The Witness Chronicles, August 8, 2024
Normal v. Abnormal
The Politics of Joy, Version Two: The New Running Mate, Tim Walz, is Pretty Normal
A white guy and black/south Asian woman, kindred spirits?
Joy is easy. But winning is not. Kamala Harris chose her running mate this week and it appears she chose based on personal chemistry. That tells me that she chose a man she will be able to work with over the long term. Not just someone who can deliver a state or constituency, though he may help with that.
One supporter, who knew him as a teacher and successful high school sports coach, described him as both practical and goofy when acting as a motivator. Coach Walz, as many know Tim Walz in Minnesota, probably considers that a compliment.
Practical we get, but goofy makes him human. He was the first to describe Trump and Vance as weird and it didn’t sound like a planned soundbite created by a team of campaign message creators. Though it certainly became one as other politicians realized this was the kind of statement that might cut through the Trump anger and fear message.
It said, just step back and look at these guys, they are weird. That meme will pass because it has a limited shelf life for being effective. But it set a tone for the Harris/Walz ticket that also said, we are going to remind you what these people really are.
People ask me who I think will win and I tell them I have no idea. Nothing is normal any more so predictions, polls, pundits, and focus groups mean nothing. It has been so erratic that the most important campaign strategy Harris can pursue is to be consistent.
Laugh at the laughable but back it up with hammering at the total lack of policy, while telling the story of what a real future vision could look like. Don’t gild the lily, tell the brutal truth.
It looks like Harris is heading firmly in that direction. The question is, does she have time for it to impact undecided voters? Nobody knows at this point. Those are not the voters who tell polls what they are really thinking.
Trump is in the same boat, but appears to be incapable of understanding why anyone would not worship him, so he preaches to the converted.
Walz may not guarantee a state like Pennsylvania goes blue, but he can expand the base because he represents the Midwest and truly is one of them. Look at the resume. Twenty years of National Guard duty. A schoolteacher and beloved football coach. A man who went into politics because he was disgusted with the current crop of representatives. Who served in the House and was given high responsibilities. And who was elected by landslides as governor in a state that was neither red nor blue.
Oh yeah, grew up on a farm in Nebraska.
Vance may portray himself as a hillbilly, a derogative term in the communities he grew up in. But he went to Harvard. Yes, he served in the military, but as a journalist for that military, which could be seen as a propagandist. Then Silicon Valley and venture capital. Not exactly hillbill stuff.
So, again this campaign appears to be the real vs the unreal. We know Trump is a man who made up his entire life, backed by inherited millions. By most standards he is a failed businessman and a convicted felon, not to mention rape and sex with a pornstar, a man who still thinks shilling bibles and golden sneakers to suckers is a great idea.
All logic says the choice should be obvious. But logic is seriously lacking in our country these days, in fact the right implies that logic, civility, and clarity are suspect.
The Harris/Walz ticket is solid, though I question whether solid is enough during a time when nothing else is stable. The climate change crisis is tearing communities apart as I write this, but fully one third of our congress members do not believe in it. The Middle East is not teetering on the edge of regional war, it is in one. Russia and Ukraine are hurling modern weapons at each other in mind boggling quantities with devastating results.
I can go on with this litany of chaos but you get the point. Those who support Donald Trump are not interested in those dramas happening outside our borders. Instead, Trump paints a picture of an America in tatters, on the verge of self-destruction.
I do not believe that is the case but others do. But logic tells us solid is what we need in leaders, not those who stoke fears for their own benefit. Trump and Vance are empty opportunists and always will be. Harris and Walz are boringly normal, something a lot of us want.
The question is, do we want an endless fake reality show, a diversion from reality, or do we want to give our kids and grandkids a viable future? The answer seems obvious to me but I know there are those who deal with the future by pretending it has nothing to do with their lives now.
Normal or Abby Normal? That seems to be the choice. Yikes.
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As a boots-on-the-ground Pennsylvania Democrat, we'll be doing the groundwork to get Harris and Walz elected.
I honestly don't think Shapiro as VP would have helped the cause (and not just because we didn't want to lose him as governor). He's going to work his ass off for them. And let's face it, it was great national visibility for him and his future plans to be on the short list.
I think Walz will do more to win over more rural voters--across PA and all states.
We've got a great ticket--let's all work together for victory for Harris/Walz, victory for our Democracy.