Following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from his re-election bid, polls in both Texas and nationally have shifted. ‘If the election were held today, who would you vote for?’ is the top question in the polls, and this is the outlook a few months before the general election in November. Carlos Castañeda, lawyer and political analyst, explains how the fact that Kamala Harris is now the Democratic Party candidate has had an impact.
Washington.-If Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls had played one more season at the United Center Arena, they might not have received as enthusiastic a reception as those who spoke on the opening day of the Democratic Party Convention.
As Hillary Clinton said at the beginning of her speech, with an obvious look of surprise and happiness: “There is a lot of energy in the stadium!” And she added, “Something is happening in the United States, you can feel it, something we have worked for and dreamed about for a long time.”
There were clear peaks of enthusiasm, such as the surprise appearance of Kamala Harris, speeches by Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Hillary Clinton, Jasmine Crockett, Raphael Warnock and Steve Kerr, whose inclusion in the list of speakers was a smart move to link sport and politics. But beyond these high points, enthusiasm remained at an extremely high level and grew as the night progressed.
The audience responded with remarkable energy to a wide variety of speeches over nearly five hours, all crafted in different ways around the theme of the day, “for the people.” Accompanying this main theme, the subtext of this start to the Convention was to celebrate the achievements and honor the legacy of President Joe Biden as a way to close one stage of the Party in order to make way for a new era.
The “for the people” theme was a way to draw a contrast with the Republican Party, especially its candidate, former President Donald Trump, who is characterized as someone who does everything for his own benefit. In the words of Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, Trump “has only cared about one person, himself.”
The choice of voices to speak was a clear gesture to highlight the diversity of American society. Women and minority and historically marginalized communities, such as people of color, took center stage on the first day of the Convention.
The transition from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris is an indication that passing the baton is not just about moving from one leadership to another. As Georgia state senator Raphael Warnock said in his speech, “this is Kamala Harris’ America.”
Joe Biden is a symbol of the Democratic Party of the last half century. Beyond his virtues and his defects, it was clear what could be expected from his leadership. This predictability was a reassurance for citizens in 2020. However, four years later, it was not enough to dispel doubts about his vitality and the notable lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy among the Party’s rank and file and also in broad sectors of the citizenry.
That enthusiasm returned, at least briefly, in what could be characterized as his farewell speech in this election race. Biden looked visibly emotional, even with a few tears coming out of his eyes as he crossed paths with his daughter Ashley on stage after she introduced him. The audience chanted his name repeatedly and applauded many parts of his speech.
Kamala Harris joined Joe Biden on stage after the latter’s speech. It was the setting of the transition. And also a bet on a future led by Harris and in which a range of younger leaders is emerging for the coming decades.
If the first day of the Convention makes anything clear, it is that enthusiasm has returned to the rank and file of the Democratic Party. Will this enthusiasm and this new leadership be enough to win the elections in November? Two and a half months is a long time in politics, and even more so in an electoral contest as different as this one.
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2024-08-22 10:37:05
Washington.-Barack Obama has a reputation for being a good basketball player, one of those who knows how to close out games in favor of his team.
At the United Center Arena, the Chicago Bulls’ sports temple, former President Obama did not disappoint the expectations placed on him to close the second day of the Democratic Party Convention with an eloquent and passionate speech in support of Kamala Harris.
To use a basketball metaphor, his speech consisted of one three-pointer after another. It was no easy task, even though Barack Obama’s oratorical ability is legendary. That’s because the challenge of ending on a high note a day marked by a climate of remarkable jubilation was no small one.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m on fire tonight,” the former president said at the start of his speech. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the governor of New Mexico, used similar words: “We’re feeling a fire right now; we were lit up to elect Kamala Harris president of the United States.”
Michelle Obama, in a speech as brilliant as it was moving, referred to the atmosphere in the stadium, and in broad sectors of society, as “something magical that is in the air.” She added: “It is the contagious power of hope, of anticipation, of energy, of the joy of once again being on the cusp of a brighter day.”
With these remarks, the Obamas and Governor Lujan Grisham summed up an atmosphere of enthusiasm, optimism and exuberance that was already perceptible during the first day of the Convention, and that was even more evident on the second.
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The atmosphere was so strong throughout the second day that, during a moment when there were no speeches, while the organization was carrying out the logistical preparations for the nomination ceremony, the delegations from the various states engaged in a kind of song game that culminated in the famous wave that is common at sporting events. It was, clearly, the prelude to a party.
And when it came time for the nomination ceremony, the real party began, with a DJ playing songs appropriate to each state’s respective identities during the brief speeches. A well-crafted staging, with the audience wearing bracelets with white, red and blue lights that turned on and off to the rhythm of the music, transformed what is usually a boring ritual into an at times electrifying entertainment.
The ceremony also served to measure the popularity of some future presidential candidates, among whom the governors of Maryland (Wes Moore), Michigan (Gretchen Whitmer) and Illinois (JB Pritzker) stood out for their reception. However, none of them could compete with the enthusiasm generated by the appearance of rapper Lil Jon to present the votes of the Georgia delegation.
Between the end of the nomination ceremony and the Obamas’ speeches (clearly the highlight of the second day), some of the key figures of the Democratic Party spoke, such as Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, Tammy Duckworth and JB Pritzker, among others. And Kamala Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, gave a very successful presentation of the presidential candidate.
A common theme that has been running through many convention speeches so far, as well as hallway conversations, is the idea that the Democratic Party ticket is the underdog in this election. In the words of former President Obama, the race “will continue to be a close race in a divided country.”
With the Harris-Walz ticket turning around President Biden’s deficit to take the lead in most polls, the idea that he is the weaker contender has little basis. This idea may be an attempt to avoid becoming overconfident and resting on his laurels.
However, the climate of enthusiasm that reigns within the party ranks is likely to undermine the strategy of considering itself the weakest rival, and the polls do not make this position very credible either. Continuing with sporting metaphors, perhaps the time has come to put on the suit of title contenders.
Finally, the abundance of positive sentiment among the Democratic Party’s rank and file contrasts with the relative scarcity of policy content in the speeches of its leaders. This scarcity was even more evident on a day supposedly intended, according to the convention’s organizers, to articulate “a bold vision for the future of the United States.”
It is understandable that the ticket led by Kamala Harris has focused its communication strategy in these first weeks on reversing the pessimism that its predecessor generated in a sector of the party and society. But it may be that the time has come to start adding more public policy content to this strategy. Otherwise, the current climate of euphoria may make it lose sight of the fact that this content is key to convincing the undecided electorate that is essential to succeed in November.Infobae.
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2024-08-22 00:17:33
In 2004in the Democratic Convention in Boston, One of the most stellar and remembered moments was the speech of a young black senator whom few in the country knew at the time, but who would soon change history. It was Barack Obamawho four years later won the party’s nomination and a victory at the polls that made him the first black president of the United States.
That was a political and racial milestone in the country, of special significance to the black community. And paved the ground that now, with the Kamala Harris’s candidacy, The United States is facing another unprecedented advance: the potential arrival in the Oval Office not only of the first female president (something that Donald Trump truncated for Hillary Clinton), but also of the first black president.
“Esperanza“A word that was key in Obama’s first campaign, has returned to the lips of all the Democrats gathered at the convention in chicagowhere Former President and former First Lady Michelle Obama, were the main speakers of the day on Tuesday, which closed Doug Emhoff, Harris’s husband who would become the first “first gentleman.” So has another term that is repeated and palpable: “progress”.
“For the black community this says How much we have advanced as a nation”, he explains Willie German Jr., a delegate from Michigan, 62-year-old, who was deputy mayor of the city of Muskegon and chairs the black caucus in his county. “It means and shows that the US is accepting a positive change towards something better. And it vindicates those of us who have been defending diversity, equality and inclusion for some time.”
Just as Biden passed the baton from the old guard to Harris on Monday and Clinton extended the gender bridge to the vice president, Obama is doing so on the issue of race. And although neither the president nor the candidate want to focus on it, their own history as children of mixed families (a father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas in Obama’s case, and immigrants from Jamaica and India in Harris’s case), and their political trajectory in a world that during the beginnings of both was still dominated by whites, is a reality of representation inescapable.
“Harris shows what this country could be and what we could actually represent, how we can create iInclusion and a sense of belonging”, dice DeMareo Cooper, a striking 45-year-old black man who is co-director of the Center for Popular Democracy, a network of more than half a million activists in 51 affiliated organizations in 35 states and Puerto Rico. “Young black women, my nieces, the girls, are going to see a female president and will do the same thing Obama did for my nephews, for my son, for the young men”.
Cooper also assures that these “Young people need to see that women can lead and everyone needs to know that “Black people can lead”.And she strongly rejects a narrative spread by some observers or press reports that suggests that black men may supposedly have reservations about a woman of color. “We are happy to see a sister nominated“He claims. “And in all the conversations I have with other black men, Harris is seen as better than Trump: smart, capablesomeone who can do the job.”
The activist appeals to his own case to reinforce his argument: “Black men are differently oriented towards the patriarchal notion because many of us were raised by mothers, We are not confused about the power and capabilities of women“My mother, who raised me alone, was one of the most intelligent, creative and determined people I have ever known. And we grew up differently, without questioning ability.”
It is true that Trump is making inroads among some black voters (mostly men), and their efforts to scratch votes in that part of the electorate, as in that of the Latinos, are evident. But it is also true that theBlack voters are the most loyal to Democrats (a loyalty especially pronounced in the case of women). And since Biden decided to drop his re-election bid and back Harris, the polls have shown a brake on the Republican advances.
While a poll by The New York Times and Siena College in October showed 22% support among registered black voters in six swing states for Trump (who in 2020 got only 8% of the black vote), in the most recent poll, already with Harris as a candidate, support for the Republican among the black electorate fell to 16%.
Harris’ historic candidacy is allowing the Democratic Partyin addition, andto expose and underline at the convention in Chicago its profound diversity, something that has been achieved after decades of work to ensure that the leadership and elected officials better reflected the multiracial base that sustains the party. On Monday, on the first day of the conclave, the vast majority of those who walked the stage were politicians and black figuresincluding icons such as Martin Luther King’s protégé and former candidate Jesse Jackson or rising stars like the senator and reverend Raphael Warnock.
“Every convention is a moment, one that contribute to our movement”he explained from the stage when opening the festivities Jaime Harrison, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and, like the Convention Chair Minyon Moore black. And he remembered historical figures like Shirley Chisholm, the first black congresswoman who also tried to be a presidential candidate, Fannie Lou Hammer, a black activist who protested the exclusion of blacks from the Mississippi delegation at the Democratic convention 60 years ago and highlighted the ongoing problems in the South for blacks to exercise their right to vote. “All of those moments have led us to this moment of transformation,” Harrison said.
It’s a change that they are now going to defend. And that’s something that Michigan delegate German explains. “Kamala Harris says something that Obama also said before: we are not going back. As we move forward we will make life better not only for black Americans, who have had to fight for so long and who still have things left to achieve, but We will give hope to all of America. And with Harris and Tim Walz, the Democratic candidate for vice president, we are in a good path towards systemic change”.
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