Can you feel the joy yet? The whole week after the announcement on Aug. 6 about the selection of Kamala Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, has been a joy fest within the Democratic Party not seen since the days when Franklin D. Roosevelt wowed the press corps. What with pundits declaring Harris and Walz “happy warriors,” you would think “Happy Days Are Here Again,” as FDR’s 1932 presidential campaign theme song blared out constantly.
The Washington Post headline was “Harris and Walz seize on joyful message in contrast to darker Trump themes.” Jennifer Rubin exulted Walz’s “happy-warrior vibe” at the first joint rally in Philadelphia.
At The New York Times, Charles Blow called Walz “the epitome of the happy warrior,” “the dad figure,” “the soldier,” “the coach.” Tom Elliott at Grabien captured nine utterances of “happy warrior” by pundits on TV. And Harris’ laughter has been measured and shown to be four times greater than Biden’s was on the campaign trail!
The New York Times Belabors the Joy
Times reporter Katie Rogers in her Aug. 9 “analysis” offered that at one time Harris, given the criticism by conservatives, “wondered to confidants whether she should laugh, or show a sense of humor, at all.” They reassured her that she should. Yet, even as she “focused on issues like abortion rights and worked to bolster her foreign policy chops,” the “laughter never really left her.”
It was a good thing, for “joy — a battle-tested version of it — has
