July 21, 2024 (after Biden announcement)

Joe Biden has stepped aside and endorsed Kamala Harris for president. #

Recall our posting from July 13, 2024, which anticipated this move.

As the former Attorney General of California, Harris can make a forceful case against Trump—she can prosecute Trump at every campaign stop and after every development in criminal cases involving Trump. As a woman, Harris can make an impassioned plea for a woman’s right to choose. She can talk about a family’s right to seek in vitro fertilization (IVF) and about all people’s rights to obtain needed medical care, contraception, and ethical drugs. As a person of color who is both African-American and Asian-American, Harris is quite capable of defending voting rights, especially the voting rights of minorities.

Many fear a Trump victory, fiscal policies that favor the wealthy, additional right-wing judicial appointments, and a retreat from long-term alliances with nations espousing democratic values. To defeat Republican candidates up and down the ballot, Democrats can develop campaign messaging around the policy positions of the parties. They can point to Project 2025, a draconian plan promoting economic inequality, religious intolerance, and social injustice, as described in this broadcast by Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin: Fight for Democracy: Why It’s Time to Change the Narrative, and How You Can Help.

Democrats can stress their support for democratic (with a small “d”) principles, in contrast with the GOP’s penchant for autocracy. True believers in the rule of law and the United States Constitution need not sit out the 2024 election. Rather, they can ride the Democratic Party’s democracy train, en route to an equitable and just future for all people living in the United States. Voters can ride this train whatever the ticket. . . .

What is a winning Democratic message? Bill Clinton and Barack Obama offered messages of hope pointing to a brighter future, messages about openness to new ideas and acceptance of people regardless of age, sex, race, or ethnicity. In 2020, Joe Biden offered a return to health and safety at home, as well as informed and measured leadership on the international stage. Winning candidates deliver such messages clearly and forcefully.

For additional discussion of today’s news about the Democratic ticket, see the posting from Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin: Biden Steps Aside and Endorses Kamala Harris! Strategy That We All Need Now.

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