In 1897, a monument was constructed in honour of John Logan at Grant Park, Chicago. This statue is frequently synonymous with the chaotic Democratic convention of 1968, a tumultuous period in the U.S history, reflected by the unforgettable image of youthful protesters swarming the memorial and the city’s skyline in the background. Since then, the Democrats held another convention in Chicago only once during 1996. Today, they return. The ensuing week in Chicago will provide a preliminary response to an unavoidable question that even the most dedicated Democrats can’t help but ponder. The winter primaries saw Joe Biden win effortlessly, albeit with questions over Kamala Harris’s popularity and effectiveness as his vice-president. Now, she is being lauded as his possible successor. Has her unexpected rise in approval ratings stirred from a genuine faith in her capabilities, or is she merely seen as the Democrats’ beacon of hope to prevent another term under Trump’s administration?
The first three weeks of Harris’s campaign have demonstrated an impressive combination of organisation, vigour and fundraising prowess, shedding her in a fresh, favourable perspective. Previously, her position as vice-president was often seen as vaguely supportive, without a clear definition of roles. Her unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2020 further undermined her acceptability, sparking doubts about her aptitude to engage with the public. Harris faced fierce criticism for her dwindling public engagements. However, this year saw a shift in her public image. Advocating strongly for women’s reproductive rights, Harris appeared to regain her momentum, showcasing the vibrancy and legal acumen that characterised her early career in law.
As the fervour wanes and the hustle and bustle of August transitions into fall, the electorate will soon realise that the battle ahead will be ferocious and unbelievably tight, and it will be up to Harris to lay to rest the multiple doubts. She will have to do this amidst unyielding antagonism from the opponent candidate, Donald Trump, and the committed supporters of the Maga Republican. Only then will the full implications of the internal machinations within the Democratic Party to convince Biden to step aside become clear. They have entrusted their future to an individual whose political abilities have been subject to much debate and whose ascendance has been attributed by critics to an overt display of diversity, equality and inclusion, pushing their octogenarian incumbent to the side.
In the chilling depths of the 2020 pandemic, Harris delivered a speech at a Democratic convention held in a lifeless and desolate hall, with state-name boards scattered around and devoid of applause or human vitality. Recalling that speech, one is reminded of the desolate urgency of those days. However, Harris orated brilliantly, reminiscing her extraordinary immigration story, mentioning her mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who immigrated from India to California at the tender age of 19 to pursue a medical degree. She met Harris’s father, Donald, a Jamaican native, at Berkeley.
They fell in love the American way while actively participating for justice in 1960’s civil rights movement, she narrated. “The streets gave me a baby stroller perspective of what the illustrious John Lewis termed ‘good trouble’.” Their union, however, was not long-lasting. Harris was raised by her lone mother. She was barely four during the tumultuous election year of 1968, too naive to recall the series of jolting events: the Martin Luther King assassination on April 4, the Columbia University protests and riots, the murder of Robert Kennedy on June 5, the deep divisions from the US’s participation in the Vietnam War, and the disorder at the contentious Democratic convention in Chicago. Too young to remember, yet undeniably an offspring of that time and place who, by 2020, had unexpectedly risen to accept the party’s nomination as Joe Biden’s vice-president.
During that evening, she also spoke about her competition in the coming election.
Donald Trump’s lack of effective leadership has resulted in lost lives and jobs, leaving our nation grieving. We are in mourning – for loss of lives, unemployment, and normality. There is no easy fix for the deep-seated issue of racism. It requires consistent effort on our part. The freedom of all is until every individual is free. This is a critical juncture we’re at. The constant turmoil leaves us feeling lost. The ineptitude instils fear in us. We feel alone due to the apathy. But here’s the truth: we’re capable of much more, and we deserve it too. We need a president who will do things differently and carry out critical tasks, someone who will bring us all – black, white, the indigenous, closer. We must vote for Joe Biden.
Indeed, Joe Biden was chosen and has made some significant strides legislatively. However, hopes that his tenure would unify the nation are yet to bear fruit. Trump’s return and his restructuring of the Republican Party along his unique brand and opportunistic ideology, has recently sparked concern, drawing parallels with the unstable atmosphere of 1968.
College politics reared its head once more across American campuses, including Columbia, where House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson condemned pro-Palestine protests in late April. A Robert Kennedy was once again in the race for presidency. Campaigning was halted again by an attempted assassination, narrowly bypassing Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The incumbent president declined to run for a second term. Democrats would again convene in Chicago. The deep-seated despair has been replaced by an intense feeling of optimism, bordering on Democratic ecstasy. Will it hold?
“Lyndon Johnson was a respectable president in multiple ways,” Bernie Sanders observed during his CNN interview in spring as the Gaza college protests made headlines. “His decision not to run in ’68 stemmed from opposition to his perspective on Vietnam, and I have serious concerns that President Biden could be alienating not just the youth but a significant portion of the Democratic base with his stance on Israel and recent war.”
Currently, Biden is striving to negotiate a peace agreement in the Middle East. A successful agreement, although appreciated, won’t erase the suffering endured by around 40,000 Gaza residents. One of Harris’s key challenges is to convince Arabic Democrats that they haven’t been forsaken by this government. Moreover, she needs to allay voter fears by promising a decrease in daily commodity prices, such as fuel and groceries, which have seen a sky-high surge in recent years. She must firmly dismiss Republican claims that she’s liable for a dysfunctional immigration policy as the so-called “border tsar”. Moreover, she needs to continually persuade the populace of her independent leadership; that she’s not just a figurehead but has substance too.
Thanks to Biden’s game-changing decision to take a backseat, the democrats are coming to Chicago this weekend full of confidence. This situation stands in stark contrast to the convention of 1968. One of the final outcomes of that ill-fated convention was the formation of a committee, led by George McGovern, which aimed to amend the internal policies for delegate selection. As George Packer proposed in an Atlantic magazine essay, this led to a significant shift in the party’s demographic: the party machine was now controlled by University-educated campaigners, wealthier and more radical than their precursors, driven by subjects like war, the environment, abortion, corruption and minority rights.
These modifications left the less educated Democrats, who were more concerned with fundamental issues, feeling alienated. Consequently, the party commenced its slow transition from the New Deal to the New Politics, from the labour class to the professional class, from Truman and Johnson to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and from Humphrey to Harris. The much-needed reforms following the 1968 convention, a reaction to the unfairness of a convention manipulated by the establishment rather than steered by the voters, birthed the Democratic Party that is familiar to many of us – the one that values the opinion of its celebrities and flaunts placards like “White Women for Kamala”, “Black Women for Kamala” and “White Dudes for Kamala”.
In a prolonged press briefing at his Bedminster club last Thursday, Donald Trump, appearing to regain his resilience and constant vigour, utilised the term “hiding”. Openly, he outlined his plans to depict Harris as an extreme leftist from San Francisco, capable of causing national ruin if voted into power.
“They are concealing her. She’s no different from him because, in my view, she’s significantly unskilled,” he proclaimed.
Essentially, this was just a taste of what Harris will face in the forthcoming months. Initially, however, it’s off to Chicago, a location set to host a joyous acclamation for a campaign revived. This gives Democrats an ideal chance to demonstrate that 2024 will bear no resemblance to 1968, at least for the upcoming week.