The Presidency Is a “Black Job”
You should watch the video of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, as they waited backstage in Milwaukee as the call of delegates was livecast in Fiserv Forum, packed to the gills, the same venue where the GOP held their convention a very long month ago. As Gavin Newsom, in Chicago’s United Center, cast the last votes making the Vice President the formal nominee of the party, Harris and Walz stood together.
It’s time for us to do the right thing, and that is to elect Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States of America. California, we proudly cast our 400 and 82 votes for the next President, Kamala Harris.
The range of emotions that registered on Kamala’s face started with, perhaps, anxiety or perhaps a sense of unreality. As Newsom cast the votes, she seemed to focus — Walz, standing next to her backstage, had begun to go nuts. She bent her head back and began to register some kind of joy.
But then there was a moment where her eyes got big. She got an almost childlike expression in them, as if she couldn’t believe what just happened, couldn’t believe the enormity of it all.
Then it began to settle. Perhaps pride came in.
Finally she turned to Walz, gave him a high-five handshake, a hug. It’s only after that hug where she came away with a full joyful smile.
As I watched that video, I couldn’t help but think to the significant number of people who, as they were trying to get Joe Biden to drop off the ticket, were inventing reasons to pass over Kamala Harris.
Many people, white and Black, progressive and not, opined with certainty that the country was not ready to elect a Black woman.
There has been almost no discussion of that since the day, exactly a month ago, when Joe Biden endorsed her.
To be sure: the fact that she would be the first woman president, the first Black woman president, the first Asian-American president — people keep talking about that (though as several stories on the Convention noted, particularly in comparison with Hillary, Kamala is not dwelling on that).
To be equally sure, the challenge it presents is not something anyone is forgetting. Certainly Michelle Obama addressed the challenge before us in her speech, which started with a tribute to the memory of her own mother, Marian Robinson, who passed away in May, and paid tribute to Kamala’s mother, along the way. (In his speech, Obama also paid tribute to Robinson, likening her to his grandmother.)
After declaring there is no monopoly on what it means to be an American, Michelle described what it’s like to grow up without the privilege Trump has enjoyed.
Because no one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American. No one.
Kamala has shown her allegiance to this nation, not by spewing anger and bitterness, but by living a life of service and always pushing the doors of opportunity open to others. She understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward. We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth. If we bankrupt the business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third, or fourth chance. If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. No. We don’t get to change the rules, so we always win. If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top. No. We put our heads down. We get to work. In America, we do something.
That wasn’t necessarily a comment on race. Few Americans enjoy the privilege that Trump has.
But what followed was about race. Michelle turned to the attacks Donald Trump had launched on her and Barack.
It was the first time Michelle named Trump.
we know what comes next. We know folks are going to do everything they can to distort her truth. My husband and I, sadly, know a little something about this. For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black.
Then she flipped it all back on Donald Trump. The office of the Presidency is a “Black job” now.
Wait, I want to know: Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those “Black jobs”?
Michelle moved from there to name Trump’s misogyny and racism as a substitute for his own inadequacy. Later, she returned to those “who don’t want to vote for a woman,” but prescribed “Do something” when it happens.
We cannot be our own worst enemies. The minute something goes wrong, the minute a lie takes hold, folks, we cannot start wringing our hands. We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is ‘just right.’ We cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala, instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected.
You can read the rest here.
The First Black First Lady warned everyone. The shit is going to fly. But when it happens, you just have to Do Something to push back on the lies and racism and misogyny.
I don’t know whether, in the month since Biden endorsed Kamala, people set aside the belief that America is not ready to elect a Black woman, or just recommitted to making this happen regardless of the racism and sexism of America, in spite of it. Or maybe, for some, that was always just an excuse to ask for someone else.
I responded, back when people said the US was not ready for the first Black woman president, that with Dobbs on the ballot, with fascism on the ballot, after several elections in which Black women voters saved the country, a Black woman candidate may be the most logical choice. Indeed, as Trump has struggled, and usually failed, to come up with some attack on the Vice President that didn’t turn his dog whistles into a clarion call of racism, his insecurities about running against Kamala have made it harder for the press to normalize his racism.
Being bested by a smart, beautiful Black woman may be precisely the Kryptonite to Trump’s power the country has been looking for.
Beautifully written. TY. Michelle’s speech was the most devastating take-down of Donald Trump I have ever heard. You must have stayed up very late for that. Michelle’s comment analogizing generational wealth to affirmative action probably floored anyone who has never heard that analogy before. It is tone perfect and shows what a gigantic hypocrite and infantile whiner Trump really is. Barack’s speech later, about Americans all being our brother and sister’s keepers brought tears to my eyes and a tingle to my spine. The Obamas alone may have turned the tide to a solid Democratic victory in November!
Oh, I’m not staying up for these!!
Doubt I’ll even stay up for Kamala’s speech. Maybe I’ll set an alarm.
Happily, CSPAN breaks out all the individual speeches. If you didn’t see it, I recommend Stephanie Grisham’s as well.
https://www.c-span.org/democratic-national-convention-2024/day-2/
Thanks again!
I watched them this morning on my iPad. I stayed up for the roll call because I love each states enthusiasm, watching the people and hearing what their states are famous for. By the end it was already past my bedtime.
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Good speeches aside, we need “everybody” to turn the tide toward a solid win in November. When a gang is pulling a rope, who’s to say whose arms made the final lift possible? In the heat of battle, you never know when it will be your turn to lead the squad, the platoon, the company, the army. Michelle recognized that the need is for everybody, get to work. You can’t wait to be called upon. We haven’t time for that foolishness.
The Obamas are absolutely right though. American voters can make this happen, and in such a convincing fashion that GOP efforts to steal the election will fail before they get off the ground.
Decent Americans can encourage their friends, and neighbors, and strangers in their community, to vote for positive change. Vote for freedom and democracy. Vote against the bile and hate and FUD that the right wing spews continuously. Show the GOP that America wants to go forwards into the future, not backwards into the past.
“Being bested by a smart, beautiful Black woman may be precisely the Kryptonite to Trump’s power the country has been looking for.”
The founding “fathers” say hooray.
I do think that many of those “fathers” would be proud of this moment and cheer on the hoped-for outcome. But I also believe that many would do this silently – not risking their own place in society. Just like too many of us today.
I don’t remember exactly when, but at some point as the was talking about her mom at the top of her speech, I got the sense this would be special. There was a twinkle in her eye, and a little more “south side” crept into her attitude and her tone of voice.
She went there. She smiled as she deftly took the knife from Donald Trump, and smiled more broadly as she twirled it in her hand. She twirled it faster, and everyone in the room held their breath waiting for her to use it. She did not disappoint.
She did not out-insult Donald Trump.
She did not out-sleaze the GOP.
She did not out-whine the MAGA faithful.
She out-Americaned them.
She *did* something.
She eviscerated the smallness of Trump and the GOP, lifted up the grandness of the vision of the Democratic party, and called on every one who could hear her to *live* a grand life, not a small one.
It was a delight to behold.
This.
Michelle knocked it out of the fucking park!
Especially the section you highlighted, “the affirmative action of generational wealth”.
I’m so pleased, Kamala was who I wanted back in ’20, but it wasn’t her time; it is now! After watching her rip Kavanaugh, I realized she was special: “Can you think of any laws that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?”. Kavanaugh: ” Ummm…”.
Biden really surprised me with how consequential his term became, I have great respect for him, not only for his own accomplishments in office, but for willingly taking a back seat to support our first Black president, and also for passing the torch to a new generation (she’s genx, I don’t care what you say!) and first female President.
Legend.
Thanks, Brian. A visual to go with your excellent comment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6qP6Mlq9dU
“Can you think of any laws give government power to make decisions about male body?”- Kamala Harris, 9/5/18
Michelle’s speech, presentation and devastating takedown of Trump stunned in every way. And her outfit. Wow just wow, that is power. A futuristic feminine take on a reconstructed men’s suit with inverted lapels.
Yes, that outfit was a finely honed statement in itself.
Taking into account GdB’s comment below [“Louboutin heels”],
I’ll sharpen the above to:
Yes, that outfit was a finely honed stiletto statement in itself.
Poor Donny’s head is spinning. Since he owns the GOP, and it is one with his campaign, like the Trump Org., it can do little without him, on pain of receiving his rebuke (a sign of how he would run his second reign). So, anything that distracts him is good thing. Let’s hope the energy from public events like last night lead to the response Harris//Walz, the Obamas, and many others hope for.
Michelle Obama has always understood fashion in the profoundest way. That outfit outdid a closet full of Louboutin heels, for exactly the reasons y’all articulate: we could not take our eyes off of *her* or our attention from what she was saying.
Michelle Obama Suits the Moment On Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention, the former first lady (and her husband) suited up for the next stage. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/21/style/michelle-obama-dnc-fashion.html Aug. 21, 2024 Updated 11:13 a.m. ET [Vanessa Friedman has covered political image-making and its influences since Bush vs. Gore […]]
And the bare arms!
All of that matters. However, at my age, living in 1954 in New Orleans, where schools were segregated, when Brown was decided, being ten years old, with buses having wood sign movable as to crowding, colored behind the sign, whites in front, there has been movement. Events were shaped to where Harris was fast tracked, my concern being which next four year option made more sense, a traditional Dem voter, it is easy to vote color blind. Living color blind is still a goal, needing future generations to get there.
During my early childhood but outside my memory. Jackie Robinson integrated baseball 1947, Truman integrated the military 1948, Shelly v. Kramer striking down racial covenants in residential deeds was SCOTUS 1948. Coming out of the war it was generally seen that change needed pushing by government. Voting rights in Lyndon Johnson years, lenders still red-lining. It is crazy it took so long, but women’s voting took time too. It is crazy, but part of the human condition. Harris offers a better agenda, she’s not wigged out, not mean, and the job is not out of line with her talents. Why is there even a doubt? But there is until votes get counted. After the Civil War history is things got better, then worsened. We are not yet a color blind society, but the Harris bottom line is she’s better. Walz being the better back-up.
My father, born in Baton Rouge in 1924, used to say — among the family but not to business associates — that ‘someday Americans will be a tea-colored race.’
(Yeah, I know, we’re not any kind of race and he understood that more than anyone, but he was speaking in the vernacular.)
I did not believe that it would happen in my lifetime, or even in my children’s lifetime, but he was right. It still seems strange to me to walk through Hartsfield-Jackson airport and see the interracial couples.
When I was a boy, such an event would have resulted in, at least, murder and, perhaps, riots.
When I was a child it was my family. All my siblings are tea-colored people. All my father’s family are tea-colored.
It hasn’t been strange for decades to be tea-colored. It’s about goddamned time our representation looks like us.
The tea color was there all right, but the recognition was obscured by the assignment of mixed people as black. That there has been much hooraw among the thumbsuckers over whether Harris can be Indian and black at the same time tells me that the division of Americans into binary colors is still the default.
We have a ways to go before social constructs catch up with biology.
t
.
I’m White and I want to see Americans turn into a tea-colored race!
Troutwaxer @ 12:46
Reminds me of what Frank Zappa said in Trouble Every day (from Freak Out 1965):
Hey you know something people
I’m not black
But there’s a whole lots a times
I wish I could say I’m not white
@ Matt__B (Zappa):
Weasels rip my (white) flesh
Michelle Obama certainly brought the fire.
And the lines about Trump seeking a Black job were sublime. Akin to Sen. Harris asking Kavanaugh whether he could think of any laws restricting men’s health decisions. Simple yet perspective and narrative changing.
Both Obamas reminded the country what “family values” really means.
Michelle and Barack Obama soared last night in Chicago! I’ve watched 2 nights now of the DNC until midnight. Last night was the most amazing experience. These two fine, intelligent people changed everything. Something has been lifted and freed up. There are more hummingbirds than ever this morning. Something is different.
More hummingbirds = migration underway
Let’s hope it’s the best kind of migration, from red to blue on the ballot.
Heh. Insecurities, indeed.
(h/t Tomi Ahonen)
My favourite moment of the speech.
Someone caught his hands a lot closer together than I did!
I haven’t watched it yet, and skipped the live event. Is he mimicking and mocking the Trump accordion hands gesture? Or was it simply a reference to size?
Mocking it. Delightfully.
Speaking of insecurities, here’s an excerpt from Detroit Free Press’ daily newsletter* about Trump’s visit to Howell MI yesterday.
Another photo op event, no crowd. Holding this inside the local sheriff’s garage removed the risk of white supremacists cheering Trump on.
Also no chance of anyone shooting at Trump from a rooftop, no need for a bulletproof glass surround.
Somebody’s rattled.
*see alt text in my Mastodon post.
This event, was a miscalculation by Trump- how bad a miscalculation is yet to be seen. But every component and detail of it seemed to be small acts of self sabotage, and the whole combined to diminish him comprehensively.
The most noticeable aspect though was his inability to bluff his way through. When he waves at non-existent crowds on exiting Trump Tower or boarding TrumpForce1 he at least bluffs the confidence that his media team can edit into something which projects a desirable image.
No such confidence was evident in any aspect of this event. At no time did he look anything other than what he was in that moment and what he seemed to know himself to be —- a loser who had lost the ability to even pretend to be a winner.
I wonder how many of the cops and media who were present are white supremacists when not in public?
I don’t know if they are all supremacists, but they sure all look plenty white.
Howell, Michigan. Bastion of bigots.
Need to remember the district also elected Elissa Slotkin as House rep. There’s hope in that district but man, do they have a lot of baggage to work past.
Little Johnny Trump will never admit to it!
Great post. Thank you.
Obamas were OUTSTANDING! A caring, compassionate and conscious couple. Wow! They are gifted at uniting people.
Any number of the speakers last night could be under his skin for days now. Ana Navarro was fantastic. Of course the Obamas were outstanding. I thought Michelle’s comments about the return of hope really made the point of how our country has been under the thumb of all kinds of negative emotions for too long. it does feel like a breath of fresh air. I hope we will see them on the campaign trail here and there in places that are not seen as swing states. They bring such intelligence and HUMOR to the game. I’ve always loved him for that; someone who can laugh at himself. So wonderful. The change to optimism over the last weeks has been exhilarating. Everyone is talking about it. But we each and all have to DO SOMETHING. It won’t happen by accident or joy.
Accidentally, following a link, I recently watched one of Obama’s speeches when he was president. A time when the US leader was respected: articulate, well-educated, with a sense of humour. In Europe, we welcomed him in our thousands when he visited. Then came Trump: from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Kamala Harris is also articulate, well-educated, with a solid resumé. She has a different style, but similar charisma, to Obama. For the sake of the US, but also the rest of the world, I do hope she gets elected.
Such Grace & Poise. With her incredible long braided ponytail, sharp suit and ageless Aes Sedai face, Michelle unveiled her true warrior-self last night. Quintessential Badass there, at the battlefront, telling us all to Just Do Something. Because, as Morpheus (Matrix) whispered when the viral-drones descended on their ship…”And here they come”. Yes, the magats are coming to destroy Kamala, no question. Duty is heavier than a mountain, death is lighter than a feather.
How dramatic a choice the American people have this year! A brilliant and crime-fighting daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, married to a regular-guy Jewish lawyer. Versus a Nazi-loving real estate tycoon who has spent a lifetime swindling his fellow Americans, who,promises to rip up our Constitution and join forces with Putin and Orban.
God help us if the American electorate makes the wrong choice
Why is this election even close?
Because of the Ever-FVCKING Electoral College.
One of my fondest hopes is for the Democrats to take the trifecta, and do a Radical Republican move like that which got us the Reconstruction amendments. Redistribute the representation from the gerrymandered states to the more equal ones, then break the EC and the SC locks on progress. Dream big.
And let’s not forget about the media, who despite every idiot thing they guy’s done since 2017 still aren’t covering Trump in a remotely factual or honest fashion.
“…then break the EC and the SC locks on progress. Dream big.”
I think the Extreme Court is far more fragile than anyone imagines. The president could just say, “Here’s the evidence that ______ took bribes. The federal government will ignore any decision in which _______ was the deciding vote. Once ______ has resigned and an honest judge, of any political persuasion, has replaced ______ the Executive branch will accept any Supreme Court decision which addresses the same issues.”
Just fucking call it out, because once they have permission honest judges will run with it. (And the president is immune now, for any official decision s/he makes.)
Two former Presidents, the current President who is also the past VP, and the wives of the two former Presidents have spoken at the convention or will speak. The absence of Pence, Cheney and George Bush at the Republican convention is now conspicuous.
Can the Republicans eject the entire Bush, Cheney, Romney, McCain part of their former party and still win?
The unity of Democrats is impressive.
And one of those two former FLOTUS-es
is also the former Democratic nominee
AND popular vote winner for POTUS.
A very strong UNITY indeed!
There was talk of Jimmy Carter making a virtual appearance. If that happens, along with Bill Clinton, who I believe is on the program, that will complete the roster of living Democratic former presidents. The only living Republican former president other than Trump is W. who, despite Walz going viral with it, may be the first person publicly to use the term “weird” to describe Trump, specifically his inaugural speech.
Earlier in the evening,
Grandsons of BOTH Jimmy CARTER and John KENNEDY
spoke from the stage…that was quite moving.
And yes, “That was some weird shit!” – GWB 1/20/21
Noooo… GWB’s comment wasn’t in 1/20/21. That was after Trump’s inaugural in 2017, I thought.
CORRECTION!!!!
YES, Tracy is RIGHT!
OY!!!
The years are just melding together. :- {
Only Obama could get away with that joke about crowd sizes.
Outstanding piece! And very perceptive.
Since President Johnson helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, knowing fully well his Democrat Party would lose support and votes in the old Confederate States to the Republican Party for generations, many Republican Party candidates campaigning for political office have tried to pick the intrinsic low-hanging fruit of racism to win elections.
Nixon did it; Reagan did it; George H.W. Bush did it; George W. Bush did it and Trump did it and is trying to do it again.
And if my memory is correct, none of these Republican presidential campaigns ever discussed the importance of loyalty to the US Constitution.
Instead, they focused on exploiting racism and pushing emotional cultural wedge issues like abortion to inflame voters enough for voters to beat a fast-track to the voting booth.
Trump and his billionaire financial supporters like Mariam Adelson, Elon Musk, Peter Theil and Woody Johnson, just to name four of several, covet a plutocracy that first controls the Executive Branch (using the Unitary Executive Theory as a starting point) and the Judicial Branch (using bribery to control current and future Justices on the Supreme Court).
Once those two branches of government are under their control, the plutocrats will have a much easier task of controlling Congress, both the House and Senate, as well as amending the US Constitution to their liking.
Now is the time for all those to come to the aid of the Democrat Party by registering to vote and then voting this November.
FYI: We call ourselves the Democratic Party.
Yep. “Democrat Party” is a Republican insult.
it’s an ill-wedge-intimate usage.
I fully understand your comment and its distinction, but the distinction is another example of an emotional wedge issue.
This is a battle not worth fighting for as there are many larger battles to be fought and won in the battle to win the hearts and minds of Republican and Independent voters.
If it’s an “emotional wedge issue”, why are you using it?
If it’s “not worth fighting” about, why not just call us by our name?
No. It’s not a wedge issue. Get the name right because it’s an essential matter of respect, just as correctly using any other human’s or group’s name is a matter of respect.
The Republican Party does not respect the opposition though it represents more than half this country. The GOP demonstrates that lack of respect in myriad ways including denial of human rights to women, persons of color, LGBTQ+, and disabled citizens. They also do it in petty ways like using the incorrect party name ending in “-rat.”
A tad defensive, entitled, and arrogant, Middlesex Trufflegear, especially given that the name you consider not worth arguing over is an invention by Republicans, designed to demean Democrats. Names mean a lot. They’re how we first know each other.
Deliberately using an incorrect name shows disrespect, Essex.
My first time in Moscow many moons ago was in the dead of winter. The snow was knee deep. The Soviets used this odd looking, poorly functioning snow blower type machine to clear the streets. Our escort told us the Russians called this piece of crap snow remover a “democrat”, then laughed his head off after he told us.
Obviously, the name was meant to be a high insult. No one here is probably aware of that connection, but it is a perfect example of why names matter.
Not “well said”.
Reply to Sussex Trafalgar at at 11:14 am:
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country!! I used to type that every Tuesday and Thursday in 11th grade.*
“From the typewriter it came, and to the typewriter it shall return: the phrase was proposed as a typing drill by a teacher named Charles E. Weller. ”
No to mention that other stuff about Democratic, etc…
*look it up
PS Late Weds 08/21 – Oprah was a gas tonite!
I have a sneaking suspicion that once the election has passed, we will learn that substituting Kamala for Joe was the plan all along.
Improbable.
Improbable indeed. But that thought occurred to me as well. Returning to rational thought, I only concluded it couldn’t have gone better for them if they had planned it. And for all the bitch, moan and complaining I did that there wasn’t a real contested primary last year (until Rayne told me to cease and desist) I think we’re in a better place now than if that had happened. I don’t think many people could have honestly predicted it, but it’s true.
It does seem that way, doesn’t it? Yet, I really don’t think so.
I *do* think that the decision was made and told to Harris and a few others a few days before the announcement, which was time to utterly crush any bounce from the RNC. What happened in the days following that Sunday looked to me like it was choreographed to be attention grabbing, and it succeeded wildly.
But no, I don’t think it was the plan even a month before.
One thing I was sure was choreographed was Michele and Barack’s call to Kamala to endorse her. But it looked so human and genuine, all expressing their mutual affection and admiration for one another, who cares? It had exactly the right affect. The other side may be human but they don’t act it at all, even when choreographing.
Biden is too much the old politician to simply throw up his hands and say “I’m out.”
I truly believe he planned to take it all the way to November, until his family, close allies, and friends convinced him otherwise. Having decided to withdraw, he then pivoted to figuring out *how* to exit the race in such a way as to launch the party forward in the best way possible.
And yes, between Biden’s team and Harris’ I think they plotted out a possible rollout. Biden withdrew, then almost immediately endorsed Harris. Shortly after that, other endorsements began rolling in. Some, I am sure, were lined up in advance (“OK, if/when Biden withdraws, I agree to endorse you within the first X hours”), and others emerged organically.
It may not have been planned *months* in advance, but I think this was Biden’s last gift to his party.
I agree with everything except for the word last. I hope to see him bestow many more gifts to the Democratic Party before inauguration day and beyond….
Well stated. I agree. Just another 3-point shot by my favorite president (so far…). Am watching to see how many more he hits, for all of us, before he hangs up his sneakers.
(I just saw in edit mode that I’m second to make this comment!)
I don’t think that Biden’s withdrawal in this election cycle was in any way pre-planned. I DO think Kamala’s eventual succession of Biden, at some point, was very carefully planned. Biden has played closer attention to the importance of the VP pick than anyone in recent memory. Biden played a pivotal role in the Obama Administration and was very important to Obama’s success, particularly in the legislation that was passed in 2008-2016.
I also think, as an Irishman, Biden has a perspective on destiny and the role of the Almighty in events to come and his own power to shape the future. Biden had to know that the day would come where he could not continue to take care of the flock on his own. In picking Harris, he turned to someone that he thought could easily take his place.
For our good fortune, he picked well. I think Kamala Harris will be both a historic and an outstanding President IF this country has the collective wisdom and fortitude to vote her into the office.
While the last three weeks have been a joyful renaissance of the Democratic Party, we all need to conscious of two things. First, this election will be a nail-biter because of the EC and the vestiges of racial and sexual prejudice that are still very much with us.
Second, if Harris loses, in spite of her considerable talent and the optimism that she has brought to this race, the impact of that loss will be devastating to a LOT of young Americans, to our society and to our democracy. Harris’s elevation in this campaign has made the stakes so much higher. The “blame” will not be on a old politician who stayed in office too long, it will be on us and our society.
Picking someone as unfit and morally decrepit as Trump over Harris will demonstrate that our Nation is not yet mature enough and wise enough to meet our founding father’s calling to continue the pursuit to a more perfect union. We will have no one to blame but ourselves, and that sense of regret and failure will be very hard to overcome.
I pray every night that we are up to the task before us.
It was not a plan but the result was perfect. Biden took the heat of TFG’s trash and when Biden stepped aside the GOP was without a plan. I don’t understand how they could be so stupid. Trump is losing and the party is an impotent wreck that is still afraid of him. Reading Marcy and the comments this morning has given me a serious case of schadenfreude that I’m enjoying.
“I don’t understand how they could be so stupid.”
They are not an organization, they are a single person with a bunch of servants.
Top down decisionmaking leaves you unable to deal rapidly with complex new developments.
They can decide quickly, we can analyze quickly.
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If it was the plan all along, the platform would have been different, IMO. That, and Harris would have had more policies prepped – there were a bunch of ways she was obviously struggling to hit the ground running when the switch happened. (It all went well, to be clear, but it also was clearly unprepped)
The switch was obviously choreographed but so’s every political announcement ever, so like, whatever.
Re: The Harris campaign providing policies before the convention, why do you think they should they have? What would have improved other than the Republicans’ opportunities to attack those policies?
Providing them at the convention is not only expected, but plenty soon enough.
The Democratic Party platform isn’t finished until it is officially locked down during the convention. It may have been passed a month ago before the handoff from Biden to Harris but it’s only this week official.
https://apnews.com/article/democratic-platform-harris-biden-dnc-e255d5f2939b5d35adf68ab734d5af98
The “choreographed” switch didn’t happen last month, though. That was in 2020 when Biden selected a running mate who shared the same values and goals — the same ones she has already been supporting for the last four years.
Don’t we know that already?
Barack Obama is the greatest living American orator. Full stop.
Absolutely agreed. A truly awesome speaker.
Michelle Obama would like a word.
I second the motion.
I third that motion.
I fourth the motion.
But don’t they both make a great tag team?
I have only one quibble with your otherwise, as-usual, wonderful observations: associating kryptonite with Trump. That, to my mind, casts him as somehow, in some way, superman. But he’s not super anything, except a super dick, by which I mean in the most figurative sense.
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He does seem to have superpowers to resist what would normally tank a political candidate. Declaring John McCain to be no hero because he was shot down ( equivalent to declaring Ronald Reagan was not such a great president in the GOP of the time) didn’t, nor did the Access Hollywood tape. Teflon doesn’t cover it, you can cut Teflon with a sturdy pair of tin snips.
p.s. Stormy might quibble with “super dick”.
Trump’s durability through scandal after scandal has only been possible with the connivance of the main stream, oligarch-owned media. Trump’s utter shamelessness is certainly a necessary ingredient, but without the oligarch-controlled media’s preparedness to memory hole so much and keep returning to their beloved horse race narratives, Trump would have been binned long ago.
“Affirmative action of generational wealth” – an outstandingly simple turn of the phrase.
Michelle Obama, I give you ten chef’s kisses. Absolutely brilliant speech.
She’s learned a lot since “Whey they go low, we go high.” She may simultaneously hold the record for best and worst convention speech of all time.
She went high. For the neck. With a stiletto.
She’s good at it, too.
I would love to see a woman-led action film featuring a main character based on Michelle Obama but with a little more room to “do something” with her stilettos.
Like Gil Bok-Soon in Kill Boksoon (2023) or Scarlet in Gunpowder Milkshake (2021).
LOL! Indeed she did.
It’s all about the framing. Marcy knows that. Michelle and Barack Obama know that. And the SPLC has recently come up with a similar approach by introducing the phrase, ‘white favoritism.’
https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/08/13/splc-wants-ashley-moody-to-look-into-possible-instances-of-white-race-favoritism-by-fl-vc-firms/
“SPLC wants Ashley Moody to look into ‘possible instances of white race favoritism’ by FL VC firms”
This is absolutely HYSTERICAL!!!
J. DIVANce at [outdoor] TRUMP rally in Asheville, NC:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/08/21/us/harriz-walz-dnc-trump/f5af36be-c0a0-5861-bc2d-26e5835e09d6
CORRECTION: Asheboro [not
ville]big time Bible-thumper area, just NE of me. we’re full up on J6 asshats here too, so his pandering is what they already believe. sadly.
“Being bested by a smart, beautiful Black woman may be precisely the Kryptonite to Trump’s power the country has been looking for.”
Trump’s response to the smart, beautiful black woman was to say he’s a better looking person than Kamala. Who would say something like that, who doesn’t suffer from a severe narcissistic personality disorder?
An extremely good-looking narcissist? /s
Who would say that?
A stable genius, of course.
яркая личность
yarkaya lichnost’
‘Putin again described Trump as a “flamboyant” or “colorful” man, using a Russian word – “яркий” – that can be translated with ambiguous connotations, from gaudy to striking to dazzling.’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/18/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-striking-america-superpower
Makes me think of the glittery DirecTV ads.
https://youtu.be/rkB9OT2XVvA
“Opulence. I haz it.”
Timothy Snyder has commented on this, how Putin and the Kremlin think Trump is great for them.
From this transcript of his conversation earlier this year with Bill Kristol (video available on youtube):
The only thing stable about Trump is the mess he left, a la the mythical Augean stables.
Trump’s a stable guano-mess
“Who would say something like that, who doesn’t suffer from a severe narcissistic personality disorder?”
Just to correct your perspective on narcissistic personality disorder: the person with NPD doesn’t suffer from it at all; everyone around them does all the suffering.
Excellent post, and excellent comments, all y’all. thanks
Not to get out over one’s skis, but we can finally generate some hope for the future of our country if the momentum is sustained. We need an absolute blowout to force Trump to crawl back under a rock (even though he’ll never go away quietly).
So yes: time to DO SOMETHING(s). Write postcards. Donate. We all get tons of solicitations for various good groups, but I’d like to single out Flip the Vote, an organization we just got acquainted with at a local fundraiser. They specifcally focus on supporting established get-out-the-vote organizations in the critical swing states.
If a blowout does cause Trump to crawl under a rock, you can rest assured it will be the biggest, best rock, the likes of which you’ve never seen before. How about sending him to Gibraltar permanently?
Saint Helena
We’ll let the spirit of Napoleon and DJT duke it out:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Napoleon's+Grave/@-15.9550715,-5.6720217,107050m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x4eae3fda25cf257:0x609c3f610bb9e30f!8m2!3d-15.9583545!4d-5.6981225!16s%2Fg%2F11h4pl9x29?entry=ttu
You realize, don’t you, that link probably contains information which identifies you personally?
Better to suggest readers go to Google Maps and search for “Napoleon’s Grave” since using the link provide establishes a relationship between you and your device to emptywheel’s site and the reader who clicks on it and their device.
Any chance of reopening California’s OG Rock, Alcatraz?
Rayne @ 5:15
I suspected that there were possible personal identifiers in there somewhere, but after scanning the URL line and seeing nothing obvious, I decided to chance it. If this URL represents a privacy threat to this site, then please feel free to remove it…
It’s a privacy issue to you and to the individuals who click on the link.
I think this might be the rock that Donald has in mind:
https://www.rferl.org/a/albania-island-kushnir/32873393.html
“The Albanian Island Where Jared Kushner Plans A Luxury Resort”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sazan
And Napoleon’s Tomb is in Les Invalides, in Paris, which is a destination in itself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Invalides
Trump had four failed years to where he was voted out. His time was, not is.
The big question – How will a Harris presidency turn out? In another tab I was watching a Paul Wellstone appearance at Kennedy School. The problems are still the same, but that was in Clinton Gingrich years. He spoke of poverty, race and gender. Elect Harris, great, a race and gender move. So, what’s she going to do about poverty? We don’t know. We need to see, and if she does not earn four more she should not get four more. Biden earned it by being better than I ever expected he’d be, telling his first fundraiser that nothing would fundamentally change. He did better. Harris? Vote her in, wait and see. All the GOTV comments are true, but in the end it will be wait and see. Who from Biden’s team she keeps, who new she brings in, and where it goes, bless the hope, but keep a sensible eye on performance.
You’re suggesting rather strongly that Harris can unilaterally resolve a structural problem which has existed over lifetimes and requires a Congress with at least critical mass in control of Democrats and a cooperative SCOTUS in order to make a serious dent. You’re right that we don’t know and need to see but you’re wrong if you think achievement rests solely in the executive branch, especially when hampered pre-emptively by the Roberts’ SCOTUS, the same one which hamstrung Biden.
Trump pissed away the power he had with a GOP-led Congress and a majority conservative SCOTUS so that he could obtain tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. That’s a wholly different situation, and it has been utter fail.
Harris has proposed bringing back (and increasing) the refundable child credit, passed under Biden (but which couldn’t be made permanent because of Congress). It helped reduce child poverty immensely. If she could get that through, it would go very far in reducing poverty and hunger.
Thank you Empty Wheel and all the commenters above. And the continually amazing Obamas. What really hit home to me watching with my wife last night was Michelle’s reference to that pit in the stomach we were feeling, especially for us after the SC immunity ruling earlier this summer. I found her in tears one evening and she told me she felt a tsunami was coming. We carried that weight around casting a pall over everything for months. And the easing of that knot over the last 4 weeks has been palpable. She referred to it as a tall drink of cool water after a long time in the desert.
Now to work!
I wonder if this was a reference to this bit from The Onion from November 2008:
https://theonion.com/black-man-given-nations-worst-job-1819570341/
Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job
“As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it.”
Both Obamas delivered last night in their typical, brilliant fashion, but Michelle was ON FIRE. What a shame she hates politics.
Everything that both of them said was critical for the success of this campaign. But one little line that Michelle said stuck with me: “We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is ‘just right.’ “.
The GOP has used Netanyahu and the Hamas attack to drive a wedge into the Democrats and those unaffiliated who would normal vote D.
My great concern is that an impactful percentage of, predominantly young, people will be derailed from voting for Harris/Walz by the continued sale of arms to Israel in spite of the slaughter of Palestinians. Their outrage is justified and shared, but they cannot fall victim to the Goldilocks complex, because Kamala has not outright called for a ban on the continued arms sales to Israel.
IF Trump wins, what do they think he will do to improve the lot of the Palestinians ?
I am worried about the conversations of Gen Z that I hear saying they are going to ‘send a message’ to Washington. We don’t have that luxury this time. That sort of message sending contributed to Hillary’s defeat; we cannot afford to let that happen again.
Trump will do worse than he did last time if he should manage to get elected.
He ordered the Muslim ban his first week in office without having had any review of that order by OLC; he fired the acting AG shortly there after. If that’s what he did the first time, you can bet as he has said already he’ll be a dictator on Day One and order far more aggressive bans than he did the first time around.
I am so fucking pissed off all to hell that otherwise intelligent individuals can’t remember what happened during Trump’s administration, can’t see what corruption he and his son-in-law have been engaged in including the extrajudicial assassination-by-drone of Iran’s top military official without Congressional authorization, and the implicit support for Netanyahu’s land clearance by genocide in Gaza.
Do they think Trump will stop at droning Iranian generals?
He’s openly talking about bombs and missile strikes on Mexico, and it’s a theme a lot of the GOP has picked up.
The press, especially at the editorial level, refuses to admit what these people are capable of.
I take some consolation that Taraji Henson speaking out at the BET Awards about Project 2025 seems to have ten times as much impact on public awareness as the NY Times, but it shouldn’t be this way.
Today, 8.21.24, Hannity denied Trump knows anything about Project2025 SMH
Betty Lasley
August 21, 2024 at 9:29 pm
Hannity claimed on his radio show on by 19/Jul/24 to not know anything about Project 2025, yet on his show of 14/May/24 he had Paul Dans as a guest and introduced Dans as “the author of Project 2025” !?!?!!
https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-claims-he-doesnt-know-anything-about-project-2025-weeks-after-hosting
Pheasant under glass: Secret Service implements the “bulletproof box” to shield DJT
from bullets (or whatever) while doing outdoor rallies (photo from recent NC rally):
https://truby.com/xzq/trump_shield.png
I defy you to tell me what’s wrong with this
https://youtu.be/xYCeq7wORrQ
LOL
My concern about Harris was never the question of whether this country was ready to elect a woman of color. Indeed, I was an ardent Harris supporter at the outset of the 2020 primary. But her performance in that primary was deeply discouraging to me and led me to believe that she would be a poor choice this time around. I’m delighted to have been proven wrong.
Watching the Obama’s last night raised a new concern for me. What sort of president will she be? A charismatic but way too cautious one like Obama? Or a resurrected New Deal Democrat like Biden?
I cannot for the life of me understand why someone would jump to any conclusions like that. That’s like trying to judge what a white US Senate candidate would do based on Angela Merkel’s record. Base your judgment of Harris on her own merits.
I haven’t jumped to any conclusions. My point was that Harris has reignited the kinds of enthusiasm Democrats last experienced with Obama. I feel it as much as anyone. Watching the Obamas speak last night was thrilling. So was seeing Harris in the simulcast from Milwaukee. But governing is very different from campaigning. I found Obama to be overly cautious, surrounded by leftover Clintonites, and ultimately disappointing. Biden, an uninspiring candidate, turned out to be, IMHO, a great president.
I’ll ignore your second sentence, which makes no sense whatsoever. As for judging Harris on her own merits, well, that’s the hard part. As a Californian, I have voted for her several times already. But my point was/is that there’s not enough in her record to give me any insight into what kind of president she will be.
“I found Obama to be overly cautious, surrounded by leftover Clintonites, and ultimately disappointing.”
Have you given any thought at all to what might have happened out of sight of the public to the first Black president whose nationality had been questioned for years? Have you thought at all about the kinds of threats he would have received?
I find his caution and pragmatism to be commensurate with the likely risks. I was more concerned about his conservative positions.
I have some of those friends. I’m not wasting my time on them. Either they will figure it out or die on Goldilocks Island. One thing I’ll mention from my Party contacts is that everyone now just wants to write postcards. Postcards are not going to get the job done. I am working on a targeted postcard campaign that was demonstrably effective two years ago, so I am doing it. But I am also knocking doors which is the most effective GOTV there is. I’m doing other things too, because this is the last best chance of my lifetime. I am optimistic, but I will be Doing Some things.
Sign up to be a poll worker! They are.
I loved Michelle Obama’s speech. For that matter, Bret Bauer at Fox thinks Michelle Obama “…gave an amazing speech that got this crowd in their feet to say ‘do something’ in refrain after refrain…” & “…it was a call to action to this Democratic Party…”. :)
I was worried that if Joe dropped out the Democrats would form a circular firing squad. But I was heartened when “sources close” to Biden said one reason he was digging in his heels was that he wanted assurances that Kamala would not be passed over (which would’ve been disastrous). When she was endorsed by Biden and then Gavin Newsom, I felt relieved the Dems would close ranks and get behind the candidate. Even so, I was astonished at the pace of fundraising and the enthusiasm of the campaign. I’m glad my concerns were meritless—she’s what the country needs now.
At the Milwaukee rally, Tim Walz was great and Kamala looked presidential. The air was electric. Not so with the assorted JD Vance “rallies” or Trump inside the “Cone of Silence” in North Carolina.