Addressing the Democratic convention on its third day, former president Bill Clinton gave a speech in a positive, conversational tone that has thus far been missing from Chicago. However, underneath his relaxed demeanor, he concealed a carefully crafted message about Kamala Harris. When he had delivered it and walked off the stage, he had planted the idea in the audience that Kamala Harris is an outsider who will bring “fresh air” into the White House.
It was an artful rhetorical game, worthy of an artful rhetorician, but it shows how desperate the Democrats are to distance Kamala Harris from Joe Biden. Former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to do the same, as did most of the speakers during the third day of the convention.
This shows that the Democrats are painfully aware of how vulnerable Kamala Harris is if the voters actually hold her accountable for the past four years’ worth of inflation, high interest rates, open borders, and high crime. It also shows that when the Republicans criticize Harris for being a socialist, a communist, or a ‘Kamunist’—the last term being an adaptation of a recent front page of the New York Post—they resonate with voters. The Biden/Harris presidency has gotten a few chances to show just how radical it is, and since Kamala Harris has promised more of the same, the only option for Democrats is to portray her as an outsider who has nothing to do with her own—let alone her party’s—increasingly radicalized socialist ideology.
Unfortunately for Bill Clinton and others, Harris’s own vice presidential pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, undermined those efforts in his own speech to the convention on the third day. His speech, effectively to accept the nomination as candidate for vice president, pulled no ideological punches: he laid out his achievements as governor in making Minnesotans more dependent on government in every cardinal direction.
In doing so, he reconnected Kamala Harris to the very ideology that has clearly begun stoking fear in Democrat party strategists. They need centrist or independent voters to defeat Trump, but they cannot go after them if their presidential candidate becomes known as a price-controlling ‘Kamunist.’
At the same time, they cannot water down their leftist ideology. More than ever before, the Democrats are under hard pressure from a new, radically leftist political movement. This movement has manifested its force and its numbers during the protests outside the convention.
Most media have dismissed the protesters as ragtag youth activists who like the attention it gets you when you throw rocks at police. This is a mistake, and the first hint of that is the fact that there have been no violent riots and only minor skirmishes with police. The peace and relative discipline among the protesters—who tally about 100,000—is a testament to the organization and leadership under which they operate.
By maintaining calm almost without exception, these activists, who come from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, have scored some key political points so far. They pushed President Biden to admit that the protesters “have a point” about one of their issues (the war in Gaza), and they earned a more direct acknowledgment from Senator Bernie Sanders in his speech on Tuesday night.
Unlike other mass public protests in recent years, the ones unfolding in Chicago this week are not drawn together by one single issue; this is not Black Lives Matter 2.0. These protesters are in the process of formulating a comprehensive political agenda, one that eventually could rival the Democrat party’s own. Their ambitions go far beyond holding banners and shouting slogans. Their first step forward is to pressure the Democrat party to revoke its support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
They have been successful here. So far, there has not been even a hint of foreign-policy discussion from the podium at the convention.
The next step for the protesters is to unite around an ideological platform where many different issues can fit together. Sen. Sanders pandered to these broader ideological ambitions. Like the senator, many of the protest groups are openly socialist, though still only fledgling in formulating concise policy demands based on their beliefs.
It would, however, be a mistake to dismiss their inexperience on this front. They have already sketched a first draft of a cohesive platform with the ambition of turning a loosely structured protest coalition into a coherent political movement—and eventually a political party.
Few journalists have bothered to try to find out what the protesters really want, but on August 19th—the opening day of the Democrat party convention—DemocracyNow.org published an interesting review. They unveiled a wide variety of activists, from first-timers to experienced political activists. But most of all, they put the spotlight on the emerging ideological platform. As the DemocracyNow article demonstrates, the protesters share a common denominator in the combination of:
- On the one hand, disdain for the current Democratic Party and,
- On the other hand, a new rallying cry in ‘reproductive freedom.’
The meaning of this concept was captured by Jex Blackmore who, according to DemocracyNow, is “the organizing director of Shout Your Abortion” (a group that wants to “normalize” abortion). Blackmore tied “reproductive justice” to “Palestinian liberation” in an argument that leaves a lot to be wished for in terms of coherence and logic, but it nevertheless reveals where this movement is heading:
You cannot talk about reproductive justice without talking about Palestinian liberation. we are talking about body autonomy. we are talking about the freedom to control what happens to our bodies, our families, our futures, our ability to move between places. … And so, we stand just as much about bodily autonomy and reproductive justice as we do for people here as we do in Palestine.
Although she did not spell it out, Blackmore implied support for LGBT individuals. As such, her argument was a brave attempt to tie her organization’s campaign to ‘normalize’ abortions in America to some kind of defense of the Hamas government in Gaza. It is tempting to ask Blackmore what rights LGBT individuals had under Hamas, and whether or not the group allowed abortion clinics in Gaza.
To this point—perhaps inadvertently anticipating reader confusion on the matter—DemocracyNow reporter María Taracena asked Eman Abdelhadi, a University of Chicago professor and passionate protester:
What specifically about queer and trans movements and reproductive rights connects to Israel’s war on Gaza?
Abdelhadi replied with an astounding suggestion that the war, which he referred to as a “genocide,” has “had a disproportionate impact on women and their access to healthcare.” He then went on to explain that (emphasis added):
genocide always starts with the decision that some bodies need to be controlled, contained or exterminated. And that is what reproductive justice is about … ending the state’s right to do that to any population.
Although this does not make much sense in a political world of very well-established parties, ideologies, and policy agendas, it shows that a new political movement is growing on the far Left in America. It is a movement that represents a significant threat to the Democratic Party and its perennial reliance on young voters and so-called marginalized constituencies. Some banners carried by the protesters called explicitly for the formation of a new “labor party” in America.
The fact that Governor Tim Walz gave a full-force ideological speech at the convention on its third day was no coincidence. It is his job to bring the radicals in under the party’s wings. If Donald Trump wins in November, Walz’s efforts will fall flat to the ground. He will fade into oblivion and the Democrats may face stiff competition from the Left in coming elections.
Democrats Face New Challenge From the Left
A political sign lays on the ground as protesters gathered in Union Park before the start of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, on August 19, 2024.
Photo: Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP
Addressing the Democratic convention on its third day, former president Bill Clinton gave a speech in a positive, conversational tone that has thus far been missing from Chicago. However, underneath his relaxed demeanor, he concealed a carefully crafted message about Kamala Harris. When he had delivered it and walked off the stage, he had planted the idea in the audience that Kamala Harris is an outsider who will bring “fresh air” into the White House.
It was an artful rhetorical game, worthy of an artful rhetorician, but it shows how desperate the Democrats are to distance Kamala Harris from Joe Biden. Former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to do the same, as did most of the speakers during the third day of the convention.
This shows that the Democrats are painfully aware of how vulnerable Kamala Harris is if the voters actually hold her accountable for the past four years’ worth of inflation, high interest rates, open borders, and high crime. It also shows that when the Republicans criticize Harris for being a socialist, a communist, or a ‘Kamunist’—the last term being an adaptation of a recent front page of the New York Post—they resonate with voters. The Biden/Harris presidency has gotten a few chances to show just how radical it is, and since Kamala Harris has promised more of the same, the only option for Democrats is to portray her as an outsider who has nothing to do with her own—let alone her party’s—increasingly radicalized socialist ideology.
Unfortunately for Bill Clinton and others, Harris’s own vice presidential pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, undermined those efforts in his own speech to the convention on the third day. His speech, effectively to accept the nomination as candidate for vice president, pulled no ideological punches: he laid out his achievements as governor in making Minnesotans more dependent on government in every cardinal direction.
In doing so, he reconnected Kamala Harris to the very ideology that has clearly begun stoking fear in Democrat party strategists. They need centrist or independent voters to defeat Trump, but they cannot go after them if their presidential candidate becomes known as a price-controlling ‘Kamunist.’
At the same time, they cannot water down their leftist ideology. More than ever before, the Democrats are under hard pressure from a new, radically leftist political movement. This movement has manifested its force and its numbers during the protests outside the convention.
Most media have dismissed the protesters as ragtag youth activists who like the attention it gets you when you throw rocks at police. This is a mistake, and the first hint of that is the fact that there have been no violent riots and only minor skirmishes with police. The peace and relative discipline among the protesters—who tally about 100,000—is a testament to the organization and leadership under which they operate.
By maintaining calm almost without exception, these activists, who come from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, have scored some key political points so far. They pushed President Biden to admit that the protesters “have a point” about one of their issues (the war in Gaza), and they earned a more direct acknowledgment from Senator Bernie Sanders in his speech on Tuesday night.
Unlike other mass public protests in recent years, the ones unfolding in Chicago this week are not drawn together by one single issue; this is not Black Lives Matter 2.0. These protesters are in the process of formulating a comprehensive political agenda, one that eventually could rival the Democrat party’s own. Their ambitions go far beyond holding banners and shouting slogans. Their first step forward is to pressure the Democrat party to revoke its support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
They have been successful here. So far, there has not been even a hint of foreign-policy discussion from the podium at the convention.
The next step for the protesters is to unite around an ideological platform where many different issues can fit together. Sen. Sanders pandered to these broader ideological ambitions. Like the senator, many of the protest groups are openly socialist, though still only fledgling in formulating concise policy demands based on their beliefs.
It would, however, be a mistake to dismiss their inexperience on this front. They have already sketched a first draft of a cohesive platform with the ambition of turning a loosely structured protest coalition into a coherent political movement—and eventually a political party.
Few journalists have bothered to try to find out what the protesters really want, but on August 19th—the opening day of the Democrat party convention—DemocracyNow.org published an interesting review. They unveiled a wide variety of activists, from first-timers to experienced political activists. But most of all, they put the spotlight on the emerging ideological platform. As the DemocracyNow article demonstrates, the protesters share a common denominator in the combination of:
The meaning of this concept was captured by Jex Blackmore who, according to DemocracyNow, is “the organizing director of Shout Your Abortion” (a group that wants to “normalize” abortion). Blackmore tied “reproductive justice” to “Palestinian liberation” in an argument that leaves a lot to be wished for in terms of coherence and logic, but it nevertheless reveals where this movement is heading:
Although she did not spell it out, Blackmore implied support for LGBT individuals. As such, her argument was a brave attempt to tie her organization’s campaign to ‘normalize’ abortions in America to some kind of defense of the Hamas government in Gaza. It is tempting to ask Blackmore what rights LGBT individuals had under Hamas, and whether or not the group allowed abortion clinics in Gaza.
To this point—perhaps inadvertently anticipating reader confusion on the matter—DemocracyNow reporter María Taracena asked Eman Abdelhadi, a University of Chicago professor and passionate protester:
Abdelhadi replied with an astounding suggestion that the war, which he referred to as a “genocide,” has “had a disproportionate impact on women and their access to healthcare.” He then went on to explain that (emphasis added):
Although this does not make much sense in a political world of very well-established parties, ideologies, and policy agendas, it shows that a new political movement is growing on the far Left in America. It is a movement that represents a significant threat to the Democratic Party and its perennial reliance on young voters and so-called marginalized constituencies. Some banners carried by the protesters called explicitly for the formation of a new “labor party” in America.
The fact that Governor Tim Walz gave a full-force ideological speech at the convention on its third day was no coincidence. It is his job to bring the radicals in under the party’s wings. If Donald Trump wins in November, Walz’s efforts will fall flat to the ground. He will fade into oblivion and the Democrats may face stiff competition from the Left in coming elections.
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