Today was the best day of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Most obviously, Tim Kaine killed it today in Miami, as Hillary Clinton introduced him as her running mate. Kaine hit every note–personal and political–so beautifully. Leavening his political message with an appealing mix of graciousness and humility and a sprinkle of fluent Spanish, Kaine will be a powerful ally. Clinton and Kaine will be stronger together on the campaign trail, particularly in Trump must-win states of Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. Republicans are in even more trouble than they were last week. Trump and Pence are up against Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. Not to mention Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Michelle Obama, and many other leaders of a united Democratic Party. That’s an uphill fight for Republicans.
Hillary Clinton has also found her footing with a new slogan Stronger together. It captures succinctly Clinton’s liberal communitarian approach to governing. It provides the perfect counterpoint to Donald Trump’s authoritarian assertion that I alone can fix America’s problems. The crowd on hand to hear Clinton and Kaine today was, itself, the perfect counterpoint to the angry monochromatic audience that met in Cleveland to nominate Donald Trump last week.
Clinton will crush Trump. In part, she will win because she and Senator Kaine are more effective candidates than Trump and Rep. Pence are. But that will not be the main reason she will win. She will win because her party can draw upon the full strength of an inclusive American community. She is standard-bearer for a diverse and inclusive Democratic coalition that is much larger than herself, much larger than Barack Obama or any other single person. The tens of millions of people who comprise constitute* that Democratic coalition are stronger together than their Republican opposition, which weakens itself in its efforts to draw Americans apart.
*The grammar SWAT police noted the importance of this correction.