The Sinister Vibes of the DNC

Beneath the fun, it's hard not to notice the main message this week: sit down and don't make trouble.

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Image

Today marks the conclusion of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, a four-day event that’s been big on familiar faces, soaring rhetoric, good old nostalgia, wife guys, guy wives, music, hijinks, and a palpable aura of festivity. 

That aura is one that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have been riding for weeks. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good drug!! Powerful, calming, habit-forming. But as it’s been noted in many, many places, the vibes are starting to feel like a replacement for…something else. Something, you know, a bit more substantive. Harris isn’t doing much talking, except when it’s behind a podium. The sugar rush has been working, but at this point, it’s way past time to eat.

Harris will still be behind a podium tonight, giving the biggest speech of her life thus far. We will be able to see whether there’s any discernible shift toward policy, plans, promises, or anything else resembling a traditional campaign from a person asking to run the United States government—or whether she wants to try and keep coasting on vibes alone. The week we’ve had so far suggests she would be happy to do the latter—and, depressingly, that a ton of voters won’t care if she does.

Harris was largely behind-the-scenes as a VP, and there has long been a struggle on the left about how—and how much—to interrogate the more unsavory parts of her political career. But as Crosbie pointed out four (!!) years ago, accountability can’t and shouldn’t wait. It matters what Harris believes, what her platforms are, and what she’d like to do as the president of the United States. Those are facts that we as voters need to know. (Is it crazy that I have to make that point? Kind of!)

Tim Walz started to dip a toe last night: 

Folks, we've got a chance to make Kamala Harris the next president of the United States. But I think we owe it to the American people to tell them exactly what she'd do as president before we ask them for their votes. So this is the part — clip and save it, and send it to your undecided relatives so they know: If you're a middle-class family, or trying to get into the middle class, Kamala Harris is going to cut your taxes. If you're getting squeezed by prescription drug prices, Kamala Harris is going to take on Big Pharma. If you're hoping to buy a home, Kamala Harris is going to help make it more affordable. And no matter who you are, Kamala Harris is going to stand up and fight for your freedom to live the life that you want to lead, because that's what we want for ourselves, and it's what we want for our neighbors.

Okay! It’s something, I suppose, but it’s also beyond vague. If you want obviously good things to happen, Harris will work in some unspecified way to make them happen. Cool. It’s not just Harris, though. The entire DNC has been like this: mindless fun masking something harder and, dare I say it, a little creepy.

I found myself actually laughing when Barack Obama outlined some of Harris’ plans in his speech on Tuesday: 

“As Vice President, she helped take on the drug companies to cap the cost of insulin, lower the cost of health care, and give families with kids a tax cut. And she’s running for president with real plans to lower costs even more, protect Medicare and Social Security, and sign a law to guarantee every woman’s right to make her own health care decisions.”

These are very real things that could change real people’s lives in real ways, but after the last eight years, isn’t there something almost Charlie Brown’s teacher about it? Just nouns and verbs delivered as expected. Healthcare. Taxes. Prescriptions. Families. Both Barack and Michelle Obama are world-class orators, and clearly not everyone feels this way, but the kind of political platitudes that hit during the actual Obama era really just aren’t hitting anymore.

Watching their speeches this week gave me a cold feeling for another reason. It felt like the message from on high was: Get on board, take up the mantle, and do it happily, or else: Donald Trump. Here’s a piece from the latter half of Michelle’s speech: 

“This is our time to stand up for what we know in our hearts is right. To stand up, not just for our basic freedoms but for decency and humanity; for basic respect, dignity, and empathy; for the values at the very foundation of this democracy.” 

Of course this is just politics. No political adviser in history would suggest giving a speech in the parlance of modern-day emails (“Let me know!”, No worries if not!”), but it’s still a lot to ask a constituency to jump up and down for someone simply because they are the more dynamic and capable arm of an administration that’s currently fueling a genocide. It’s clearly working for some, but for those who exist outside of that circle, the good vibes are curdling into something that feels a bit more like cult vibes. 

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Bringing the old guard out is standard at these events, and a no-brainer if you’ve got powerful speakers in your back pocket, but as I watched the parade of ghosts of Democrats past this week, my prevailing feeling was, “Man, this makes me feel like it’s the aughts again,” and “Oh god, that makes me feel so very bad.” The low end of the spectrum was Bill Clinton smiling and asking, “Aren’t you proud to be a Democrat?” in between chants of “Thank you, Joe.” The high point might have been Oprah saying “immigrants” repeatedly in the Oprah voice.

There are dire issues facing us right now that don’t include Donald Trump. Job growth, reproductive rights, the environment, and the mass murder of people in Gaza, just to name a few. And while “Coach Walz” might be endearing ( and look, I admit it, for this Midwest girl, the guy is incredibly winning!), it doesn’t make those issues go away. There’s a creeping sinister feeling to the meme-generator quality of the last few days when Bernie Sanders is one the only to even mention the atrocities against Palestinians (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t count). But of course, the Democratic establishment isn’t going to talk about it. It’s not part of the current administration’s agenda, and it doesn’t appear to be in Harris’ future interest either. 

The DNC is an event that’s entirely about what gets said and whose voice is being platformed (read: not Palestinian Americans) and who is, implicitly or explicitly, being silenced. It’s a dog and pony show that means nothing in many ways, but says a hell of a lot.

The thing that stayed with me most was an anecdote that Michelle Obama told about Harris’ mother (that Harris herself has told before).  

“Kamala Harris and I built our lives on those same foundational values. Even though our mothers grew up an ocean apart, they shared the same belief in the promise of this country. That’s why her mother moved here from India at 19. It’s why she taught Kamala about justice, about the obligation to lift others up, about our responsibility to give more than we take. She’d often tell her daughter: ‘Don’t sit around and complain about things. Do something.’”

It’s interesting to think about the messaging there considering how Harris recently responded to pro-Palestinian protesters in Detroit. They weren’t sitting around and complaining. They did something. So which people do political platitudes apply to? 

Surely tonight will conclude with some more rousing speeches, chants, smiles, balloons, and people in suits pointing to individuals among the masses. It’ll be feel-good. It’ll reach who it’s meant to reach. For people looking for more, the hope and optimism will be appealing too. But we also need to know exactly what those good vibes stand for.