Three Things Democrats Don’t Want to Talk About

Modern political conventions are typically slickly produced, carefully staged events. And despite the struggles to stay on schedule and the unusual way the presidential nominee was chosen, this year’s Democratic convention in Chicago was no different.

Democrats on the convention stage tried to put on their best face, talking about Kamala Harris’ qualifications and character, her economic plans and issues where the party has broad public support, such as abortion rights and health care.

But what they don’t talk about—the issues and areas they’ve largely tried to avoid, at least so far—says as much about their electoral strategies and weaknesses as what they choose to emphasize. Here are three notable omissions midway through the party’s extravaganza.

Immigration has been a burden for Democrats since undocumented border crossings surged early in Biden’s presidency. Republicans have blamed administration policies for fueling the historic surge in border crossings, and the flood of new arrivals—many of whom have been shuttled to densely populated Democratic cities by conservative governors—has strained public services.

Harris’s campaign appears to recognize her vulnerability on this issue. One of its first TV ads blamed Donald Trump for the failure of bipartisan border security legislation earlier this year and touted Ms. Harris’s record of prosecuting “transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers” when she was California’s attorney general.

But immigration seems to be an issue the Harris team would rather talk about in 50-second TV ads than from the stage in Chicago. The topic has some rules here and there, but compared to the 2020 convention — when Donald Trump’s hard line on immigration was a primary target of attack — the silence is striking.

According to reports, this could change on Wednesday evening, with several speakers set to discuss the issue.

Four years ago, amid mass protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, the Democratic Party—and the nation as a whole—embroiled in a sometimes spirited debate over institutional racism and the way American history is presented.

While many mainstream Democrats avoided aggressive calls to defund the police, most engaged in discussions about how America could take steps to address what they saw as the corrosive legacy of slavery in the nation’s corporations, classrooms and government, including by promoting DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion.

Recently, the issue of transgender rights has been a driving force among parts of the Democratic coalition, particularly in light of Republican efforts to limit or ban children’s ability to receive gender-based care.

Neither topic has received much attention in the Democratic convention arena so far. There was an emotional tribute to the civil rights movement early Monday, culminating in a wheelchair-bound Jesse Jackson — who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1980s — taking the stage. But DEI and other remedies have gotten short shrift.

“DEI has become a kind of whistle code” used to undermine minorities in positions of power, said Shavon Arline-Bradley, president of the National Council of Negro Women, which organizes voter education efforts in states where the presidential election remains uncertain.

“Our country was founded on opportunities for all men and all women, but we don’t hear about that anymore because many people don’t want to alienate a certain group of people who are afraid of that.”

The aim of this congress was to alienate as few potential voters as possible.

And while abortion rights are front and center in Congress every day, transgender issues — the other hot social topic — are largely ignored in national television programming.

Ms Arline-Bradley warns that if we don’t talk about issues of equality and inclusion, the problems will continue.

“We need to talk about it because this party is the most inclusive and diverse party,” she said. “Show it, activate it and live by those values.”

The last Democratic convention in 2020 was largely virtual — held in empty halls and television studios — due to the COVID pandemic. In 2016, when thousands of Democrats gathered in Philadelphia, the divisions within the party were on full display.

Supporters of Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders, who finished second to Hillary Clinton that year, repeatedly disrupted the rally and staged protests around the convention hall.

The party was divided over issues such as universal health care, free college tuition and, more broadly, whether Democrats should rely on the support of wealthy donors, big business and what Sanders called the “corporate oligarchy.”

That division remains. Mr. Sanders gave a speech Tuesday night railing against the corrupting influence of money in politics. But his speech was immediately followed by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who bragged about his billionaire status, and venture capitalist and former CEO of American Express Ken Chenault. The big tent, at least for now, covered up clear differences in policy and opinion.

Another current area of ​​sharp division within the party is U.S. military support for Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Thousands of protesters have demonstrated outside the convention’s security perimeter, but the intense disagreement has received little attention inside the convention hall.

Sanders drew applause when he called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and Joe Biden drew attention when he said in his speech on Monday that protesters “have a point” when they say too many civilians have been killed.

But all of this is a far cry from 2016, when some attendees at an anti-war conference booed former four-star general John Allen and former Defense Secretary and CIA director Leon Panetta during their speeches.

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