Starting in 1968, I’ve closely followed every national convention of the Republicans and Democrats: 30 of them. The Democrats’ gathering in Chicago the past week was unique because of the last-minute switch in the nominee from President Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris. But it largely worked out for them – except on economics
There are two jobs of a political convention. First, send the delegates home enthused for the ticket. That was accomplished. Many delegates described the proceedings as “electric.”
Second, set up the themes — preferably one major theme — to ram into voters’ minds why they should vote for your candidate. On that, they did not do as well.
In accepting her nomination Thursday night, Harris rose to the occasion with the best speech I’ve heard from her. She was especially eloquent talking about her story as the daughter of immigrants. And although I disagreed with her on many points, she made the best case, from a Democratic perspective, for why Donald Trump should not be returned to the White House and she should be promoted.
The problem is she and the other speakers didn’t effectively deal with the economic problems faced by voters. The day before she spoke, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revised downward by 818,000 the number of jobs nationwide in March. Ouch.
Worse, the BLS is part of the Department of Labor, currently headed by acting Secretary Julie Su, who is so incompetent even the Democratic-run U.S. Senate has refused to confirm her appointment as full secretary. In California, as the state’s bumbling labor secretary, she left behind a current debt of $19.4 billion from the Employment Development Department, costing California workers $504 million a year in interest payments.
Everybody knows California is run worse than any other state, beginning this year with a $73 billion budget deficit. Harris naturally would populate her administration with her friends and supporters, bringing to D.C. California incompetence.
Then there’s the high cost of living. According to the BLS’ Inflation Calculator, from the time the Biden-Harris administration took over in January 2021 until this July, prices rose 20.25%. Yes, former President Trump bears some of the blame from adding $8 trillion to the national debt. But instead of solving that problem, Biden-Harris piled on another $8 trillion. And fair or not, the incumbent party gets the credit – or blame – for the economy.
I watched about half of the convention and otherwise had it playing in the background while I worked. Sometimes, if I didn’t pay attention to the context, Trump was mentioned so often it seemed it was the Republican convention.
I did word searches on the texts of all four nights and 29 hours of the convention and got this: “Trump” 764 mentions, or 26 times an hour. Are we a little obsessed, Democrats? “Inflation” got just 16 mentions.
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Foreign policy came up only briefly over the four days. Harris promised to “stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies.” But Russia now is advancing and can’t be stopped short of sending U.S. troops.
On the Gaza war, she said, “President Biden and I are working around the clock. Because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a cease-fire deal done.” She strongly backed Israel, but was aware of the pro-Palestinian protesters outside the convention and their effect on voting in states with large Muslim populations, especially Michigan.
The most moving moment in the convention came when Josh Polin and his wife, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, pleaded for the release of their only son, Hersh, who is being held hostage by the Hamas terrorists. Jon said, “This is a political convention. But needing our only son — and all of the cherished hostages — home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue.” Rachel said, “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive.”
The problem for Democrats is Trump now has settled on a theme that won it for Reagan against President Jimmy Carter in 1980: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” The convention failed to parry that.
John Seiler is on the SCNG Editorial Board and blogs at: johnseiler.substack.com