10 positive things: Comma-la

Or, Was Nikki Haley right?

I don’t know if my experience is common to others who grew up in the U.S. and then left for somewhere else. But in most countries, every time I open my mouth (at least around someone I haven’t met before), I’m asked where I’m from. In Canada this didn’t happen so much because my accent didn’t automatically give me away; maybe that’s why I came to feel fully Canadian, but try explaining that to someone in England. Anyway, once people figure out where I was born, which is what they really want to know, they start asking me to account for America. That’s why I always have to have something to say about whoever the president is: first Clinton and Bush Jr., later Obama, Trump, and Biden.

Now, the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, has secured enough delegates to be presumed the Democratic nominee for President. Even though a new candidate at this late date is a big risk, there’s rightly a lot of excitement around her. The Democratic party is acting like a party, and taking the risk that it needs to win an election that many believe is existentially important. Back in January, when Nikki Haley was contesting the Republican primary, she stated: “The first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate is going to win.” I voted for Haley in that primary, because I think she was right.

Would Kamala Harris have won an open primary, if the Democrats had had one? Maybe not, if it had been held in 2023; but it is July 2024. And no, America has never had a black, Asian, female president before.

Do you know who else America’s never had for president? A member of Generation X.¹

For my entire voting life, I’ve been waiting for it to be my generation’s turn. The leaders of other countries would be Harris’s peers. But it’s not just about age: There has been a Bush, Clinton, or Biden on the ticket in every presidential election since 1976. That is to say, most of the U.S. population has never seen an election without one.

And the first line of attack against Harris is her laugh?!

I love her laugh. And I love seeing more of her, because Biden was getting just painful to watch, while Trump remains “extremist, toxically unpopular,” and “highly vulnerable,” to use Bill Palmer’s phrasing.

To be clear: I did not think it was beyond possible that Trump’s close call with an assassin’s bullet might have changed his heart. I certainly prayed to that effect. Unfortunately, his attempt at being unifying and presidential didn’t last even the length of his convention speech. When the shooting happened, President Biden called “Donald” to see if he was okay. In return, his instinct was to kick Biden when he was down.

Democrats seem to have momentarily forgotten that in America, most people dislike Trump. By “people” I mean most voters, not the type of Democratic voters who say things like “I’d rather vote for Joe Biden’s corpse” (I have said foolish things too). And as strange as it sounds after an assassination attempt—he will never have as good a week as that week of the Republican National Convention.

Politics is about momentum. Everything was going right for Trump, until it wasn’t. Kamala Harris has a higher floor than he does--and a much higher ceiling. Yes, it’s a glass ceiling, and yes, the social media arena nicknamed “black Twitter” was instantly alight with excitement, but also worry. Black women have stepped up for the Democratic party time and again. Will others now step up and defend one of them as vigorously?

Make no mistake: no one is more disappointed at Biden’s leaving the race than Trump. The entire Republican campaign was predicated on Biden being the candidate and looking weak and old. That comparison with Trump is gone now. The people I mentioned above will see an opportunity to escape this creaking gerontocracy which, until recently, has stifled the many talents of what is sometimes called the Democratic “bench.” On the Republican side, J. D. Vance is a Millennial, but that’s the least of his problems.

The choice of Vance as a running mate makes a lot of sense as a successor to Trump—as the unprincipled leader of a hollowed-out Republican party. But there’s no strategy to it. There’s no gain in a swing state, no appeal beyond the Make America Great Again base, to people not already convinced Trump is great. (I’ve thought a lot about Vance—much of it not negative, as it happens—but I’ll resist writing, at least till I see whom the Democrats nominate as their vice presidential candidate.)

So here, as I see them, are 5 strengths about Vice President Harris that seemed obvious before she got the delegates:

• She is already on the ticket, and was voted for to be the president if needed. She can creditably run on the many accomplishments of the Biden administration (and articulate them much more effectively than Biden’s now able to do).

• She “leans in” to her experience as a prosecutor and can draw sharp contrasts with her opponent.

• She is highly creditable to make the case against the extreme abortion bans that (as I mentioned in my last post) have been voted down in every state since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. No matter how “red” the state. This is Democrats’ strongest issue politically, whether you want it to be or not. For many reasons, Biden was a poor candidate on that issue.

• There are early signs that she is already attracting new voters, including significant numbers who deeply disliked both Biden and Trump, and younger voters who connect via social media in a way Harris and her campaign can relate to easily.

• If there was ever a time to take a risk (such as, on a South Asian-Jamaican-American woman candidate), why not now? As the vice president, she’s been thoroughly vetted and is nationally known. She only has room to grow.

I know that Harris has drawbacks and detractors, but the Republican campaign can make those points, so I won’t here. As a Canadian friend said: “If Trump is arguing with her about policy, he’s losing.” And don’t we want our elections to be about things that truly matter?

Now, here are 5 ideas that could help elect her, for those who accept that challenge:

1.    Remind people of all the things they dislike about Trump. The fact that he is now the much older candidate, who often speaks incoherently. The relentless nastiness, to which he returns as if he just can’t help himself. The chaos. Remind them how exhausting it is to see and hear Trump everywhere every day. Cite Project 2025 IF you can cite specific things that are actually in it. Please don’t just pass along memes of things it doesn’t say or that Vance didn’t say. Don’t do Republican campaigners’ work for them.

2.    Respond to the excitement that there is finally someone new in the race. Recognize that, while Kamala Harris is the most nationally known of possible Democratic nominees, there is also a lot voters don’t yet know about her. She has in fact been an unusually active vice president and can justly be credited with a lot that Biden has accomplished. Don’t be distracted by what the Republican campaign says about her; they badly wanted Joe Biden to stay in the race, not for Trump to run against an energetic 59-year-old experienced prosecutor. Harris has some downside—like any politician—but she has a lot of potential upside. Focus on that.²

3.    Take energy, again, from the excitement. Is attention back on the Democrats now? Will the national convention in Chicago be must-watch TV! Yes; welcome that! Democrats are a bold party who acted like a political party, unlike the G.O.P. which allowed itself to be taken over as the vehicle for a single ambitious man. People (again, see “voters,” above) have been telling pollsters for years that they want another choice than the same two guys from 2020, now even older. The Republican party ignored those people, while the Democrats have listened. The party that trusts the people will be rewarded.

4.    And speaking of trusting the people: There is no time to worry about how “other people” (always “others”!) are racist or sexist and therefore won’t vote for this nominee. Give them a chance. Give young voters—by whom I mean, those now under 70!—a chance to see themselves reflected in a candidate for president, for the first time in our entire lives. Do not worry about the fact that Harris, in her 2020 primary campaign, did not get very far. Not only has she been the serving vice president since then, but 2020 was not a good moment for a former Attorney General to get the nomination. It was a moment of peak Black Lives Matter and skepticism about law enforcement. Not that black lives don’t matter as much as ever (Harris, after all, is a black life), but we are not in that political moment anymore. We have a candidate with felony convictions running against someone who can forcefully argue against him.

5.    I think the most important thing for Democrats is to retain control of the Senate and regain the House of Representatives. Both of those will be tough tasks, but not nearly as tough with a new nominee at the top of the ticket. All but one poll of competitive Senate races, going back to March, had the Democratic candidate doing better than Biden as the presidential candidate (in one they were tied). Work hard for those people. Not only are they needed to get anything accomplished in a potential Harris term; they’d be needed even more as checks and balances if the presidential election goes against her. Unlike a parliamentary system, the U.S. system of government is designed with multiple branches so that no one person can just run away with the government. There is no energy to waste worrying about one man. Line up to see how you can help the man or woman running in your nearest competitive district or state.

Finally, remember that people want something positive to vote for. I know Trump scares the bejeezus out of a lot of people but remember, he’s not an ideologue; he doesn’t believe in anything but himself. If enough voters were put off by January 6 and all the lies about a stolen election, he would not be the nominee now. As much as Democrats talk about this election as a referendum on democracy, the winning issues will be less abstract things that people who don’t read much political news really care about. To the extent that most people are worried about the Supreme Court, it’s the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, not more recent shenanigans. Stay focused on things that are proven to win.

1. The only generation actually defined by the U.S. Census Bureau is the Baby Boom (birth dates mid-1946 to mid-1964). Kamala Harris was born in October 1964, but she also “reads as younger” than her 59 years. So both demographically and spiritually, she would be the first Generation X president.

2. Here is a highly detailed and entertaining video about everything that Kamala Harris has accomplished as vice president, which you might not know and should let everybody you’re talking to know about. Please note that it dates from before Biden ended his campaign for reelection. Harris’s accomplishments are more relevant than ever now.