“Thank you for bringing back the joy.”
That was among the first things Tim Walz said to Kamala Harris after she introduced him at their kickoff rally in Philadelphia yesterday. I hadn’t thought about it until that moment, but he’s right. For the first time in a long time — probably back to Barack Obama in 2008 — Democrats feel joyful.
There’s an enthusiasm level that feels fresh. The crowds have been huge, and will continue to be — in the short-term, at least. All of that’s gotta be driving Trump crazy, which makes it even better.
Let’s remember that none of this would have happened if the first (and only) Biden-Trump debate took place in September instead of the end of June. Remember the panic that gripped the party immediately after the President blew it so badly? That’s what led to his withdrawing from the race a few weeks later and Harris stepping up with an energized campaign to replace him. Could that have happened if it were so much later in the process? I doubt it very much, which means we would have been seriously screwed.
But here we are, feeling joyful instead.
Watching yesterday’s rally, I marveled at how much better Kamala has gotten at giving stump speeches compared to four years ago, with a very sharp team of writers providing her with so many winning lines. And I was quite impressed with Walz, who got off a slew of good ones of his own, including: “Violent crime was up under Trump. And that’s not even counting the crimes he committed!”
Then there was the big crowd-pleasing shot at JD Vance: “I can’t wait to debate the guy — that is if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up!” Unlike Vance, Walz’s wife won’t have to publicly explain what he meant.
He also used part of his life story to differentiate himself from Vance, who has come out against in vitro fertilization. Walz revealed how he and his wife Gwen had to use multiple IVF treatments over seven years before she became pregnant and gave birth to their first child, who they named Hope. A few years later, they used IVF again and had another child, Gus. Considering how Trump, Vance, and MAGA Morons in some state legislatures are trying to ban IVF, Walz makes a pretty good poster boy for the science that helped him become a Dad — and evidence that reproductive rights are not exclusively women’s issues. He may even help the Democrats steal the mantle of The Pro-Family Party.
When my father retired after teaching high school social studies for 21 years, some of his students showed up to talk about what a great experience it had been to be in his classroom. One of them even came to his memorial service a decade and a half later.
I was reminded of that yesterday when Walz talked about his experience teaching the same subject, and how it was his pupils who urged him to run for office in the first place. Now, several are campaigning for him again. That says a lot about the connection he made with them.
Meanwhile, 90% of the people who served in Trump’s cabinet have come out publicly to warn about the dangers of electing him again.
After Harris and Walz were finished speaking yesterday, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes described their appeal as “patriotic pluralism.” That’s good, but I like the single word description even better: JOY.