There’s something compelling about the allure of nostalgia. And the Democratic National Convention, as it prepares to, Thursday night, usher in a candidate whose entire purpose has been to change the conversation, has defaulted, a bit, to reflecting on past glories. Vice President Kamala Harris’ rallying cry, since she replaced President Joe Biden as the Democrats’ standard-bearer, has been “We’re not going back.
” Her meaning is well-taken — the nation, in her view, ought not return to the days of the Trump presidency. The convention built around her and buttressed with figures from Democratic Party history, though, has seemed built around a different catchphrase. It has so far recalled the famous line from the drama “Lost” — “We have to go back!” There’s nothing unusual about packing a political convention with former potentates from the party.
It’s meant, in part, as a celebration of past glories that might be reclaimed. But the balance has seemed badly off. Hillary Clinton ’s speech was, for a while, a well-delivered tribute to Harris; it was, elsewhere, a recapitulation of the former Secretary of State’s own electoral career and moments in the sun.
Her speech made room for references to both “It Takes a Village” and her 2016 concession speech; it concluded with her walking offstage to “Fight Song.” (In a way, it was her Eras Tour, condensed into a quarter-hour or so.) Bill Clinton’s speech meant to endorse the Harris-Walz ticket r.