The big meeting of the American Democrats ended yesterday in an enthusiastic atmosphere. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate, even carried the crowd to the point that he was spoken of as a revelation. What will his role be during the campaign?
There are still 76 days left until the presidential election, and yet it seems that something important has happened. The Democratic machine that had been stalled seems to have restarted, this time with a bang; since Joe Biden’s withdrawal, Kamala Harris seems to be performing flawlessly. Of course, we have seen the deployment of major means at this Chicago Convention: Bill Clinton and his humor, the embrace between Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, and even Jimmy Carter’s grandson, who will celebrate his 100th birthday on October 1st. All this is not yet a program, but it is a momentum. And someone has contributed greatly to it.
Sixty-year-old Tim Walz, a man from the Midwest, was chosen to everyone’s surprise to fill the key role of vice president in the event of victory. His main role is to bring back to Kamala Harris the electorate of certain key states. Tim Walz ticks all the boxes in a rather astonishing way. He is the atypical, the moderate of the Democratic “ticket” who came to correct Kamala’s intellectual-Californian allure, he embodies the moderate who sweeps away clichés with his eclecticism, he is the football coach who also knows how to lend a hand with farm work.
Hunter hailed by powerful NRA
A member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party – as the local branch of the party is called – he was a teacher (as is his wife) and an active member of the National Guard; elected and re-elected five times to the House of Representatives for a rural district, he was hailed by the powerful NRA (National Rifle Association), the gun lobby, which is not really kind to Democrats, because Tim Walz is a hunter.
He seems to be cut out to join the long line of running mates who have provided decisive support to the leader. Let us recall that, in American history, nine vice presidents have acceded to the White House during their term; four outgoing vice presidents were elected president in the process; and two vice presidents had to wait a few years after their term to conquer the White House (Richard Nixon and… Joe Biden).
Beware of disappointments
The executive role of the vice president is not clearly stated in the Constitution, except that he is placed at the head of the presidential succession list, in the event of death or impeachment, and that he is the authoritative president of the Senate knowing that he can only vote in the event of a tie to avoid a blockage in the Upper House. The personality of the vice president is therefore decisive.
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Which introduces a caveat, however. In 2016, Hillary Clinton chose a certain Tim Kaine as her running mate – you have the right to have forgotten his name. Now Tim Kaine looks quite a bit like Tim Walz, including physically. Beware of disappointments, such as they exist among Democrats. The hardest part remains to be done, but we can say that the American presidential campaign can finally begin.
Christian Makarian
