A schizophrenic campaign tries to message away its own policies

It’s been three days since the Democratic National Convention wrapped up and packed up. By now, even the hungover junior staffers who missed their 6:33 a.m. flights to DCA have finally limped back home. It’s anyone’s guess how many miniature American flags made it into overstuffed carry-ons, but it’s safe to assume thousands were swept off the floor of the now-darkened Chicago United Center.

It's well known that Democrats love flags, but it’s been a long while since we’ve seen so many American ones at a Democratic event. Just eight years ago, for example, embarrassed DNC staff were forced to loot the flags from the Philadelphia City Hall when someone realized they hadn’t brought any of their own.

It’s as if the party decided to listen to the former presidents in their midst, both of whom actually built and maintained winning coalitions for two terms.

That’s not all. While God hasn’t quite made a comeback in the 12 years since delegates booed his name in Charlotte, North Carolina, appeals to some personal “faith” were confidently bandied about. And even that’s not all: Gov. Tim Walz molded his speech around (somewhat tortured) football imagery, and the prosecution of criminals was happily cheered. Infamous white, male slave-owner George Washington even made a cameo, though a 78-year-old President Bill Clinton is essentially a time traveler from a distant and moderate time.

As UnHerd’s Emily Jashinsky pointed out, even the much-ballyhooed sisterhood of girl-power feminism was tucked into the back pocket for another day. Virtually the only references to Vice President Kamala Harris breaking any glass ceilings were made by Hillary “I’m with her” Clinton.

It’s as if the party decided to listen to the former presidents in their midst, both of whom actually built and maintained winning coalitions for two terms.

For all the moderation of language, however, there was no moderation of the policies, though price controls weren’t exactly highlighted. Policy wasn’t featured much of anywhere, in fact. The promise instead seems to be vote for Harris and you’ll get a good progressive, with all that entails. There’s no reason to doubt that.

But does Harris have the charisma to say one thing while doing the other? Bill Clinton was a southern governor in Ronald Reagan’s America, and as president, he governed in line with his moderate promises. For his part, Barack Obama had only been a senator for four years. In that time, he’d bucked his party on the Iraq War, but by 2008, a lot of voters agreed. Any radical roots and connections were shrouded by time and obscured by the racial savior status his fans in the party and corporate media projected onto him.

As Matthew Continetti reminds in the Washington Free Beacon:

Kamala Harris is not Barack Obama. She didn't risk her career over a stand against the Iraq war, only to see her party move toward her. She is not known for a groundbreaking speech, or a worldwide bestseller, or rallying a movement to win a sharply contested primary against a two-term senator and former first lady. She didn't win a primary at all. She has no defined set of policies — no Obamacare waiting in the wings.

Today, Clinton’s accomplishments are ancient history, and a decade of anti-white race riots and rising racial tensions have tarnished the fool's promise of any easy fixes. And unlike her successful predecessors, Harris is no blank canvas. She has a long record on the national stage as the country’s most liberal senator and as vice president to the first one-term Democratic president since Jimmy Carter.

Though her campaign had the good sense to tuck tired feminism away, what is it offering America’s millions of disaffected men? By any measure, men have been hardest hit by the national shifts of the past quarter-century or more. This is sadly apparent in any statistic on unemployment, underemployment, labor-market drop-offs, and deaths of despair.

It’s a reality that shows up in the polling, too. Black, white, and Hispanic men alike are increasingly gravitating toward former President Donald Trump. The moral stigma Democrats so successfully built around him has finally crumbled. What did the DNC have to say to these voters? CNN and MSNBC alike openly lauded Democrats’ outreach to low-testosterone men. That ain’t it.

Last week’s pivot was a smart one, long asked for by wiser voices in the Democratic Party. But while hiring back Obama’s team and finally listening to David Axelrod and James Carville are good moves, people will vote for or against the candidate and her ideas. Despite the fanfare and Potemkin media campaign, Harris remains the weak link she was six weeks ago when her party was scrambling to find anyone but her to take the old man’s place. The next 10 weeks will test her to the max.

Washington Free Beacon: Kamala Harris’s Obama makeover

UnHerd:The Democrats chose not to play the gender card

Spectator: The Californication of the Democratic Party

Spectator:The kids are manifesting a Kamala presidency

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IN OTHER NEWS

The Trump-Kennedy alliance

Democrats spent millions blocking Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from ballots and, they hoped, from siphoning votes from their nominee. For their efforts, Kennedy and his decidedly more liberal running mate officially turned on them Friday, throwing their weight behind Trump.

RFK’s impressively heterodox (and impressively viral) campaign attracted more attention than any third-party run this side of 2000. Like Vivek Ramaswamy, his followers were intensely online. Many were new to politics. Will they follow their man if he’s promised a role?

While the immediate impact of endorsements can be hard to guess, in a close race where Trump is still the outsider, RFK’s support has a real impact. As Ben Domenech writes in the Spectator, the move “will serve as a politically meaningful boost to the Republican campaign in multiple battleground states where Kennedy has gained ballot access in the past few months.” Those include Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia.

Turns out some prophecies really do fulfill themselves, if you spend enough money.

Blaze News: Court gives RFK Jr. green light to sue Biden-Harris admin over censorship

Spectator podcast:What’s happened to RFK Jr.?