Former President Bill Clinton said that K. Harris will run in 2024. racing brings “pure joy”. Oprah Winfrey urged Americans to “choose joy.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg contrasted Trump’s “darkness” with the kind of politics proposed by Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, that he said “just makes you feel better” to be a part of.
This message highlighted how rapidly 2024 was developing. presidential race after President Joe Biden dropped out last month, his campaign backed by dire warnings that a Trump election would endanger democracy itself. Harris didn’t abandon those warnings, but wrapped them into a more forward-looking message that emphasized themes of freedom and joy — and Democrats paired it with the party.
Singer John Legend and drummer Sheila E. performed Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” Stevie Wonder performed “Higher Ground”.
The Mankato West High School football team, which won a state championship while Walz was an assistant coach, took the stage wearing oversized jerseys and the band belted out the school’s fight song.
“Thank you for bringing joy to this fight,” Walz told the crowd.
CNN highlighted six highlights from the third Democratic convention in Chicago:
Introducing The Jolly Warrior “Tim Walz”
A moment of such magnitude was new for T. Walz. Prior to his choice of Harris as his vice presidential running mate, not only had he never given a major speech in front of a national audience, he had never even used a teleprompter.
So at a convention attended by former presidents, congressional leaders, celebrities and others, Walz chose a completely different role.
He’s a two-term governor and former congressman, but he relied on earlier parts of his resume: High school teacher. Football coach. Hunter. Neighbor.
He used his speech to justify the claim that the Democrats are the party of freedom.
“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their choices. And even if we don’t make the same choices ourselves, we have a golden rule: “Mind your own business,” T. Walz said.
Walz touched on Harris’ political stances on issues such as health care, abortion rights and home ownership. He did so in a populist tone that sometimes evoked the words of the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone.
“When we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to create a better life for ourselves and our loved ones. Freedom to make your own health care decisions. And yes, the freedom of your children to go to school without fear that they will be shot in the corridor”, said T. Walz.
“That’s what it’s all about: the responsibility we have to our children, to each other, and to the future we’re creating together, where everyone is free to create the life they want,” he added.
The most memorable moment of Walz’s speech, however, may have been when he talked about the fertility struggles he and his wife, Gwen Walz, have faced.
“Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my whole world and I love you,” he said, naming his daughter, son and wife.
Gus Walz stood up, tears streaming down his face, and applauded his father.
Walz left the stage as Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” played in the United Center arena. Young personally gave the Harris campaign permission to use the song. That’s worth noting because four years ago he sued Donald Trump’s campaign to stop it from doing so.
Oprah Winfrey connected the historical dots
While other Democrats led a generational shift Wednesday night, talk show legend Oprah Winfrey connected the historic dots by portraying Harris as a symbol of “America at its best.”
She told the story of Tessie Prevost, who died last month, and three other black girls who faced hatred and harassment when they were six years old in the 1960s. began the desegregation of New Orleans elementary schools.
O. Winfrey said that the “New Orleans Four” who connected with K. Harris “paved the way for another girl who, nine years later, became part of the second class of integrated public schools in Berkeley, California.”
Now, according to her, Harris is ready to make history.
“Soon, very soon, we will be teaching our daughters and sons about how this child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, two idealistic and energetic immigrants, grew up to become the 47th President of the United States,” Winfrey said. “The best (president – ed.) in America,” she added, and the crowd started chanting “USA”.
She was referring to the Republican vice presidential candidate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, who is running in 2021. complained in an interview with Tucker Carlson that the United States is run by “a bunch of childless cats who are unhappy in their lives.”
“We’re not that different from our neighbors,” Winfrey said. – When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the race or religion of the owners of the house. We don’t care who their partner is or how they voted. No. We’re just trying to do everything we can to save them. And if that house belongs to a childless cat owner, we also try to get that cat out.”
A candidate for the people vs a candidate for me, myself and me
Bill Clinton, who former President Barack Obama once called explainer-in-chief, framed the election as a choice between Harris, who is “for the people,” and Trump, who is about “me, myself and me.”
“I know which one I would choose for our country,” the former president said.
Although Clinton’s influence within the party has waned in the more than 23 years since he left office, no Democrat has been able to replicate his appeal to white working-class voters who have drifted away from the party since Clinton’s heyday, a reality that makes his appearance once every four years there is an expected moment in the ongoing convention.
He touched on Harris’ stance on housing and health care policy, and credited Democrats for job growth. But for the most part, B. Clinton used her speech to call D. Trump selfish and K. Harris a “clean break from the drama surrounding the former president.”
He said Trump is “mostly talking about himself.”
“So next time you hear him, don’t count the lies.” Count “I,” he said. “His vendettas, his revenge, his grievances, his conspiracies.”
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow
While the main job of the party convention is to send Harris into the fall with momentum, this year’s gathering in Chicago also served as a generational handover.
Several aging party figures, including Mr. Biden, Mr. Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi – acknowledged the sunset of her influence and the emergence of new faces.
B. Clinton, who at 78 is well aware that he has outlived his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, told the crowd Wednesday night that since 1972 has attended every Democratic National Convention and “can’t imagine how many more he’ll be able to attend.”
“But here’s what I want you to know,” he said. “If you vote for this team – if you can elect them and let them bring this breath of fresh air – you’ll be proud of it for the rest of your life.” Your children will also be proud of it. Your grandchildren will be proud of it.”
Recalling 1992 convention in New York, where the Hope, Arkansas, candidate was nominated for the first time, he said, “Take this from someone who once had the honor of being called a person of Hope at this convention: We need Kamala Harris to lead us , president of joy.”
Clinton also praised Biden, saying his voluntary relinquishment of political power would strengthen his legacy. After him, N. Pelosi entered the stage, the most influential woman in the history of American politics, who played an important role in pushing J. Biden aside for K. Harris.
The 84-year-old N. Pelosi, of course, has already helped change generations in the Capitol. in 2022 she stepped down as House Democratic leader and was replaced by Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, 30 years her junior.
The hostages’ parents shared the agony of the Israel-Hamas war on all sides
Jonas Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was born on October 7. The parents of a man kidnapped by Hamas while he was attending the Nova Music Festival shared their “suffering and suffering” in one of the evening’s most moving moments on Wednesday.
“Since then we have been living on another planet. Anyone who is or has been a parent can try to imagine the pain and suffering that Jon and I are going through, as well as all the families of the hostages,” R. Goldberg-Polin said.
Both said they had met Biden and Harris “many times” at the White House.
“We are all very grateful to them,” said J. Polina. – We are also deeply grateful to you, the millions of people in the United States and around the world who have sent love, support and strength to the families of the hostages. You helped us breathe in a world without air.”
Acknowledging the deaths of civilians in the Gaza Strip, Mr. Polin also said that “there is an excess of agony on all sides of Israel’s war with Hamas.”
Their comments came as Democrats grappled with tensions over US support for Israel’s war on Hamas and the resulting civilian casualties. Progressive criticism of Mr. Biden on the issue has led to campus protests and “non-committal” votes in some states’ presidential primaries this spring.
About an hour before the family spoke, Abbas Alawieh, co-founder of the Non-Aligned Nation Network, said he welcomed the speech by the hostage’s parents, but again insisted that the voice of a Palestinian-American be given the same time.
Hours later, Uncommitted received word that their request for a space to speak had been denied, and members responded by staging a sit-in outside the United Center arena.
They held placards reading “Arms embargo now” and “Not another bomb,” calling for an end to US military supplies to Israel’s hostilities. Minnesota Republican Ilhan Omar briefly joined the panel.
Capitol Police Officer: “D. Trump betrayed us”
Although K. Harris, who replaced Mr. Biden at the top of the ticket, has given a different twist to the Democrats’ message, the theme that was at the heart of the president’s re-election campaign – the defense of democracy – remains central.
Aquilino Gonell, a former US Capitol police sergeant, said Trump had “called out our attackers” who in 2021 rioted outside the US Capitol on January 6, when Congress was meeting to count the Electoral College votes.
Gonell, who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic when he was 12 and served in the military, said Trump “betrayed us.”
“We officers risked everything to protect innocent people. We were beaten and blinded. I was attacked with a bar attached to an American flag,” the officer said.
Democrats made this uprising and Trump’s broader effort to repeal the 2020 primary their focus on Wednesday night. election results.
Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican, and former national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, Olivia Troye, also took the stage in Chicago.
“To my fellow Republicans, you’re not voting for a Democrat, you’re voting for a democracy,” Troye said. – You are not betraying our party; you stand up for our country.”
Prepared by CNN.
2024-08-22 22:08:28