Democrats are trying to reshape their image as young, patriotic and snarky

CHICAGO — Kamala Harris’ stirring speech on the final night of the Democratic National Convention capped four days of campaign shouting, testimonials, sermons and high-decibel warnings about the danger posed by the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidential administration brought along.

Each time, Democrats used four days of prime-time TV coverage to reshape their image among mid-level voters. Waving flags and chanting “USA, USA, USA” were common all week – including during the three-minute standing ovation that greeted Harris as she took the stage to conclude a week of testimonials about her suitability to to become the next president of the United States. the United States.

Numerous speakers portrayed Harris’ quest for the White House as a religious movement to protect the soul of America and the architecture of democracy. And speaker after speaker pledged their commitment to the country.

“I love my country with all my heart,” Harris declared near the end of her speech formally accepting the nomination after a turbulent month that saw President Joe Biden end his re-election bid as her opponent faced assassination. attempt.

Rousing speeches and patriotic rallying cries are par for the course at presidential nominating conventions. But this time it was clear that Democrats have been trying to soften the sharper edges of their own political rhetoric in recent years. It was a difficult assignment because the nominee himself is a symbol of how much has changed in national politics. At the same time, Democrats clearly want to distance themselves from the unrest and polarization of the Trump era.

The clenched fists fueled by Trump’s rise were leavened by moments when ordinary Americans could sing its praises. Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota and Harris’ running mate, was praised in his big moment Wednesday night for being “that guy”: the high school teacher every student loved, the football coach who took a losing team to the state championships. .

Harris and Walz were presented as the rational, experienced and morally based choice who will protect the rights and freedoms that liberals have worked to achieve for more than a century. Reproductive rights, the right to join a union, the embrace of the country’s diversity as a strength and not a threat, and many other issues were presented as under attack by Trump’s right-wing MAGA movement.

“We are the party of true freedom,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro told the crowd. He called Trump a man “without guardrails.” “We cherish our democracy. We love this country.”

Democrats seized on the dark and gloomy vision of the future presented by Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, in an effort to attract voters turned off by the unvarnished racism, narcissism and misogyny embedded in the Trump Vance platform.

“They’ve really doubled down on the darkness,” California Senator Laphonza Butler noted Thursday during a question-and-answer session at the CNN Politico Grill installation at the DNC. “At least Mike Pence was polite,” she added, referring to the Indiana Republican, Trump’s vice president, who has now distanced himself from Trump.

Butler was among many who evoked the memory of Fannie Lou Hamer, the pioneering civil rights activist from Mississippi who famously fought Democratic efforts to prevent black residents from voting in the early 1960s.

“We as a country are not going back,” said Angela Alsobrooks, a U.S. Senate candidate from Maryland, citing the need to protect the sacrifices made more than 50 years ago “by our ancestors who stood at the lunch counters.” ”

Oprah Winfrey delivered a major jolt of star power on Wednesday with her surprise appearance at the DNC. Like others, Winfrey made a point of emphasizing her bona fides as a well-traveled American.

“I’ve lived in Mississippi and Tennessee and Wisconsin, Maryland, Indiana and Florida, Hawaii, Colorado, California and Chicago, Illinois,” she said in her trademark booming voice. “I have seen racism, sexism and income inequality.” But in the same breath, Winfrey praised the decency found in most living rooms — and the dedication of lifelong public servants Harris and Walz. “They make me proud when I say I’m an American,” Winfrey said.

The “I’m a proud American” statement from the Hollywood figures and other bold names who addressed the convention was an attempt to counter the Democrats’ image as being in the pocket of the Hollywood and Silicon Valley elites whose lives far removed from those of the Democrats. everyday Americans. As such, famous speakers also went out of their way to present a modest image.

“She worked at McDonalds; I worked at Wendy’s – and now look at us,” Eva Longoria told the crowd Thursday ahead of Harris’ speech.

Republicans have challenged the idea that Democrats are tied to a “woke” political and social agenda that is out of step with mainstream voters. Democrats have shot back in recent weeks that MAGA Republicans are just “weird.”

“It’s not wokeness that’s limiting economic growth – it’s weird. And these guys are not only weird, they’re dangerous,” said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. “We don’t want our children to learn from American history that slavery is an employment program.”

Democrats’ overriding message that the 2024 election is a referendum on the future has been reinforced by the fact that the party is finally putting a bigger spotlight on Gen X and older millennials who are in prominent government and policymaking roles across the country. The list of speakers included everyone from Maxwell Frost, a 27-year-old Florida congressman, to superstar New York House member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is wildly popular with core Democrats, and every time that he used the applause meter, he based it on the applause. appeared in and around the convention.

This infusion of younger energy at the top of the party also ensures that the Democrats enter the battle for public opinion, memes and hashtags. That’s a form of 21st century political warfare that leaders from the era of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer cannot possibly understand as well as those who grew up with smartphones in their hands.

That said, Democratic Party elders also had a big megaphone at the DNC, tasked with reminding the crowd how far the nation has come in support of the rallying cry that has become a Harris-Walz campaign slogan: “We don’t go back.”

Maxine Waters, the long-serving member of the House of Representatives from Los Angeles, was one who referenced the spirit and legacy of the late activist Hamer in her DNC remarks. Waters noted that Hamer challenged Democrats at the 1960 presidential nominating convention to finally let her and other black residents serve as delegates for Mississippi.

“Is this America?” Hamer asked the party leaders at the time, according to Waters. Four years later, Hamer and a group from Mississippi were welcomed as delegates to the 1964 DNC.

For women of Hamer’s generation, the idea that Americans would elect a woman president — let alone a woman of color — was simply out of reach. Waters highlighted what Harris’ candidacy means for voters from marginalized communities when she speculated that Harris herself would think of Hamer and other ancestors as she accepted her party’s nomination.

“At that moment, all of us, from New York to Pennsylvania, from Arizona to California, can ask, ‘Is this America?’ Waters said. She paused for applause before interrupting her speech by calling on the crowd, “Loud and proud: ‘You’re damn right.’ ”

(Image: U.S. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida)