Kerry Washington, Ben Stiller, coach of the basketball players who brought gold medals from Paris – Steve Kerr.
The best orators on the American political scene, big-league celebrities singing beautiful songs, bangs, screeches, roars, whistles, a cheerful kitsch of gadgets like cowboy hats with flashing lights, the obligatory avalanche of balloons (100,000), patriotic euphoria and righteous indignation undoubtedly mobilized the Democratic electorate and attracted a certain percentage of undecided voters to the left. The polls will soon reflect this “jump in the conventions” – as the pundits call it. It is worth noting that the Republicans – contrary to historical regularities – hit a low point after their deliberations.
Kamala brilliantly read the speech composed by the greatest masters of rhetoric. Certainly better than Biden could have done. Without mincing words, she explained that her rival was a frivolous person, but that he represented a serious threat to democracy, international stability and women’s rights. But Americans are waiting for him to speak with his own voice. He will show his strength, reflexes and knowledge of the problems of the country and the world in front of journalists who ask tough questions. She will touch their hearts and convince the factory teams, the customers of the local pubs, the unemployed, the uninsured and those who count every penny, for whom she positions herself as a defender, of her vision. And above all, she will subdue her opponent by coming face to face with him.
If I had a dollar for every reminder that she was a prosecutor and held Trump accountable, I would be a rich man and instead of writing this, I would be sipping a drink under an umbrella on a tropical beach. But an election debate is not a court proceeding. All tricks are allowed. You cannot raise an objection and ask that a lie, a distortion, an act below the belt, an insult or a degrading gesture be removed from the record. How Kamala is without glue, a friendly audience, poked, provoked, insulted – we will only see. The election results will be determined by surprises that are today impossible to predict.
