Kamala Harris And The Rallying Cry
Yes We Can, Win The Battle For The Soul Of America
American history is a mess. Instead of a clear and uncluttered linear path, the history of this country is filled with fits and starts, slow progress combined with light speed leaps forward that occur in the blink of an eye. Sometimes, things even unfortunately go backwards.
For those of us who believe in progress, it can become overwhelming. It is difficult to see the promised land when you are surrounded by fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Those moments often require a rallying cry instead of a sober and factual assessment of the situation.
Whether it was FDR telling the nation that “fear itself” was the only thing to truly be worried about during the Great Depression, Martin Luther King Jr. discussing his vision of the mountaintop, or Barack Obama telling young people in 2008 “yes we can,” this sort of emotional spark can be the rhetorical shot in the arm that wins wars — both ideological and physical.
The transition from President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign feels like one of those moments precisely when it is so desperately needed. I don’t doubt that millions of people understood the duty to oppose Donald Trump and the forces of autocracy, but the Biden campaign — for better or worse — had the characteristic of solemn duty. Electing Biden was important and I will always believe that faced with the stakes of the race, particularly for abortion rights, he still had a shot at success.
But what we see now in the early stages with Harris is the creation of a kind of crusade that hasn’t been seen since President Barack Obama’s initial campaign in 2008. It is a transition from “well, we need to do this” to a “fired up, ready to go” mindset. That sort of thing is difficult to quantify in a poll and probably won’t show up until election day, but there is something in the air that is occurring.
While some of this is undoubtedly Vice President Harris, there’s more to it than that. She is operating as the vessel for a lot of people’s hopes and desires, from women, Black people, South Asian people, and the wide net of immigrants and allies that form the American patchwork.
The Barack Obama moment was more than a decade and a half ago and a significant portion of the voting public has only read about that campaign in history books. Just like many voters in 2008 only knew about the JFK moment from 1960 as a flash of black and white television. There was no TikTok and social media as we currently know it had barely begun.
In a fractured culture where everyone experiences a different lens on reality through their screens, unifying moments happen with far less regularity than in the past. It is unfortunate that it needs to be something so dramatic that shocks large swaths of us from our silos, but it is refreshing to see that it can happen.
Trump and the forces arrayed behind him are far from defeat and they are still too close to regaining power. But for the moment the people who stand in opposition to him are determined — as they have always been — but also happy. Understanding that you are a small part of something very big, which can nonetheless change the world, is not to be underestimated.
That unity of purpose has a track record of accomplishing things that once seemed like a pipe dream. Voting rights for women and minorities. Marriage equality. The defeat of the Axis Powers. And so forth.
President Biden accurately described the contrasting visions between himself and Trump in 2020 as a “battle for the soul of America.” He was right then and the description still stands. The current unity behind Harris is something of a group realization of Biden’s words.
Hopefully, it lasts. It has to.
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— Oliver
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I loved this article. Thank you. Every word of it is true. Electing Joe Biden again was important and I still think it was possible, despite how shabbily he was being treated by the press and media, most particularly the New York Times. But this pivot and how it was executed was sheer brilliance and I deeply appreciate it. Now Joe Biden can focus on governing, and then he can rest. Well deserved rest. And Kamala Harris can continue American democracy and continue to push our country to be better. I also believe that is very possible.
Thank you Mr. Willis. We appreciate you and will also rest more easily when President Harris dumps Trump & Company into the trash bin of history.