Kamala Harris plays to the middle and whips support, hope among faithful in debate | Opinion
The more debates I watch, the less I believe they’re meant to showcase the candidate to undecided voters — those mythical beings upon whom the entire election hinges.
No, I think presidential debates are meant to rile up the already-won-over base of support for each candidate, so that they’ll be encouraged to go out and whip up support in their own communities. A nationally-televised debate is the best bang for a campaign’s buck: Coast-to-coast advertising for your platform, speaking directly to the faithful.
Opinion
Such was the case Tuesday night, as I went to my favorite watering hole in Oak Park where local Democratic group was hosting a watch party, complete with a talking points Bingo card. (A friendly competition that I won, by the way.)
It’s safe to say the audience was entirely made up of Vice President Kamala Harris’ supporters, who cheered and laughed at every appropriate cue, and jeering whenever possible at former President Donald Trump. I’ve never been to one, but I have to imagine sitting in the audience of a Punch and Judy show is analogous. I’m not sure if there was a Republican equivalent happening somewhere else. I didn’t bother to find out.
Unbiased and nonpartisan it was not, but after the disaster of a presidential debate that occurred in June, it felt communal, hopeful — and honestly pretty fun.
Admittedly, I watched the Biden-Trump debate from the solitary confinement of my couch, popping open a bottle of wine with a flick (no glass needed) as I doom-scrolled through social media, watching the world come to the same conclusion I did: President Joe Biden had to go. (It took Biden a little longer to realize.)
This time, I was with a community that has been healing since the nomination was passed to Vice President Harris.
Tuesday’s debate was a salve to wounds first inflicted in November 2016.
The truth is that both sides will claim victory in Tuesday’s debate, though if you ask me, Harris is the one who showed America our best chance at normalcy, statesmanship and intelligence. Her performance was the closest to any reasonable person’s idea of a successful debate performance.
Meanwhile, Trump showed America who he always is: An unhinged lunatic who wants to scare his supporters into voting against Harris more than he gave them anything to vote for. He doubled down on his claim that abortions are happening after birth (they’re not), that January 6 was a lawful protest (it wasn’t) and that he’s good friends with Putin (actually that one’s true). No less than halfway through the debate, Harris had Trump spitting into his microphone with anger.
If you’re a Harris supporter, I hope you got to spend Tuesday night surrounded by friends and family. I hope they were hopeful about her chances come November. And I hope you take that feeling of hopefulness excitement and fun, and use it to write postcards, make calls, send texts and emails, and do whatever you can to support Harris’ campaign so that Trump can never get near the White House again.
Otherwise, it was just a good time at a bar on a Tuesday night — and right now, your country needs more from you than that.
