By Fraser Perkins —
Color Me A Democrat
Fighting Democrats!
Following the Presidential Debate two months ago, Democrats at all levels from the White House to the grassroots acted boldly, strategically and selflessly. A misstep at any point could have derailed momentum and ensured a Trump victory, but Democrats at all levels rose to the occasion. Consider the following…
1) Democrats reacted decisively following President Biden’s performance. Our hearts went out to the President as he struggled, yet we all recognized the gravity of the moment which endangered not only the race for the White House, but also down-ballot contests.
2) The Democratic leadership persuaded President Biden to reconsider his steadfast intent to run for re-election. Credit Nancy Pelosi for her persistence and patience in reframing the President’s heart felt desire to run again. She was masterful and relentless. And her own decision to not only step aside as House Speaker, but also to help her successor, set an example of how to gracefully yield power.
3) Kamala Harris remained openly and steadfastly loyal to the President after the debate, but before the President bowed out. There were no rumors, doubts or discontent emanating from the Vice President.
4) Joe Biden stepped aside, acting selflessly, and putting the interests of the party and country ahead of personal ambition. This despite a stellar record of legislative accomplishment.
5) The President quickly endorsed Kamala Harris for president. This avoided a compressed but potentially divisive convention fight.
6) The deep and talented bench of ambitious Democratic governors and congresspeople unequivocally backed Harris within a matter of days, again putting party above personal ambition.
7) Vice President Harris made an astute choice for a running mate. She chose a white, male midwestern Governor who is progressive, but also a likable gun enthusiast who embodied the coaching spirit of “what can I do to help our team?”. This contrasts with Trump’s approach of picking a younger clone of himself in J.D. Vance. Trump’s selection of Vance revealed a lax vetting process which failed to highlight Vance’s comment about single women cat owners.
8) The convention itself was a grand slam.
- The Speakers were terrific – inciteful, passionate, memorable. Each night I asked myself, “how can this night be topped?” And each night was as good as the night before.
- The visual was stunning – the convention delegates reflected the diversity of country. To paraphrase one convention delegate, “when everyone is at the party, it’s a pretty good party!”
- Inserting testimonials about gun violence and denial of reproductive care enriched the program and added context.
- Who can forget the delightful pronunciation of “Kamala” by her grandnieces? The sub context – “Kamala” isn’t hard to say – Trump’s mispronunciation is deliberate and insulting.
- Reclaiming patriotism as a Democrats tenet. I loved the presentations by Leon Panetta and Adam Kinzinger.
- Zingers. Michelle nailed it when she referred to the presidency as a “Black job”.
9) The Vice President herself
- She worked and reworked her speech. She practiced it. She received input. She approached the speech seriously and revealed herself as situationally aware, hardworking and disciplined. She used her time productively, and correctly prioritized the speech over other duties.
- She made us proud to be Democrats and Americans.
- She walked in as Vice President and exited as President.
10) Democrats at all levels have embraced the Harris-Walz ticket. No whining. No innuendos.
11) Donors contributed $540,000,000 toward the campaign after President Biden withdrew. Elon Musk will even need to sell a few shares of companies he owns to keep up.
Eleven for eleven…a great start.
Now, in the words of Michelle Obama we need to “Do something.”
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