Chicago police make a show of force in Union Park, just east of the United Center, on Monday. (Photo by John Griswold)
There is new energy in the previously moribund Democratic ticket. This was obvious from the moment President Joe Biden chose not to run for re-election, but it is doubly apparent at the end of the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz—maybe as important a chemical pairing as the Obama-Biden love match—seem at this moment likely to win the White House in November.
It is an odd time. On the one hand, there is little to say about the election in November. Because this is America, only two parties are vying for the highest office. One is a group of traditionally competent politicians intent on maintaining wealth and power in mid-century-bipartisan, supposedly middle-class-focused ways. On the other side is a group of yahoos and troglodytes who intend to strip away the bedclothes of governance and social programs and let the bedbugs do their bloody work in the air and light. Undecided voters could easily learn the stark differences between the current incarnations of the two parties if they wanted.
On the other hand, conventions are celebrations of future power not yet won, so there must be a show commensurate with the spoils. The DNC is being held in two of the biggest buildings in Chicago, which not coincidentally celebrate the highest powers in our land: business, in the shape of McCormick Place, more commonly used for enormous trade shows; and entertainment, represented by the United Center arena.
Both have half-mile security perimeters with riot fences and barriers encircling the fortresses. Thousands of police in various uniforms with patches from all across Chicagoland and from the federal government line the streets and gather in force outside meeting areas and buildings and in parks. Their SUVs are literally everywhere for blocks around the venues, their helicopters and drones on station overhead, and as I write this in my immaculate little hotel in Chinatown, a strange VTOL aircraft roars and hovers. It is not that the security is not necessary; the attempted assassination of Trump is proof of that, and a deep bench of Democrats were present today, including Biden, Harris, and Hillary Clinton, raising the stakes. But it also does not hurt that security demonstrates the pomp and power of the party. When asked, my Uber driver thought the use of police was a waste of taxes.
This is not a contested convention, and Kamala Harris was officially made the party’s nominee in an online vote two weeks ago. There will be no drama from the floor and galleries as there was here in 1968, no cutting the microphones to the mayor’s enemies, no trades for power in back rooms. It is instead a very expensive media event–the convention sent an email that said there would be 15,000 media people there–an ad without the dangers of real policy details. The Democrats’ marketing machine is running so tirelessly and with such heat and light that it must have its own nuclear plant. The first night had dozens of speakers in joyful mode, on the theme “for the people,” a reference to bottom-up economic policies, social safety nets, and Harris’ line as district attorney when she entered a courtroom—that she spoke “for the people.”
Many of the women on the first night were exceptional orators, as was the junior US Senator from Georgia, Raphael Warnock, but as with any event other speakers were weak or stumbled. The Bidens themselves were not particularly helpful except for their presence, in order to validate the endorsement of Harris. Jill Biden was the best of them but brief; daughter Ashley Biden had an affected voice and tried to flirt with the camera; Joe was in high-pitched angry mode for most of his speech.
Signs left over from Monday’s rally for various causes are packed and trucked away. (Photo by John Griswold)
A left-leaning viewer might float on the positive attitude of the DNC’s first night. Unionism, reproductive rights, and, most of all, anti-Trumpism are serious things. Many in the arena had tears in their eyes as they watched personalities that represented hope to them. But Obama ran on hope, it was his slogan, and things did not go as smoothly for his administration as many would have liked.
The first night was also repetitious, long, and vague. Every time someone spoke on their long friendship with Harris, as proof she will be a great president and commander-in-chief, a viewer might wonder if she too would get her tears wiped away by Harris when she did not feel strong enough or would get a laughing call from Harris on her birthday. The nominee is an accomplished, competent, cheerful person being spoken of often in abstractions, other than as the only alternative to Trump and what he might work.
I believe power needs to justify itself at every turn—does this make me an anarchist?—and joyfulness as a political posture does not do that. In recent travels I talked to several MAGA guys, who in a weird way were convincing Marxists. Their vague, conspiratorial ideas about who actually runs the country when Dems are in office point to how we are all swept up in huge forces we do not even see, let alone know how they work and affect our lives. That is the modern condition, especially in the digital era and at the start of the AI reign. When those guys, many of them veterans, call for older ways and even monarchy (see Curtis Yarvin, who is becoming establishment, having crawled in from the frayed edges) they are pining for understanding that they (and we) are unlikely to achieve in our lifetimes.
I was having dinner with a Chinese friend once and asked her politics. She hesitated, then pointed to a tin sign on the wall among other geedunk. It read, “Be Civil.” The Democrats may succeed on the impression of that alone.
