A Worthy Coronation...
bUt wE dIdNt hAvE a pRiMaRy....
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how we were seemingly stuck with a presidential election rematch that absolutely no one wanted. President Biden gave the most abhorrent debate performance in the history of this republic and, owing to his trademark stubbornness, refused to step aside as the Democratic nominee.
Suddenly, over the past couple of weeks, a lightbulb went off. As you know, earlier this week, Biden announced he wouldn’t seek re-election, and in the same statement, passionately endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris as the torch bearer for his party, a younger generation, and the future of the United States as we know it.
Everyone has an opinion about Biden’s late withdrawal, about Harris’s credentials, and about the return to the smoke-filled room that Democrats have seemingly embraced. Most of those opinions are wrong for myriad reasons.
When I originally wrote about Biden’s refusal to remove himself from the race, I thought about only two standard-bearers of the Democratic Party who either can’t run (Barack Obama) or have zero interest in politics (Michelle Obama). Harris didn’t come up in my writing not because she isn’t qualified (spoiler alert: she is) or because I don’t think she can do the job (if she wins, I think she can be a transformational leader, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Ronald Reagan.)
My reservations weren’t even about the American people, who, on the scale of needing fifty percent plus one/an electoral majority, I think are much more keen to vote for a Black woman than we’re giving them credit). The biggest stumble bloc for Harris was in the rich, predominantly White, and primarily male donor base. I mean, be honest, if Roy Cooper or Josh Shapiro or Andy Beshear were the sitting Vice-President, do you really think it would’ve taken so long for Biden to step down?
Part of what took place in the month following that disastrous debate performance was the whipping together of the wealthy White men whose hesitancy to cast the weight of the world on a more than qualified yet does come with some political baggage Black woman who they think laughs funny and loves to cook a little too much. To his credit, Biden eventually did everything in his power to get the donor class along. Alas, six days after the official announcement, VP Harris is the Democratic nominee, and we have an actual election.
Annoyingly, many so-called progressives are calling foul under their breath, expressing fake outrage at the fact that Democratic voters weren’t allowed to cast votes for the party’s next nominee in this primary season. And if Harris wins in November, the overwhelming odds are that the Democratic Party won’t have a reasonable presidential nominee process again until 2032.
To that, I say that’s too damn bad, and I don’t really care.
While erring on the side of democracy and giving voice to the people should always be the default aim of political discourse in this country, we find ourselves confronted with one of the few circumstances that justifies a worthy coronation without millions of dollars spent in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Politics has specific unwritten rules: whenever the sitting President no longer runs for re-election, whether by term limit or resignation, the sitting Vice-President gets the right of first refusal. That effectively happened in 2015, when Biden announced he would not seek the presidency in lieu of his son Beau’s death. That right of first refusal paved the way for Hilary Clinton’s historic nomination and equally historic and tragic defeat in 2016.
Crowning the Vice-President as the party's new leader is far from circumventing the will of the voters. If anything, it’s giving the voters precisely what they asked for, particularly in a party nomination system that heavily devalues the Black base of the party.
VP Harris has been the District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General of California, and a United States Senator, and she has served nearly a full term as Vice President. You can offer up a number of legitimate critiques of her candidacy and policies, from truancy laws in San Francisco to the nuance of her record as a prosecutor to her reversal of fracking bans. Still, an argument that she isn’t qualified isn’t one. It shows your racism and misogyny. Exit the stage right while you’re at it.
The reality is that we were slowly walking our way to a Democratic ass-whipping up and down the ballot. Now, volunteers are lining up in ways they haven’t since 2008, polls are starting to show much tighter presidential and congressional races, and enthusiasm has returned to Democratic offices and households nationwide. A week ago, we were about to lose the courts for yet another generation, preparing ourselves for a murky future the likes of which we can’t truly comprehend.
None of this is a foregone conclusion, by the way. Harris may well lose to Trump in a closely contested election. Yet in the battleground states that will ultimately determine this election, states I have lived in and still do political work (like Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin), resources and volunteers are pouring in in record numbers. As someone who has their fair share of elections, who knows the euphoria of winning and the gut-wrenching emptiness of defeat, all you ever really want in an election is a fighting chance.
For everything Biden has done, his time had passed, and a rematch with Trump was certain to end in a Republican victory, the margins of which had not been seen since 1988. Now, we’ve got a race on our hands. That’s all we can really ask for. Indeed, it’s on to November.
Weekend Musings
TV—I think Serena Williams is the greatest athlete of all time. I haven’t had the chance to consume her In the Arena docuseries, which is now streaming on ESPN+, but I do hope to binge it relatively soon. Serena’s cultural significance and prowess undoubtedly come from her otherworldly career on the tennis court, but it’s also about her contributions to the culture and society outside of her competing.
Docs – Faye Dunaway stars in many of my favorite classic films (Bonnie and Clyde, which is in my top ten, Chinatown, Three Days of the Condor, and Network).
I’ve always been fascinated by her marvelous career, which spanned many consequential decades, and turned in some of film’s most iconic roles. She may finally have her seminal documentary in The Many Lives of Faye Dunaway.
I would’ve preferred more creativity in the title (we just had a Many Lives of Martha Stewart). Still, the production, accounts, and volume of reflection seem accurate from the few minutes I had time to consume earlier this week. When I first saw Bonnie and Clyde at 22, it helped cement my desire to be a storyteller in whatever capacity. In the same way I never miss a Margot Robbie film (whom I might argue is Dunaway’s contemporary in many similar ways), I’m working my way through Dunaway’s entire filmography, and once complete, I’ll be sure to share reflections here!
Music—My man Blxst dropped a long-awaited new album last weekend, and it’s been on repeat ever since. My favorite two tracks are below.
Weekday Musings
Guns seldom get the attention they deserve in our debates around gun safety reform. Most people in the United States who die by suicide die by gun violence. In Montana, a place with endless beauty and stunning views, one woman is fighting to save one precious life at a time. By Michael Corkery.
Struggling to get your life in whatever order would most benefit you? Try organizing your life like a monk. By Tish Harrison Warren.
The NBA is like any other corporate conglomerate. It supports social justice efforts if it thinks they’re good for business and conveniently ignores human rights violations when they’re not good for the bottom line. Perhaps the greatest example of this is the enduring relationship it’s built with Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame. By Marc Fainaru-Wada.
January 6th was just practice. Here’s how the Proud Boys are preparing for a second Trump presidency. By Rebecca Jackson and Steve Coll.
In a year, my life has gone from crushing loss to an overflow of abundance in more ways than one, with physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual ailments to confront and overcome. The most succinct takeaway? I can do it all in life and flourish with a broken heart and a full one. Apparently, I’m not the only one. By Samuel Maude.
I leave you with this…
“Everybody wants to make an impression, some mark upon the world. Then you think you’ve made a mark on the world if you just get through it, and a few people remember your name. Then you’ve left a mark.” – Dorian Carey