The Democratic Nationwide Conference is over, and the decision is in: It was a outstanding heist. “They stole conventional Republican themes (religion, patriotism) and claimed them as their very own,” the conservative Wall Avenue Journal columnist Peggy Noonan wrote. “Democrats Present That Republicans Aren’t the Solely Ones Who Can Wrap Themselves within the Flag,” learn a New York Occasions headline. “Speaker after speaker,” CNN reported, “struck themes which have lengthy been hallmarks of Republican rhetoric: tributes to service, sacrifice, American management and, above all, a repeated reaffirmation of American exceptionalism.” Or, as The Washington Publish put it, “Democrats declare patriotism, God and American exceptionalism at conference.”
Oh, wait—my mistake. These final two quotes are from protection of the 2016 Democratic Nationwide Conference, in Philadelphia, when Hillary Clinton accepted her celebration’s nomination. And so they’re not the one a part of final week’s DNC that felt like a rerun.
In 2016, retired four-star Marine Corps Normal John Allen endorsed Clinton alongside dozens of Democratic veterans and former army officers, whereas delegates all through the corridor waved big American flags and thunderously chanted “U-S-A!” This previous week, the Arizona congressman and Marine Corps veteran Ruben Gallego took the stage with fellow Democratic elected veterans, earlier than a sea of flags and an enormous backdrop of Outdated Glory, to declare, “We stand united as Democrats and patriots to battle for anybody who serves.” In 2016, the billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg assailed Donald Trump and his enterprise acumen. In 2024, Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker advised delegates, “Take it from an precise billionaire—Trump is wealthy in just one factor: stupidity.”
At first look, these parallels aren’t encouraging for Democrats. In any case, they know what occurred in 2016. So ought to liberals elated after their conference be involved that its seeming success would possibly truly be a mirage that shall be dispelled in November, simply because it was eight years in the past? Not fairly. Though Kamala Harris is reviving the Clinton playbook, she has up to now managed to keep away from its greatest fumbles.
A few of this is because of political ability. However a lot of it’s as a result of Harris has one key benefit that Clinton lacked: Due to the weird means she assumed the nomination, the vp sidestepped a bruising main—which meant that she didn’t should spend the conference mollifying left-wing critics. In 2016, Clinton needed to cope with 1,831 Bernie Sanders delegates, near half of the conference’s roughly 4,000 whole. A lot of them went “Bernie or Bust,” accused Clinton of stealing the first, and repeatedly disrupted her acceptance speech and different proceedings. Harris, nevertheless, needed to reckon with simply 30 uncommitted delegates protesting Joe Biden’s Gaza coverage, who—whatever the deserves of their critique—may in the end be turned away with little consequence.
Free of the necessity to enchantment to inside opponents, Harris was capable of enchantment to her skeptics throughout the nation—to embrace components of moderation not simply in type but in addition in substance. Contemplate: In her 2016 acceptance speech, Clinton barely addressed Trump’s signature situation, immigration, gesturing solely briefly to “a path to citizenship for tens of millions of immigrants who’re already contributing to our economic system” and “complete immigration reform.” Harris, against this, backed up her pivot to the middle on the identical situation with an specific promise:
After many years in regulation enforcement, I do know the significance of security and safety, particularly at our border. Final 12 months, Joe [Biden] and I introduced collectively Democrats and conservative Republicans to put in writing the strongest border invoice in many years. The Border Patrol endorsed it. However Donald Trump believes a border deal would damage his marketing campaign, so he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal. Nicely, I refuse to play politics with our safety, and right here is my pledge to you. As president, I’ll deliver again the bipartisan border-security invoice that he killed, and I’ll signal it into regulation.
In Chicago, Harris acknowledged that “there are folks of assorted political opinions watching tonight” and promised “to be a president for all People.” So did Clinton in Philadelphia, saying, “I shall be a president for Democrats, Republicans, and independents; for the struggling, the striving, and the profitable; for individuals who vote for me and people who don’t; for all People.” However from the vantage level of wavering Republican voters, Clinton additionally muddled that message by delivering broadsides in opposition to the rich and making unpopular pledges to the activist class. “When greater than 90 % of the positive factors have gone to the highest one %, that’s the place the cash is,” she stated, echoing her main rival, “and we’re going to observe the cash.” She additionally declared that “Bernie Sanders and I’ll work collectively to make faculty tuition-free for the center class and debt-free for all.” For Clinton, these had been needed concessions to the Sanders supporters within the room, however as a result of Harris has not needed to continually look over her left shoulder, such rhetoric was conspicuously absent from her acceptance speech.
This isn’t the one space the place Harris has been buoyed by with the ability to shed considerations that dogged her predecessor. In 2016, Clinton, as the primary lady to be nominated for president by a serious celebration, needed to cope with skepticism over her gender. However in 2024, Harris has largely been capable of keep away from the difficulty, due to Clinton normalizing the thought of a girl as commander in chief, simply as Barack Obama normalized the thought of a Black president. “Collectively, we’ve put a variety of cracks within the highest, hardest glass ceiling,” Clinton advised delegates on the opening night time of final week’s conference. She is personally answerable for a lot of them.
There are nonetheless 71 days to go till the election. Within the months forward, Harris might want to sidestep the identical factional traps that snared Clinton, whereas additionally navigating press conferences and media interviews the place she is going to face questions that she has up to now evaded about her coverage shifts. But when she succeeds in sustaining the strategy that made the conference so efficient, her 2024 marketing campaign might show to be the uncommon reboot that exceeds the unique.
