We’re not going back to an America that wasn’t that great
“We’re not going back” is a way to remind people that Trump is old, rich, and that we’ve been there and done that. But it’s also, more subtly, a reminder that Trump represents a reactionary, bigoted American tradition which we should reject.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton made the fact that she could be the first woman president a central campaign theme. In 2008, the fact that Obama might be the first Black president was a huge aspect of campaign coverage. In contrast, Harris has mostly avoided explicit appeals to her own potential status as the first Black woman president, including during her DNC speech Thursday. She is, presumably, hoping to sidestep some of the reactionary backlash that helped Trump win in 2016.
But of course Harris’s identity, and the Democratic Party’s commitment to inclusion and to rights for women and Black people, is of central importance to the campaign. “We’re not going back” is a way to highlight in a firm but non-confrontational way that we’re not going back to a world in which women couldn’t get abortion services, in which Black people couldn’t vote, in which LGBT people couldn’t marry or even hold hands in public. The slogan is an acknowledgement — rare in presidential campaigns — that America has a long, ugly history of injustice, and that we can and have to do better. [Continue reading…]