Big Lib Energy is a Double-Edged Sword

Kamala Harris and the Democrats have the chance of a lifetime in an election they looked sure to lose. Will they throw it away?

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Can you feel it in the air? That scent of carpet cleaner and recycled air in a cavernous convention center? A tang of plastic from the confetti? A faint strain of — what’s that? Could it be? — “Fight Song” floating through the halls? That’s right, baby. It’s the Democratic National Convention.

There are camo hats in the crowd. There are signs with a half-decent slogan. There is a young elected official in a prime speaking spot being anointed by the party leadership and staking her claim as a generational political talent. Is it 2008? Is it 2016? Who can say. We have been here before and could be here again, but there’s no denying it: the Democratic party is BACK and everything right now is breaking their way. Kamala Harris’s transformative jump to the top of the ticket, the feel-good vibes of the Democrats finally arriving on the right Midwestern white guy for VP, the packed crowds at rallies and the convention itself have brought comparisons to the energy that swept Obama into office in 2008.

The only problem is everything kind of went to shit right after that, and I’m worried that it’ll happen again.