CHICAGO. Michelle and Barack Obama used their Tuesday night appearance to name a successor. And no, it’s not their daughters Malia or Sasha, but Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States and the Democratic presidential candidate by acclamation.
And as if that weren't enough, another popular Democrat, former President Bill Clinton, stepped in on Wednesday night to further bolster Harris’s image, strengthen that of her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, and fan what already seems like a growing enthusiasm.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s mission is to defeat Donald Trump, the Republican candidate whom Democrats—and some Republicans—view as a danger to the U.S.
It’s no accident. Kamala Harris has become the great hope to face Donald Trump, the billionaire turned, by the magic of television and social media, into the leader of extremist right-wing movements. It's true that she is a woman of color, the daughter of immigrants—an Afro-Caribbean father and an Indian mother—and is, from the outset, a feminist and almost 20 years younger than him.
But there are also political reasons, according to insiders. Both Bill Clinton and the Obamas have scores to settle with Trump. Clinton, for the unchivalrous way Trump treated his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first female presidential candidate from a major party, whom he defeated in the Electoral College in 2016, though not in the popular vote.
For the Obamas, it dates back a dozen years when Trump, then a businessman, questioned whether Barack Hussein Obama was born in the United States and later had to endure a sarcastic public tirade from the president at a White House Correspondents' Dinner.
And then, in 2016, there was Trump’s absurd comparison of the size of the crowds that attended his own inauguration versus Obama’s in 2008.
But it's also political. During his administration, from 2016 to 2020, Trump did everything he could to undo the measures adopted by Obama, often through administrative actions equivalent to presidential decrees, given the literal deadlock in Congress with barely distinguishable majorities and minorities.
Important issues such as access to healthcare, the need for immigration reform, addressing the situation of the Dreamers—children of undocumented parents who grew up and were educated in the U.S. but lack American citizenship—and environmental protection, were weakened or nearly demolished by Trump.
And the Obamas, a couple revered in liberal and Democratic circles in the U.S., handed the key to Harris. They named her their successor in real terms. Clinton, considered one of the best politicians, provided the keyring. Harris and Walz must do the rest and convince the majority of the states.
BY JOSÉ CARREÑO FIGUERAS
COLLABORATOR
JOSE.CARRENO@ELHERALDODEMEXICO.COM
@CARRENOJOSE1