CHICAGO — I sat down Wednesday to indulge in my morning ritual of an espresso; this time at the Gallery Café just a couple of miles from the United Center in Chicago – the site of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. As I checked the latest news on my laptop a white gentleman with a short gray beard, dressed in red sweatpants and a dark blue t-shirt approached me and pointed at my press passes hanging around my neck. “You here covering the Democrats?”
I made a mental note to once again try to remember to remove the passes until needed. “Yes,” I said.
“I’m a Republican,” he said evenly.
“Okay,” I answered, waiting to hear what came next.
“I f***ing love those guys,” he said with a big grin. He then shook my hand, turned to leave after telling me to enjoy my coffee and dropped a suggestion about Donald Trump indulging himself in a manner not recommended for those who are not contortionists.
I didn’t expect that. I also haven’t expected the “Happy Warrior” vibe nor the spontaneity of celebrations along with the well-choreographed celebrations at the DNC that have permeated Chicago during the convention. But make no mistake, none of it is about Kamala Harris. It’s all about President Joe Biden not being on the ticket and the hope that now “we can finally beat Trump.” Instead of the dour activities and boring speeches of past conventions that came replete with ridiculous, false claims and pedantic reflections on a reality little share, Democrats have been celebrating a generational change of leadership and have – for the moment – not shown publicly any of the infighting characteristic of the party’s infamous ability to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. And they’ve been doing it all with a sense of humor.
It is representative of a quote attributed to John Lennon: “The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.”
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Prior to the convention, many pundits pointed out the shallow similarities to the Chicago Convention of 1968. There was the threat of violence, an incumbent president not running for office, and the potential for disharmony inside the party. There has, thus far, been no violence, the incumbent president has spurred the party on and instead of a romperroom of juvenile discord, so far, the Democrats look like they’re holding a political Woodstock – complete with hippies and conservatives. I half expected to see Hunter S. Thompson on the convention floor dropping acid.
Hell, even Chuck Schumer, who rarely has the energy to do more than babble incoherently while sounding like a cicada, was semi-energetic on stage.
After eight years of Donald Trump’s rhetoric, perhaps the Democrats have found an answer to Trump’s gloom and doom declarations and prognosis for this country; his petulant whining and his narcissistic, nihilistic and honestly repugnant behavior. Instead of trusting one man to solve all of our problems, the Democrats have embraced the idea that “we won’t go back” and we’re “All........