Whoa, what a week! Those inclined to comment on the nation’s political state of affairs hourly or even more often on social media have produced tons and tons of content in just the last couple of weeks since the near-miss attempt on Trump’s life, the unsettling pick for the GOP v-p candidate, the clownish Republican convention, the withdrawal of President Biden and the rise of Vice President Kamala Harris. Stay tuned, who knows what’s next!
Once the dust begins to settle, if ever, the Democrats will be confronting an incredible challenge between now and November. But the flawless way they’ve handled the hand-off from Biden to Harris so far having been pure genius, I consider their chances good of building momentum for a landslide win in the fall, up and down tickets all across the land.
Who would have guessed in advance that Harris would be so universally and overwhelmingly applauded as the potential new president? What a supremely well coordinated Democratic effort to hit the ground running with her candidacy within minutes of President Biden’s announcement last weekend.
Clearly, behind the scenes the groundwork for this had to have been laid for a much longer period, though in this era of instantaneous communications it was much more possible to do it on short notice. Some day a cavalcade of books will be written about the backstories to this incredible transition week in our nation’s history.
For the time being, I am delighted by the sudden elevation of Harris and the prospects for her victory.
I was firmly in favor of resisting all the pressure on Biden to quit, and was very pleased when my congressman, U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, issued a video statement sharing that view last Saturday night. In fact, no federal office holding Democratic leader from Virginia had gone the other way, as even news reports of Sen. Mark Warner calling for Biden to drop out went unconfirmed and his name did not appear on any lists of that sort as of last weekend.
I posted Rep. Beyer’s statement of support for Biden on the Falls Church News-Press website the minute it came in, and early Sunday I texted Beyer to ask if he planned to write a more lengthy statement on the subject. He soon replied, “It looks like not, sadly.”
I couldn’t figure out his meaning, but the news then broke within minutes that Biden announced his withdrawal. “Ah, I see,” I wrote back, figuring that Biden had succumbed to the growing drumbeat, I added, “How terrible.”
But barely had I posted those words than the great mobilization of support for Harris was unleashed, a torrent unending as of this writing, with $100 million raised in the first day. Thousands of folks, like myself, contributed nominal amounts just to be in on the surge, to say we caught the wave too, surfer style.
It has been a replay of the optimism and enthusiasm that attended the nomination of the Biden-Harris team four years ago, which represented a serious chance at knocking out the worst president in the history of the U.S., and its subsequent success.
Acting super quickly last weekend to prevent the Biden announcement from devolving into a morass of self-doubt and confusion, vulnerabilities that the Trump crowd would have feasted amply on, the Democratic leadership (including Beyer) was clearly prepared to spring into action veritably instantaneously to elevate Harris to the exclusion of any delay or other options. Within only a few hours, the die was cast as the dollars were flowing in.
So, suddenly we have a younger woman of color soaring on a trajectory to become President of the United States! Of course, as vice president, she has been just a step away from that for all this time, but her role until now had not been seen with the gravitas it deserved.
Suddenly, Trump is the doddering old guy. Suddenly he’s the guy incapable of completing a sentence or making any sense at all, actually.
Suddenly, as an articulate and passionate woman, Harris is the perfect choice to make the election about women’s reproductive rights and respect for immigrants and all persons of color.