It's The Optimism, Stupid
On Monday, July 22nd I was at a Toad the Wet Sprocket concert and toward the end of their set the lead singer, Glen Phillips, said something along the lines of, "Thank you for coming out on this Monday night and being with us. I don't know about you but I'm feeling better than I did a few days ago."
In the 24 hours leading up to that moment President Biden had dropped out of the 2024 Election, endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, and within one summer day it felt like everything had changed. That was the first night I actually felt it. She was raising records amount of cash, the story of course led the news cycle but it was more than that. The posts I saw from friends on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook (me and my friends are generally 45-55 years old) were like the world woke up, reengaged, and the clouds parted. "Let's fucking go!", "Let's Do This!", "I'm With Her!" and similar messages were everywhere. In the previous month, ever since the Debate from Hell and ever before then what I saw was variations of "Well, we'll try our best, but I think the worst is about to happen" to "We're screwed. Do you know anyone single with Canadian dual citizenship?" (I actually do know someone with that but I digress...)
As someone who lives and works within the news cycle more than the average person (this will happen when you work in media) the one stat I kept seeing when reading polls and following public opinion trends is that underneath the question of Biden or Trump was the category most news outlets now refer to as "Double Haters". People who might say, "I'm going to vote for one of them, but I don't like either one." That number was BIG; so big that none of us should have been surprised by the excitement that came from being offered a different, viable option. Where I have been caught off guard is by how strong the appeal of Kamala Harris and, to an equal degree, how much she's elevated her game since 2019 and her previous bid for the Presidency. I expected a Democratic Party food fight, some kind of complicated process they would come up with for a rushed mini-primary, and swirl of activity that would ultimately serve to confuse or bewilder a swath of the electorate. I was wrong. Sometimes that feels really good, let me tell ya. Because the ability of the Democrats and their supporters to realize "We have our candidate, so let's rev this up" has been admirable.
It is now approaching 4 weeks of what I would have to call one of the most flawless political campaigns I've seen in my adult life. For the record: I believe the high-water mark for organization, energy, enthusiasm and then a sense of inevitability in my lifetime has been Barack Obama's 2008 run. The Harris-Walz ticket isn't quite at that level but they still have time. They're not that far from it. And, yes, we're going to have countless comparisons to 2008 because, like we did then (and also in 2016), the party is trying to do a "First". So comparisons are to be expected. But its more than that. There are also the themes or, in our current lexicon, the 'vibes' they've been able to tap into. For example, I don't think the use of 'They're weird' is the only thing that got Governor Tim Walz the VP nod but it probably didn't hurt. I suspect the people managing the Harris campaign sensed he gets it; he shares their approach, which so far seems to be to tap into energy, optimism, and a focus on where we want to go, not where we've been. If Obama ran on Hope and Change then Harris seems to be running on Joy and The Future.
This past week on Fox News (which is a surrogate media company for Trump) one of their personalities, Julie Banderas, said the following:
"I just have to call her out on using the word joy. How weird is that for the Vice President to come out of this presidential mess for the last four years and refer to it as joy? Okay, the American people are not joyful about their checkbooks. They are not joyful about inflation. They're certainly not joyful about the economy. So what in the world is she talking - what is there to be joyful about? Our borders? Eh. No there. Like there is nothing to be joyful about other than getting a president in here to clean up the mess."
In short, the Trump advocate that is Banderas doesn't see where any of us can find joy in 2024. Well, allow to me to break it down for her. I'll take it piece by piece. First, this 'mess of a presidency' doesn't really hold up when compared to history, be it recent or distant. Let's look to the recent past, particularly from four years ago. Thousands of people (20K last night in Arizona for Harris, several thousand for Trump in Montana) can all come out together and cheer on the ticket of their choosing without fear of it becoming a mass spreader event. I suspect many of us, as we often do in the summer, are seeing more live music, more of our friends, traveling, and enjoying some sunshine. Yes, inflation is real. Yes, it has stung a lot of us. But in the past year it has slowed. And in the 3.5 years since Biden took office the majority of us have seen our wages stay on par with or outpace inflation. What that means for many is that while we may not be getting ahead, we're not actually falling that far behind. And if you have a 401k or any kind of investment account? You're wealthier now than you were four years ago unless you or the people who manage your accounts suck at it.
I don't think anyone is joyful about the border. But that is a single issue, and it is one that rational people can look at and not let it rob them of their overall joy. Further, we can blame Trump for blocking bipartisan legislation that was designed to address it or we can remember that no administration, including Trump's, has been able to successfully reform immigration in the 21st Century. When I read the quote and saw the video from Fox my thought was, "She and her panel are like the Misery Police. If you're too happy or aren't pissed off enough about the issues they think are bad for Democrats then how dare you?!"
Bandera concludes by saying there is nothing to be joyful about until we get a President that can clean up this mess. She implies that President should be Trump. And the former President, for his part, is running misery, grievance, darkness, and wants us all to remember what life was like when he was in charge. Well, let's look at that. And I won't start with 'Weird', even though he's weird as hell. Instead, how about Mean? Divisive? Corrupt? Self-Serving?
One of the things Governor Walz pointed out in his pre-selection interviews is that Donald Trump doesn't laugh. I don't think that is entirely true but I will say this: I've never seen him laugh unless it came after slinging an insult or laughing at someone else's expense. In fact, he and his supporters don't seem to grasp laughter and joy, as evidenced by their frequent criticism of the way Vice President Harris laughs. They seem to find that unacceptable.
Well, simply put, screw all that mess. Most of us have plenty to be joyful about. Bigger than that, in the times when we have struggled, when we've got $100 worth of bills left to pay but only $75 to our name and we're freaking out about how we're going to work this out, we're not immune to a laugh or a smile. Struggles -- financial, mental, physical -- are all real. And, yes, sometimes it hard to find the joy. But even in the toughest moments we will see it, we'll welcome it when it comes, and we'll take it, not because it makes the other problems go away but because it reminds us of what is on the other side; why we're fighting, why we're striving, and pursuing happiness. I could swear I've read that last part somewhere.
There have been times in the several years since Donald Trump came down the golden escalator in 2015 when I have wondered about the lives his supporters lead. What do they see not just in him but in this country and in this world that I don't see? I haven't really found any answers or reached concrete conclusions. It is mostly theories. One of the darkest ones, and I want to emphasize I don't prescribe this to all of his supporters, is that something in them cracked in 2008. It broke when an electorate embraced Hope and Change, and its ambassador was a Black man. When we were audacious enough to reelect him, it broke them. The world kept changing and evolving, economically and socially, and when it moved too fast or hurt their pocketbook it led to intense anger. On the economic side I feel empathy. On the social side? Less so. We're supposed to evolve. We're supposed to change. Hell, even the Republican Party, who won their one popular vote for the Presidency in this century (2004) on the backs of ballot measures banning gay people from marriage, has had to ditch that approach.
Donald Trump has been the ambassador or Blame and Grievance. In 2016 he pulled an inside straight with it and it gave him 4 years in office. He and his party have pretty much lost every election since then. They got their asses handed to them in 2018, he lost in 2020, and while the GOP took the House in 2022 it was narrow, and they actually lost seats in the Senate and Governorships across the country. For reasons that defy logic the GOP keeps going back to him. And I am sure that for a good chunk of this year it looked it might pay off. It might still. But as of this writing I think anyone being honest would say they'd rather be in Kamala Harris's shoes than Trump's.
One side is saying everything sucks and that only his weird, aging, corrupt, sexually assaulting, records manipulating, insurrection leading self can remedy it. "Only I can fix it". We've seen this play, we gave it a poor review, and yet someone keeps reviving it for another run. The other candidate, who has some major issues going against her (economy, immigration), is emphasizing tomorrow, togetherness, and saying she needs them (the voters) to drive things forward. She's doing it with a smile and some laughs.
So, yeah, sorry Fox and anyone else. I'm not ignoring the world's problems. I'm just choosing to address them with joy. I wish you happiness but I'm not going to lose sleep over whether or not you find it.
J
In the 24 hours leading up to that moment President Biden had dropped out of the 2024 Election, endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, and within one summer day it felt like everything had changed. That was the first night I actually felt it. She was raising records amount of cash, the story of course led the news cycle but it was more than that. The posts I saw from friends on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook (me and my friends are generally 45-55 years old) were like the world woke up, reengaged, and the clouds parted. "Let's fucking go!", "Let's Do This!", "I'm With Her!" and similar messages were everywhere. In the previous month, ever since the Debate from Hell and ever before then what I saw was variations of "Well, we'll try our best, but I think the worst is about to happen" to "We're screwed. Do you know anyone single with Canadian dual citizenship?" (I actually do know someone with that but I digress...)
As someone who lives and works within the news cycle more than the average person (this will happen when you work in media) the one stat I kept seeing when reading polls and following public opinion trends is that underneath the question of Biden or Trump was the category most news outlets now refer to as "Double Haters". People who might say, "I'm going to vote for one of them, but I don't like either one." That number was BIG; so big that none of us should have been surprised by the excitement that came from being offered a different, viable option. Where I have been caught off guard is by how strong the appeal of Kamala Harris and, to an equal degree, how much she's elevated her game since 2019 and her previous bid for the Presidency. I expected a Democratic Party food fight, some kind of complicated process they would come up with for a rushed mini-primary, and swirl of activity that would ultimately serve to confuse or bewilder a swath of the electorate. I was wrong. Sometimes that feels really good, let me tell ya. Because the ability of the Democrats and their supporters to realize "We have our candidate, so let's rev this up" has been admirable.
It is now approaching 4 weeks of what I would have to call one of the most flawless political campaigns I've seen in my adult life. For the record: I believe the high-water mark for organization, energy, enthusiasm and then a sense of inevitability in my lifetime has been Barack Obama's 2008 run. The Harris-Walz ticket isn't quite at that level but they still have time. They're not that far from it. And, yes, we're going to have countless comparisons to 2008 because, like we did then (and also in 2016), the party is trying to do a "First". So comparisons are to be expected. But its more than that. There are also the themes or, in our current lexicon, the 'vibes' they've been able to tap into. For example, I don't think the use of 'They're weird' is the only thing that got Governor Tim Walz the VP nod but it probably didn't hurt. I suspect the people managing the Harris campaign sensed he gets it; he shares their approach, which so far seems to be to tap into energy, optimism, and a focus on where we want to go, not where we've been. If Obama ran on Hope and Change then Harris seems to be running on Joy and The Future.
This past week on Fox News (which is a surrogate media company for Trump) one of their personalities, Julie Banderas, said the following:
"I just have to call her out on using the word joy. How weird is that for the Vice President to come out of this presidential mess for the last four years and refer to it as joy? Okay, the American people are not joyful about their checkbooks. They are not joyful about inflation. They're certainly not joyful about the economy. So what in the world is she talking - what is there to be joyful about? Our borders? Eh. No there. Like there is nothing to be joyful about other than getting a president in here to clean up the mess."
In short, the Trump advocate that is Banderas doesn't see where any of us can find joy in 2024. Well, allow to me to break it down for her. I'll take it piece by piece. First, this 'mess of a presidency' doesn't really hold up when compared to history, be it recent or distant. Let's look to the recent past, particularly from four years ago. Thousands of people (20K last night in Arizona for Harris, several thousand for Trump in Montana) can all come out together and cheer on the ticket of their choosing without fear of it becoming a mass spreader event. I suspect many of us, as we often do in the summer, are seeing more live music, more of our friends, traveling, and enjoying some sunshine. Yes, inflation is real. Yes, it has stung a lot of us. But in the past year it has slowed. And in the 3.5 years since Biden took office the majority of us have seen our wages stay on par with or outpace inflation. What that means for many is that while we may not be getting ahead, we're not actually falling that far behind. And if you have a 401k or any kind of investment account? You're wealthier now than you were four years ago unless you or the people who manage your accounts suck at it.
I don't think anyone is joyful about the border. But that is a single issue, and it is one that rational people can look at and not let it rob them of their overall joy. Further, we can blame Trump for blocking bipartisan legislation that was designed to address it or we can remember that no administration, including Trump's, has been able to successfully reform immigration in the 21st Century. When I read the quote and saw the video from Fox my thought was, "She and her panel are like the Misery Police. If you're too happy or aren't pissed off enough about the issues they think are bad for Democrats then how dare you?!"
Bandera concludes by saying there is nothing to be joyful about until we get a President that can clean up this mess. She implies that President should be Trump. And the former President, for his part, is running misery, grievance, darkness, and wants us all to remember what life was like when he was in charge. Well, let's look at that. And I won't start with 'Weird', even though he's weird as hell. Instead, how about Mean? Divisive? Corrupt? Self-Serving?
One of the things Governor Walz pointed out in his pre-selection interviews is that Donald Trump doesn't laugh. I don't think that is entirely true but I will say this: I've never seen him laugh unless it came after slinging an insult or laughing at someone else's expense. In fact, he and his supporters don't seem to grasp laughter and joy, as evidenced by their frequent criticism of the way Vice President Harris laughs. They seem to find that unacceptable.
Well, simply put, screw all that mess. Most of us have plenty to be joyful about. Bigger than that, in the times when we have struggled, when we've got $100 worth of bills left to pay but only $75 to our name and we're freaking out about how we're going to work this out, we're not immune to a laugh or a smile. Struggles -- financial, mental, physical -- are all real. And, yes, sometimes it hard to find the joy. But even in the toughest moments we will see it, we'll welcome it when it comes, and we'll take it, not because it makes the other problems go away but because it reminds us of what is on the other side; why we're fighting, why we're striving, and pursuing happiness. I could swear I've read that last part somewhere.
There have been times in the several years since Donald Trump came down the golden escalator in 2015 when I have wondered about the lives his supporters lead. What do they see not just in him but in this country and in this world that I don't see? I haven't really found any answers or reached concrete conclusions. It is mostly theories. One of the darkest ones, and I want to emphasize I don't prescribe this to all of his supporters, is that something in them cracked in 2008. It broke when an electorate embraced Hope and Change, and its ambassador was a Black man. When we were audacious enough to reelect him, it broke them. The world kept changing and evolving, economically and socially, and when it moved too fast or hurt their pocketbook it led to intense anger. On the economic side I feel empathy. On the social side? Less so. We're supposed to evolve. We're supposed to change. Hell, even the Republican Party, who won their one popular vote for the Presidency in this century (2004) on the backs of ballot measures banning gay people from marriage, has had to ditch that approach.
Donald Trump has been the ambassador or Blame and Grievance. In 2016 he pulled an inside straight with it and it gave him 4 years in office. He and his party have pretty much lost every election since then. They got their asses handed to them in 2018, he lost in 2020, and while the GOP took the House in 2022 it was narrow, and they actually lost seats in the Senate and Governorships across the country. For reasons that defy logic the GOP keeps going back to him. And I am sure that for a good chunk of this year it looked it might pay off. It might still. But as of this writing I think anyone being honest would say they'd rather be in Kamala Harris's shoes than Trump's.
One side is saying everything sucks and that only his weird, aging, corrupt, sexually assaulting, records manipulating, insurrection leading self can remedy it. "Only I can fix it". We've seen this play, we gave it a poor review, and yet someone keeps reviving it for another run. The other candidate, who has some major issues going against her (economy, immigration), is emphasizing tomorrow, togetherness, and saying she needs them (the voters) to drive things forward. She's doing it with a smile and some laughs.
So, yeah, sorry Fox and anyone else. I'm not ignoring the world's problems. I'm just choosing to address them with joy. I wish you happiness but I'm not going to lose sleep over whether or not you find it.
J