America’s national political conventions long ago stopped being about any actual decision-making by the major parties and its leaders. The Democratic National Convention that opened Monday in Chicago will be no different.
The national ticket is set. The party’s platform and policy positions are clear (if not embraced by every faction of the Democratic coalition, particularly regarding the ongoing war in Gaza). If the week’s events and speeches produce a single substantive surprise, that would be surprising indeed.
But conventions still do play an important role in setting the tone for a campaign, for a party and, potentially, for the nation. And given the angry, often dystopian tone that the Republican National Convention set from nearby Milwaukee last month, Vice President Kamala Harris has an opportunity to present a contrasting vision.
Along those lines, Harris and the other speakers leading up to her Thursday night acceptance speech would do well to make this convention about more than the threats of a second Donald Trump presidency.
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Those threats are real to anyone who cares about the stability of political norms and democracy itself, as Trump demonstrated during his first term and continues to demonstrate in pretty much every rally speech.
But especially in this dark political era that Trump has done so much to usher in, Americans need something to vote for rather than just against. The Republican convention didn’t offer that. The Democrats can.
With optimism firmly in place, Harris should use the convention to clarify her policy stances on issues where they remain somewhat vague. Such an introduction is especially important for a candidate who, due to circumstances beyond her control, will accept the party’s nomination without having earned it at the top of a primary election ballot.
Republican talk of a “coup” among Democrats is nonsense. Harris’ previous role as President Joe Biden’s running mate makes her the most legitimate replacement on the ballot for a president who decided, wisely if belatedly, not to seek reelection.
But the fact remains that to most voters, Harris is something of a blank slate. The convention is an opportunity for her to define herself rather than waiting for Trump and other Republicans to do it.
How should she do that? First, rather than observing politically expedient silence regarding the anti-Israel protests that will be raging outside the convention hall, Harris should use the opportunity to clarify where she stands on this difficult issue.
Her public position has generally been in line with that of the Biden administration: supportive of Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas’ terrorism but with reservations about tactics that have resulted in tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian deaths. But Harris was also the first and most prominent Biden insider to bluntly call for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying, “As Israel defends itself, it matters how.”
How does that translate into specific U.S. policy toward Israel? That’s still an open question — and a complicated enough one that the balloon-laden info-tainment setting of a televised convention isn’t necessarily the right forum to hash it all out.
However, voicing a position that recognizes Israel’s right to root out Hamas but not to kill civilians — while, urgently, condemning the elements of antisemitism that have come to define too much of the American pro-Palestinian protest movement — would be appreciated by a U.S. public unaccustomed to politicians talking to them like adults about complex topics.
Speaking of talking to us like adults, Harris and other Democrats should drop, like a hot iron, her proposal (unveiled last week to widespread derision) of instituting a federal price-gouging ban to battle inflation. No one thinks such a gimmick is wise or workable. Better to lean into her far more constructive proposal to increase the federal child tax credit.
Harris and other Democrats will be on surer footing on issues like abortion and gun safety. More Americans agree with Democrats’ reasonable stances on both topics than the GOP’s draconian and dangerous ones. Democrats should hammer at both this week — not just by way of talking about how Republicans have hurt America in those areas but how much better Americans’ lives will be under Democratic policies regarding them.
It’s a subtle distinction, but an important one, to confidently and optimistically talk up their own policies rather than just savaging those of the other side. How those policies are presented will, for this week at least, be as important as their nuts-and-bolts details.
America is tired of being angry. Democrats this week should offer inspiration instead. Let Trump scowl as he makes fun of Harris’ laugh. The campaign strategy she embodies with her reintroduction to the nation this week should be to laugh all the way to victory on Nov. 5.