Via Chicago: Day 2, ‘A bold vision for America’s future’
In his adopted hometown, Barack Obama became the second president to stump on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Andy Bailey illustration
Editor’s note: “Via Chicago” is Smoky Mountain News Politics Editor Cory Vaillancourt’s pop-up daily dispatch from the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Look for a new installment each day this week, through Friday.
Former President Barack Obama has played a substantial part in President Joe Biden’s legacy, and as the second day of the Democratic National Convention opened with the theme of “a bold vision for America’s future,” Obama started by gazing not towards the future, but instead towards the past.
“Looking back, I can say without question that my first big decision as your nominee turned out to be one of my best,” he said. “And that was asking Joe Biden to serve by my side as vice president.”
Trudging down memory lane, though, leaves Democrats on a tricky path. Vice President Kamala Harris has offered to fix many of the nation’s problems on “day one,” but as some have pointed out, day one for Harris was 1,308 days ago.
There are, however, plenty of other issues that are part of that bold vision that Democrats haven’t quite been able to push across the finish line. Senior members of the party spent a lot time discussing them from the podium, at first without having to raise the specter of perennial boogeyman Donald Trump.
“Senate Republicans pretend to care about middle-class families, but they voted ‘no’ on expanding the child tax credit,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who worked with Harris when she was a senator. “JD Vance didn’t even show up to vote. Senate Republicans pretend to care about the border, but they voted ‘no’ on the strongest border bill in a decade.”
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JB Pritzker, wealthy Democratic governor of Illinois, underscored the importance of Democratic policies reflective of Harris’ working-class agenda.
“More than anything, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want a country where we can all live with a little serenity,” Pritzker said. “The serenity that comes with a balanced checkbook, an affordable grocery bill and a housing market that has room for everyone.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, technically an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has long been considered one of Congress’ most liberal elected officials, if not the most liberal. Sanders’ own bold vision includes an economy, and society, geared towards the working class.
“These oligarchs tell us we shouldn’t tax the rich, we shouldn’t take on price gouging, we shouldn’t expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision, and we shouldn’t increase Social Security benefits for struggling seniors. Well, I’ve got some bad news for them,” he said. “That is precisely what we are going to do.”
Still, a large part of Democrats bold vision involves invoking the boogeyman’s lone term, or perhaps looking forward to his next one. Sanders largely avoided this, but Schumer said a Trump victory in November would return the country to “the dark night of Trump’s American carnage” while Pritzker ridiculed Trump’s many business failures.
“Take it from an actual billionaire,” Pritzker said. “Trump is rich in only one thing. Stupidity.”
Obama joined in during his own rousing speech, comparing Trump’s time as president to a cinematic disaster — “We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse” — but, ever the statesman, redirected his comments towards Harris’ bold vision of America’s future.
“America can be and must be a force for good: discouraging conflict, fighting disease, promoting human rights, protecting the planet from climate change, defending freedom, brokering peace,” Obama said. “That’s what Kamala Harris believes and so do most Americans.”
