Harris rides in with an enthusiasm and possibility that we have not seen since Obama in '08. Had she gone through a grueling primary or if she were facing, say, Nicky Haley the contrast would still be important but this situation is noteworthy.
A few weeks ago she was not thinking of running for president. To take up this task now must be emotionally and intellectually challenging. Her honest loyalty and commitment to the Biden Administration made her one of his most stalwart and committed supporters. She was doing her job. Now her job is to rally the base and, quite possibily, bring new voters into this debate and conversation. She'll need help from those who can reach into that world---our media is siloed and sequestered as it has never been before. And she will need to help herself.
So far she has, at least in my humble opinion, been nothing short of brilliant. What we need to see the same maturity, thoughtfulness, and seriousness that she's so clearly shown since President Biden passed the torch. This will demonstrate vividly, unambiguously the kind of difference that will win Republican women, Never Trumpers, and others whose tribal loyalties influence their choices. But at the same time there is the opportunity to reach a generation of younger voters who have been disaffected and lamenting their choices. Well, the choice now could not be clearer. Keep dancing, laughing, being yourself, Ms Vice President: it's fetching, authentic, and convincing across the electorate.
We must not underestimate the vicious, shameless vitriol that will come from MAGA world. Those voters are, at least as I see it, unreachable. But they are also unnecessary to create a viable path to convincing victory. Harris simply will not appeal to the majority of those voters whose grievance entitlements, anger, latent and shameless racism are plain for all to see. The good news is that there are fewer of these voters than ever. How does Trump win new voters when Harris offers a serious, inviting alternative? I would expect the vaunted surge in minority men turning MAGA to flail.
Trump represents the past, both in the worst ways we have ever been Americans and in the more tangible and recent iterations. The current issues that Harris will highlight will not be lost on all voters but especially women who understand the threat that MAGA poses to their rights and the future---shall we add climate change, foreign policy, civil rights? Wherever we look the contrast in choices could not be more palpable or more stark.
The task is reach the majority, the solid 53+ or more percent of Americans who do not want the chaos and madness of another Trump Administration. Every day VP Harris and her cohort need to remind Americans of that derangement and delusion, the violence and incoherence of Trump. Do people really want to wake up everyday worrying what he will do next? What the next obscenity, stupidity, or impulse will create in our lives? VP Harris can be vital, a vision of the future that is at once stable, substantial, and reliable.
It is also possible to make this, as Obama did, a referendum on the future. We need a future emerging from a coherent present, an America that embraces change and offers perdurable truth and decency. This will appeal to those voters we must rally in the swing States. The message must draw out this contrast.
Do we really want to continue the ugly, pointless, mendacious, and chaotic conversations of the recent past? More about the phony stolen election? More about COVID and vaccines and injecting bleach? "Good people on both sides" when that means Nazi-esque nationalists?
VP Harris has a real opportunity not only to take us from this ugly past but to chart a future, a vision for all and for the middle class who she must champion to win.
I am admittedly surprised by the D establishment's solid, sober collective effort to unite and commit to a winning process. If VP Harris's performance continues as we just saw in Milwaukee and if she continues to win the battle of memes that will energize young voters, then there is a real chance. We must expect MAGA to be energized to answer to their cult leader. They will vote. Will we?
The election results could be decisive should a broad coalition of voters commit to the future and turn out. (Call me skeptical still because I prefer working the streets to wishful thinking.) We could really use such a decisive, unambiguous result. We know that the MAGA cult will accept no result but their victory, which is why a clear result for Harris in those Blue Wall States would be vital for our nation and our future.
With Biden in office, Harris the President-Elect, the next Jan 6th will be far harder to pull off---and that is not inconsequential. I think we can expect MAGA to incite violence every step of the way because that is what they have done in the past and have said they will do should they not be handed power.
But that is the future, albeit near and to be taken seriously. What is immediate is raising this threshold of enthusiasm to new levels. It is to take away the dread and despair that has, at least for me, been palpable and disabling. I confess that in recent weeks I simply could not stand the news. My tangible dread wore into my soul. I don't think I was alone in those feelings. Now, with real possibility and work to do, there is time to turn things around.
We need to put our collective best foot forward and do the right thing, day after day for the next hundred and some days. We will find out what America is about and even if that result is disaster, we will know something important, honest, real. We must rally to goodness, each of us, no matter how small it may seem. What we can do together is not small, it is a call to greatness and to a real future. To be frank, we know the alternative is ruinous, and that must not be allowed to happen. It is time to rally.
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