Harris at the Democratic National Convention

So, Harris at the convention… I wonder how that’s going?

Why, the Audacity! (… Sorta?)

Once upon a time, in an age that now feels aeons past, Barack Obama was president of the United States. While notable in many ways, there are 2 particular ways that bear upon the tilling of wiseacreage for today:

1. As a presidential hopeful in 2006, he wrote a book called The Audacity of Hope. ^[1] Now, like most books by or about politicians, I’ve more or less ignored it. They tend to be self-serving, or content-free, or just trivia writ large. I’d like to think Obama rose to the occasion and wrote a book of substance, but can’t vouch for that personally.

   I merely note for now that the title is from a sermon by Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright, whom Republicans attempted to demonize during the 2008 election. Never understood that, either: I watched a couple videos of the “controversial” sermons, and found little to which anyone reasonable could object.

   So, yeah: Obama took on that situation with the audacity it was due.

   

2. As further proof of Obama’s audacity, he was accused of the sartorial crime of wearing a tan suit while president, as shown in this news pic from 2014.

   Now, nobody should even think about taking fashion advice from me. But, really: I have absolutely no comprehension of what his critics were thinking! Even the direct quotes sound like parody; some excerpts from Wikipedia:

   • The regrettable Lou Dobbs said it was “shocking to a lot of people”.
   • The equally regrettable Rep Peter King – obviously Republican – said it was “unpresidential” and “There’s no way, I don’t think, any of us can excuse what the president did yesterday. I mean, you have the world watching.”

   These are the expected responses of right-wing demagogues who cannot accept that a Democrat is legitimately president, and who are sufficiently racist that they absolutely will not acknowledge the authority of a Black man. Including his choice of clothing, conservative though it may have been.

Women, of course, are always criticized for their appearance and clothing. Now, I don’t know if it’s just chance or the wry humor of a campaign genius, but Harris, possibly relating to Obama in echo of this, wore a tan suit to the Convention:

The best summaries were riffs on Obama’s “Yes, we can!” and “The Audacity of Hope”:

• “Yes, we tan!”, and
• “The Audacity of Taupe”

Perfect. 10/10. No notes.

(That’s it. That’s the whole joke. It doesn’t get better with scrutiny. Just go with it.)

The Weekend Conclusion

As is clear from this picture of the Weekend Publisher (bottom) and the Assistant Weekend Publisher (top), the Two Gentlemen are perfectly comfortable with taupe, even to the extent of nominating it as one of their favorite lounging spots.

However, unlike the Two Gentlemen, we cannot simply rest comfortably. It is incumbent on us (eligible American voters, anyway), in the words last night of Michelle Obama, to “do something about it”. The something we should all do is:

• Check our voter registrations, probably weekly if you’re in a red state or even a red county.
• Vote, preferably early. If by mail, drop off your ballot with your local elections clerk. There was too much skulduggery in the Post Office delaying mailed ballots last time.
• Vote Democratic, all up and down the ticket. We need a trifecta (Presidency, Senate, and House) in order to do anything. Republicans will block everything otherwise.
• Emphatically do not fail to vote and do not vote 3rd party. The only “message” you’re sending is “I don’t care”, and giving half a vote for Trump and fascism. Don’t do that.

“Il nous faut de l’audace, encore l’audace, toujours l’audace!”

(Ceterum censeo, Trump incarcerandam esse.)

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Notes & References

1: BH Obama, “The Audacity of Hope”, Crown/Three Rivers Press, 2006-Oct-17. ISBN: 978-0-307-23769-9. ↩