From Hope to Fear: How the Democrats Changed Their Message
18th January 2024
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” said Franklin D. Roosevelt, famously.
The Democrats of 2024 have a rather different message for the world: Be Very Afraid!
“I’m scared as heck,” said the vice-president, Kamala Harris, yesterday, as she discussed the “crazies” who might put Donald Trump back in the Oval Office. Not for the first time, Harris was echoing the sentiments of Michelle Obama, the former first lady: “I am terrified,” Michelle told a podcast last week. “We cannot take this democracy for granted.”
We’re a long way from 2008, when Michelle’s husband won the White House by appealing to the opposite emotion. “We choose hope over fear,” said Barack Obama, back then. Today, his party opts for anxiety over optimism.