Vibes, Values and the Path to Victory

The Harris-Walz ticket gets an assist from President Joe Biden, as it continues its focus on compassion, decency and a progressive agenda

The president and his VP, now the Democratic nominee, back together again in public. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images)

I’ve been looking forward to the moment when Kamala Harris and Joe Biden would be together in public again. Yesterday barely three weeks after the president exited the race and endorsed his vice president—what already feels like a different era—we got to see the dynamic between them. In short, it was a lovefest.

And more, it made clear that however much momentum and exuberance these last weeks have released, the involvement of the president during the Democratic National Convention and in the campaign’s subsequent weeks will continue to supercharge the optimism and joy that has already turned Harris-Walz into a winning ticket. The positive energy, the mood they’re creating—the vibe—is utterly authentic and impossible to miss.

“I could talk all afternoon about the person I’m standing here with,” a heartfelt Harris said in Largo, Maryland, causing Biden to smile as the crowd began chanting “Joe, Joe, Joe.” Taking it in, Harris said, “There’s a lot of love in this room for our president.”

Soon, she was talking about the bill that enabled the Biden-Harris administration to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors with the big pharmaceutical companies. “I was proud to cast the tie-breaking vote that passed the bill,” which the president signed, Harris said, as Biden leaned in for a hug.

The crowd began chanting “Thank you, Joe, Thank you, Joe.” Biden, obviously touched, patted his heart in acknowledgement.

Then it was time to introduce the president who first began pursuing a bill like this back in the 1970s, as clear a reminder as anyone needs that this work matters a great deal to him. “It is my eternal and great, great, great honor to serve with this most extraordinary human being,” she began. As she concluded and Biden moved behind the podium, she leaned in to say to him quietly: “I love you.”

And Biden’s opening words? “Folks, I’ve had an incredible partner…you can take it from me: She can make one helluva president.”

Laughably, that sour other guy—the convicted felon the GOP nominated—was insisting Wednesday in his devoid-of-detail “economic address” that Joe Biden was angry with Kamala Harris. But that picture of conflict and discontent was once again a fantasy that the failing Trump yearns for.

Belying his constant pretense that he’s the strong guy who’s winning, his solutions-free pledges demonstrate how much he recognizes what message is working. “Everyone will prosper. Every family will thrive,” he insisted. “And every day will be filled with opportunity, hope and joy.”

Hearing those words emanating from the mouth of Trump? I almost feel sorry for the sad, sad fact that this malignant human will never know what these words actually mean. But only almost. Because he’s worked every day to strip our country of both hope and joy in his unquenchable quest for carnage, retribution and self-enrichment.

Hope and joy. There’s only one ticket that can deliver on that future.

In his so-called press event at his members-only Bedminster golf club yesterday, he could be heard exclaiming the messages that actually motivate him: “She’s in favor of the death of the American dream” and “Right now, we are a failing nation.” He also served up this personal attack: “I don’t have a lot of respect for her. I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence.”

What happened to hope and joy? Expect his ego-fest rallies to grow dimmer and sparser as the Democratic ticket expands its electoral map as it barnstorms through America. Why not Ohio? Why not Florida? Beyond the obvious battleground states, as new polling suggests fresh opportunities, they just might prove that other parts of America would like to experience (and vote for) a lovefest.

Meanwhile, in an effort to shake up his troubled campaign, Trump brought in five new staffers, including—wait for it—Corey Lewandoski. You remember him: the 2016 campaign manager who was fired for assaulting a female reporter and alleged to have groped a female donor. So much for widening their appeal with more than half of the electorate.

Yesterday, Harris-Walz also released a nearly ten-minute video of the two candidates just hanging out, trading stories and sharing thoughts. There was talk of food and music and lots of laughs.

He eats “white guy” tacos with ground beef and cheese—not much flavor. She’s the first vice president, she believes, who’s grown chili peppers. He likes Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seeger. She likes Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and hip-hop. They linger over a shared appreciation of Prince, a Minnesota native, and agree a visit to his Paisley Park ought to be on the schedule. “It’s on my bucket list,” Harris says.

This warm back-and-forth, while obviously recorded, can’t be faked. They also talked about family background—Walz’s chain-smoking father died when Tim was 19 and his little brother was eight or nine—and the role of Social Security, Social Security survivor benefits and other government programs that, as Walz put it, aren’t just “fundamental to keeping people from dropping into poverty, but to live with dignity.” Harris responded, “We’ve gotta help people get through a hard time. We can’t have a country and policies that let people fall through the cracks.”

Talking about the political dynamic, Walz said, “This exploiting the differences—it can’t last….It’s easier to divide than it is to build. But once you start that momentum… people want to be a part of something that is winning. They want to be a part of something that’s good. And they want to be a part of something that everyone can be a part of.”

Asked by her running mate about why she became an attorney, she talked about a friend in high school who was being molested by her stepfather. At Kamala’s urging, that friend came and lived at her house. “I have to tell you, Tim, it’s the first time I realized that not everyone can take their safety for granted,” Harris said. “And we should all feel a sense of responsibility to protect people from harm. That’s why I said I wanted to be a prosecutor”—and why she focused on child sexual abuse cases.

Walz compared it to his own experience as a teacher and wanting to uplift children—”that sense of service.” And, he noted, he and Harris are from “two different parts of the country, two different lived experiences, but all coming to that same goal of everyone getting a fair shot.” Added Harris, “You remind me of people I grew up with—hard-working folks, plain-speaking, people who know the difference between right and wrong, and care—love thy neighbor in the most authentic way…I’m so glad we’re doing this together.”

We have 80 days until the Nov. 5 election. It feels both like an incredibly short time and still a long time for a political battle with opponents that are willing to toss aside democracy and basic human decency in their determination to take power. Three weeks in, Harris has been under increasing pressure by an arrogant media to get specific about her policy agenda and answer their questions now. It’s disappointing to see journalists attacking Harris for not doing an interview yet—as if they should determine the timeline for her roll-out.

There will be more to say about the continuing media failure to hold Donald Trump accountable—to spotlight his flaws and the risks he poses to the nation—with anything close to the compulsive fervor with which they attacked Joe Biden. But I take heart in the ways that the Democratic ticket is sharing its values on a daily basis, whether or not it’s in the format that some reporters and pundits prefer.

This campaign has no modern American precedent, both in its brevity and the speed with which it’s shifted the public discourse with a focus on compassion, decency and progressive, inclusive American values. The pro-autocracy, pro-Putin ticket is in trouble—and, so far, the vibes and values of the pro-democracy, pro-American ticket is successfully paving its path to victory.

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