Spotlight on the centre at DNC

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago was really about telling the United States (US) that its centre must hold for it to progress, and convincing it that the centre is where the party and, by extension, Kamala Harris are ­— reminiscent of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. Two former presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, offered a staunch defence of the liberalism that underpins the pluralistic nature of the country in their speeches, in stark contrast to the so-called woke politics of identity and culture that some in the party see as the future (and which is magnified by opponents). Obama outlined it in terms of treasured “American values” rather than any political doctrine. He talked about how, while the Trump campaign believed that “one group’s gain is another group’s loss” and that freedom was the powerful being free to do whatever they pleased, “true freedom” was the principle that gave a group the right to make decisions about their lives while recognising the same right extended to others, even if the latter’s decisions were very different. Clinton did it by contrasting the campaigns of Harris and Donald Trump, the Republican candidate. Harris’s, he said, was about ensuring that “every American, however, they vote, has a chance to chase their dreams,” while Trump’s was about “dividing, blaming, and belittling other people.”

For its part, the core-left element of the party didn’t push very hard to pit its ideological compass against Harris’s or the party’s and instead focussed on what needed to be done to address its concerns.

The Republican National Convention, coming as it did on the heels of the attempt on Trump’s life, became another stage to valourise Trump. The DNC, in contrast, presented a microcosm representative of the US and its embrace of liberalism and diversity to showcase the Harris campaign. This nudge towards the centre, though, was as much about countering Trump’s attack on Harris as representing the “loony Left”, a caricaturing of Democrats espousing radical politics, as it was about “healing America”. To that end, visuals of a packed venue and loud cheers for speakers of all political shades suggest a good start to the job.

That said, November, when the polls will be held, is a long way from now, and the challenge for Harris’s team would be to keep up the momentum and add to it. After Biden’s disastrous re-election bid, the party has rallied around Harris, the sitting vice-president. Despite the Biden administration’s successes, Harris is up against several challenges, not the least of which is Trump’s unshakeable popularity with a segment of the population. The Biden administration’s failure to stop Israel in Gaza has outraged younger Democrats, and Harris has to work hard to win them over. Despite endorsement of her stand on Gaza by a prominent Left-leaning Democrat, there is distrust, with the US approving a $20 billion military aid package for Israel about 10 days ago. Then, there is the tricky inflation front. Harris did recently speak of measures that she would take as president, but these include price controls which not only drew Republican flak but were also rejected by one of the US’s prominent liberal newspapers that said “it was hard to exaggerate” how bad her proposals were. Against this backdrop, sustaining the momentum of what some see as a honeymoon period will need Harris to pivot to an economic middle as well, one that doesn’t draw comparisons with more radical philosophies.

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