Democrats: From Depression to Prozac

What is in the interest of many Democrats is to now have a credible candidate to try to avoid a second Trump presidency.

The virtual candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have injected Democrats with a new enthusiasm and the idea that, despite everything, they have a chance of winning the November presidential election.

Just a week ago, Democrats seemed in a depressed mood, almost resigned to losing not only the presidential vote but seats in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, with doubts surrounding the ability of the party’s standard-bearer, President Joe Biden, with an increasingly widespread image of him as old and weak and consistently behind in the polls against the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump.

Today they seem to be in a state of exaggerated optimism, euphoria one might say, although not entirely irrational, but it seems as if they have taken universal doses of Prozac. A week ago, President Biden was clinging to keep his reelection campaign alive, even though a couple of disastrous public appearances and a new bout of COVID-19 consolidated the image of fragility being touted by his opponents and feared by his main co-religionists, who saw signs of a political disaster for the Democrats in the November elections.

Pressure from leaders and donors to the Democratic Party, who saw Biden’s weakness and his 81 years of age as a burden in an election that both consider vital for the future of democracy in the United States, was decisive.

Biden relented on Sunday and that same day the candidacy of Vice President Harris emerged, endorsed by Biden himself and by the reality that, despite having a group of emerging figures, she was the only one they could turn to immediately. It is certainly a big gamble for her and for the Democrats.

But if she is confirmed by the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as all indications suggest, she will be the first woman of color, of Asian descent, nominated by a major party in American history.

And above all, an absolute, almost total contrast to the rubicund Republican nominee, Trump, now the leader of a right-wing movement. Or as Harris posits, a former prosecutor against a known felon.

But above all, she is someone around whom Democrats can rally. Harris is perhaps more important as a standard-bearer than for her chances of victory, whatever they may be. But what is in the interest of many Democrats is to now have a credible candidate to try to prevent, or at least reduce, the chances of a second Trump presidency.

Early signs are that Trump may be facing much greater competition than he expected. Endorsements and funding have poured in on the Democratic side, but Americans are living in the moment and remember more the problems with Biden than the myriad of reasons why they did not reelect Trump in 2020.