Picking a Joyful Walz
Terry H. Schwadron
Aug. 7, 2024
I had been prepared to think that Kamala Harris’ choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as running mate was going to prove a positive for her campaign, but that the final name among the finalists would not make a lot of difference to the November race.
After all, the other names we were hearing were all relatively good matches for Harris, and, just 90 days before an election as heavily divided as this, it was hard to believe that the vice presidential selection alone would have a tangible effect on voters’ feelings or turnout probability.
But after watching Walz’s appeal at a highly friendly, if huge inaugural campaign appearance in Philadelphia, I’m pleased to think my normal political cynicism was wrong.
Even amid the tidal wave of nearly instant Democratic momentum for Harris’ still nascent arrival in the race, Coach Walz — he had been a high school social studies teacher and football coach as well as a 24-year National Guardsman — managed to impress a national audience with his very personal mix of liberalism as common sense, his folksy Midwestern affection masking a brutal attack on Republican opponents, and his devotion to returning joy to public service.
Perhaps it is the jaded sense of our divisions and grimness that has made Walz stand out, but there seemed in this first day or two of anointment, Walz was sowing his plain-speaking self to be a draw for Democrats across the spectrum all by himself. But his contribution of joyfulness to a building momentum was immediately noticeable and felt infectious.
“Thank you, Madam Vice President,” Walz said in his opening remarks. “Thank you for bringing back the joy.”
Indeed, the Walz appeal could well draw votes from independents and non-MAGA Republicans in battleground states as easily as it has done in Minnesota.
It was the complete opposite impact from that for Donald Trump’s choice Republican Sen. JD Vance just a couple of weeks ago.
Easiest Choice?
All of Harris’ top finishers could hold their own in campaigning and in debating Vance, for example, and each provided some kind of advance. Quite apart from any personal chemistry she might share with him, when we heard the choice of Walz, I thought that Harris had opted for the easiest party alternative.
Among Governors Josh Shapiro, Andy Beshear, J.B. Pritzker, Sen. Mark Kelly, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Harris could make a political argument for each. Each also had a constituency of opposition among Democrats over one aspect of policy or another. Still, as a group seemed to indicate that Harris can assemble an impressive team if she wins in November.
Only Walz, coiner of “weird” to describe Trump and Vance, seemed acceptable to all factions. His progressive but common-sense lean seemed to match up the best with Harris.
We don’t know enough about the behind-the-scenes arm wrestling but the consensus seemed that the choice was Harris’ alone and mostly instinctual rather than data-driven.
However it came about, now that the decision is made, the surprise is that it seems so obviously a fit for a campaign that wants to stress — as Walz said — legislative compromises without compromise of principle.
Walz’s blunt argument of abortion and the law, for example, is to get agreement that what happens between patient and doctor fits under his “mind your own damn business” rubric, lifting the debate from a moral standoff to some other kind of privacy question about appropriateness in government. He has similar takes on other social issues.
But the main thing was that together, Harris and Walz seem to radiate joy about their chosen business — enough to be contagious, almost without regard for their principled stands.
Trump’s immediate attack line included in a fund-raising effort was that Walz was a radical leftist, a “dangerous liberal” who would “unleash HELL ON EARTH and open our borders to the worst criminals.” Policy differences aside, it was hard to square the Trump perception with the Midwestern charm we were seeing on screen.
Indeed, the Walz approach seems aimed at taking the sting out of an insulting political season and ushering in a calmer way to discuss difference.
Who knows? Walz could even make a televised debate with JD Vance seem interesting television.
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