David Axelrod, Democratic “strategist” (and Grouch/Killjoy/Wet Blanket” has an interview up where he says...well, you can read it yourself:
(1st graf) Democratic strategist David Axelrod warned that much of the enthusiasm among Democrats about Vice President Harris’s campaign is just “irrational exuberance,” as the race remains neck and neck.
(3rd graf) “She has a lot of momentum, but if you do look at the polling, this is still a really tight race,” he said. “This is going to be a hard fight for either side. It’s based on the numbers we’re seeing right now.”
So, here’s what this “Democratic strategist” is seeing. He’s seeing ASTONISHING, RECORD-BREAKING fundraising — 310 MILLION DOLLARS in July. (!!!)
He’s seeing crowds (see photo above) that are packing venues and treating Kamala like a rock star/goddess.
He’s seeing MILLIONS of young people burst out of their cynical torpor and engage with the Harris campaign with a delight unseen since the first Barack Obama campaign.
He’s seeing worry-wart Democrats unfurrow their brows, throw back their heads, and whoop with joy.
And what is the reaction of this “Democratic strategist”? “Whoa, hold on, calm down, sober up, Sparky. Face facts, we’re still behind. Nothing to see here, go home, We’re Democrats! We’re naturally in disarray! Don’t believe me, see the front page of the New York Times! Where’s that cynical gloominess that’s our natural state?”
So, David, as a Democrat who was pondering websites like this a scant month ago, let me enlighten you: the exuberance you’re seeing from Democrats IS ENTIRELY RATIONAL.
Why? Because...
- WE NOW HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN — BIGLY! I love Joe Biden. He continues to be a great President. But, as they say in the ad biz, the “blink” on Joe by voters was over after the debate: too old, not up to the job. I weep when I think of the courage and integrity it took for Joe to put the greater good of the country over his personal ambition. That said, the MOMENT Joe passed the torch was the moment that winning became more than possible — it became likely. SUDDENLY you had this younger, hipper, intelligent, gleeful woman, so ready to lead us into the future. SUDDENLY her opponent became “Old Man Trump, yelling at clouds.” I can’t speak for everyone here, but to me it felt like getting a call from a Doctor telling me he goofed up on that death sentence. “The lab screwed up. You’re going to be okay!”
- THIS MAY BE OUR LAST CHANCE TO SAVE THE PLANET — Here’s Lisa Friedman in the New York Times: “(Trump-endorsed Project 2025) calls for shredding regulations to curb greenhouse gas pollution from cars, oil and gas wells, and power plants, dismantling almost every clean energy program in the federal government and boosting the production of fossil fuels.” These people are monsters who don’t care if their grandchildren live or die. Kamala Harris will continue what she and her boss started: push the clean energy manufacturing boom, cut pollution, lower energy costs, and keep creating good-paying green energy jobs. The experts say we have until 2030 to turn this around. Can we really afford 4 deadly years of “drill, baby, drill”?
- WOMEN WILL NOW REGAIN CONTROL OF THEIR PERSONAL HEALTH —If Trump wins, JD Vance will happily lead the Project 2025 charge for a nationwide abortion ban (with NO EXCEPTIONS for rape and incest). Alito and Thomas will resign, and Aileen Cannon and another young wingnut will put the Supreme Court out of reach for a generation and a half. With President Harris, we can do the hard work of re-empowering women to make their own health decisions.
- ECONOMIC SANITY CAN AGAIN PREVAIL — A Trump/Vance administration will do everything possible, as quickly as possible, to loot the bank accounts of everyday folks and hand as much money as possible to their “emotional support billionaires.” Extend the “Top 1/10th of the 1 Percent” tax cuts? Check. MORE tax cuts for billionaires? Check. More money shoveled at the Military-Industial Complex? Check. Two goals here — make the rich richer, and, by sending the national debt rocketing past the moons of Jupiter, creating an excuse to destroy Social Security and Medicare because, gosh darn it, SOMEHOW that pesky debt keeps growing despite the miracle of trickle-down economics, and we just don’t have the money to shovel to those greedy geezers!
- PARENTS CAN REST EASY KNOWING THEIR CHILDREN’S LIVES WON’T BE ENDANGERED — An oft-overlooked hobby horse of Donald Trump is the elimination of mandatory vaccinations for school children. As I mentioned in a previous diary, Trump wants to cut federal funds that demand children be immunized against deadly diseases before they can attend public schools. So, if you’re a parent, will you be able to figure out if the child sitting next to yours has polio? Chickenpox? Measles? Do you think Trump cares about the life of your child? Harris does. Unlike Trump, she won’t take something that isn’t broken and break it.
- THE DEMOCRACY WE LOVE WILL LIVE ON — “A dictator on day one!” “After this election, you’ll never have to vote again!” Weaponizing the DOJ and FBI to arrest and jail his tormentors. Using the Insurrection Act to shut down protests. Making election deniers vote counters/election certifiers. “The election is fair if I win. Not fair if I don’t. And if I don’t, I’ll lead the riot this time.” This might be our last chance to stop America from becoming a Fascist autocracy run by the beady-eyed theocrats of the Heritage Foundation
So, David, what’s “irrational” on this list? Has your soul become so benumbed that you can’t enjoy this transcendent moment of hope? Are you so desperate to get on talk shows that you’ll say what TV news producers want you to say by wrapping Kamala Harris in the wet blanket of your cynical punditry?
Let me conclude with one of my favorite quotes, from the great Joseph Campbell:
People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.
That’s what we’re experiencing in these Kamala Harris rallies: we’re feeling the RAPTURE OF BEING ALIVE. We’re knowing ourselves in a new, thrilling way: as an astonishing, joyous tribe for the purpose of saving the country we love, and creating the lives we want.
