Can Kamala Harris make America laugh again?

CHICAGO - It’s a laugh that’s got the nation divided. Some Americans call it a cackle that’s as harsh as Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ progressive politics. Her supporters say it’s the boisterous froth of a campaign of “joy”.

“I love that laugh,” said her husband Doug Emhoff in his speech at the four-day Democratic National Convention that concluded on a high note with a speech by Ms Harris on Aug 22.

Former first lady Michelle Obama remarked on it in her rockstar appearance

on the second day of the convention, where she declared that hope was making a comeback in bare-knuckled American politics with the entry of Ms Harris.

“The steel of her spine, the steadiness of her upbringing, the honesty of her example and, yes, the joy of her laughter and her light,” Mrs Obama said as the arena echoed with applause.

The political hand-wringing over a woman’s laugh struck a note with Mrs Hillary Clinton, the 2016 presidential candidate who had faced the same criticism for her full-throated expression of mirth. She lost to Republican Donald Trump, the same man that Ms Harris is running against.

“It is no surprise, is it, that he is lying about Kamala’s record, he’s mocking her name and her laugh. Sound familiar?” quipped Mrs Clinton on the opening night of the convention as she urged support for Ms Harris’ attempt to break the proverbial glass ceiling to become the first female US president.

Thus far, though, Ms Harris’ rollicking laughter has improved the party’s outlook. It has helped define her political persona, till now unexamined as she worked in the shadow of President Joe Biden. The low approval ratings she earned during her 3½ years in office are now a thing of the past, helped by the branding of her campaign as “joyful”.

The adoption of “joy” as an intrinsic part of her still-evolving political message is what she hopes will help differentiate her from Trump’s scowls and his combative running mate J. D. Vance.

“We’re not going back” is the other component of Ms Harris’ political package that is intended to persuade voters to turn their back on the Trump years. Supporters have taken to repeating that declaration as a battle cry.

In its more aggressive iteration, it is the counter to the Trumpian Maga promise to “Make America Great Again”.

As a slogan, it hopes to claim the high ground once occupied by the most powerful slogan in modern political campaigning: the Obama campaign slogan of “Yes, we can!”.

The Harris campaign slogan has speedily overtaken the “coconut” and “brat” memes that rippled through social media soon after

she became the Democratic choice about a month ago.

Another slogan that is being street-tested in Chicago by vendors this week, emblazoned on T-shirts that bear Ms Harris’ image, is a clever play on Trump’s Maga slogan: “Make America Laugh Again”.

At US$25 (S$32.75) a piece, they are outselling shirts with a picture of Ms Harris in the style of Mr Obama’s “Hope” red-white-and-blue campaign poster in 2008.

An evocative logo is at the heart of every successful American presidential campaign. That Ms Harris has managed to differentiate her campaign slogan and style from Mr Obama’s is a good sign, even though time for a national roll-out is limited, with only 74 days left until the Nov 5 election.

Street vendors are also seeing brisk

sales of merchandise

aimed at women: Kamala tote bags, clutches and backpacks that feature the candidate’s smiling visage.

“Not yet a must-have accessory,” said a convention delegate who was looking at the merchandise.

 “But maybe I am making an investment in the future,” she added. 

Away from the downtown convention centre, however, there is some wariness about betting on Ms Harris.

“I’m not sold on her just yet,” said Gerard, a restaurant manager, a black man in his 40s. Like many interviewees, he declined to give his full name and spoke gingerly about his voting, the consequence of America’s bitter political divisions that have transformed a population that needs very little prompting to share opinions on almost any other topic.

“I need to hear some more about her politics,” Gerard said, adding that he would wait till he heard what Trump had to say too.

“You cannot assume she will get my vote just because I am black. I did not vote for Obama either, I voted for the other guy who was more patriotic,” he said, referring to the late senator John McCain, a military hero.

In the 2008 election that produced the nation’s first black president, Mr McCain, a Vietnam war veteran, was defeated by Mr Obama, whose political capital was his service as a community organiser in Chicago.

“I’m still considering both Kamala and Trump,” said Abdul, a 27-year-old American who moved from Johor in Malaysia to Devon Avenue, a Chicago neighbourhood popular with the city’s Asian communities.

The first-time voter, who said he was enrolled in a community college to study criminal justice as a step towards joining the Chicago police, said Ms Harris’ background as a prosecutor attracted him. 

“But I keep hearing that Trump will be better for our economy.”

Most opinion polls say Trump, who made his fortune in real estate, is more capable of buoying up the American economy, which some analysts see as nearing a recession.

Fair or not, that is Ms Harris’ burden to bear as the inheritor of the Biden administration that is widely associated with a sharp rise in the price of gas and groceries.

The other touchpoint for voters is immigration. They blame her for the unchecked influx of millions of illegal immigrants through America’s southern border. The inflow poses a financial burden on cities such as Chicago and New York, which have “right to shelter” laws that compel them to provide for illegal immigrants.

The subject agitates Steven, a voter from Chicago’s white-majority Edison Park neighbourhood. “The polls say it’s a close race. But out here, we see the government taking money from our taxes and giving it to the immigrants. It’s all going into their education and their healthcare,” he said.

“We feel slighted,” he added.

As big a hurdle for Ms Harris are the

alienated young voters and Arab Americans who were seen as natural Democratic Party supporters

until the Gaza war.

Pro-Palestinian supporters flew in from across the US to demand that the Biden administration impose an arms embargo on Israel.

Ms Sabrine Odeh, a Palestinian American and party delegate from Seattle, wanted to hear Ms Harris make a clear call for a ceasefire and arms embargo. “There’s been a lot of talk about her empathy for those who are suffering in the war. We want to hear her advocate forcefully for Palestine,” she said.

A few metres away in the crowded convention centre stood Mr David Kushner, a Jewish American and the director of a social services agency in Philadelphia. He said he was satisfied enough with the Democratic Party to support Ms Harris over Trump even though Trump has expressed unqualified support for Israel.

“Do I think she’s perfect? No, but I don’t think anybody’s perfect,” said Mr Kushner. “Nobody knows what Trump’s stance is or what he will do.”

The other ghost, still not fully exorcised, is the way Mr Biden was forced by his party to withdraw his own re-election bid in favour of Ms Harris. 

It weighed on Mr Briton Boston, 38, who described himself as an inner city kid who voted for Mr Obama in 2008 without fully recognising the historic nature of that election. “It meant something to me, yeah, but it didn’t really mean enough,” he said. 

Now, as a taxpayer and a father of three footing healthcare and housing bills, he says he will be more zealous with his vote.

He remarked on the Obamas’ absence when

Mr Biden gave his speech on the opening day

of the convention and shrugged at enthusiasm for Mr Obama.

“His word does not carry weight. If I like or don’t like Kamala, it’s to do with her. Why I might vote for her is because I feel comfortable with Biden. And with her, it will be a continuation of his first term. If anything, it’s Biden’s aura around Kamala,” he said.

Ms Jen O’Malley Dillon, the chairwoman of Ms Harris’ campaign, is not ready to let her guard down. “We are a polarised nation in a challenging time, and despite all the things that are happening in this country, Donald Trump still has more support than he has had at any other point... It is going to come down to every single vote,” she told American media.

The thunderous applause that greeted Ms Harris on stage might drown out doubts about her victory for a while. But much will depend on how Trump and his running mate campaign.

Ms Harris may yet have the last laugh.