August 2024. The swap out of Joe Biden for Kamala Harris seems nothing less than seismic in terms of its impact on this year’s U.S. Presidential election campaign. We no longer are facing an election resembling “Rocky V” where elderly boxers Rocky and Apollo Creed overcome their arthritis and CTE to battle three rounds in the ring, or another rematch of grievances between 2020’s “Grumpy Old Men “. Instead, the Democrats have changed the election theme and rediscovered a tried-and-true formula for winning Presidential elections: HOPE.
Barack Obama Hope Poster
A Short History of Democrats and Hope
“Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one’s life or the world at large.” Public health experts tell us about the powerful benefits of hope, expressed in one study as follows:
“A greater sense of hope was associated with: better physical health and health behavior outcomes on some indicators (e.g., reduced risk of all cause-mortality, fewer number of chronic conditions, lower risk of cancer, and fewer sleep problems), higher psychological well-being (e.g., increased positive affect, life satisfaction, and purpose in life), lower psychological distress, and better social well-being.”
Based on my 50 years of experience with Presidential elections, I submit that hope is also the primary driver behind successful Democratic Party campaigns for U.S. President.
- In 1992 and 1996, Bill Clinton featured his hometown of Hope, Arkansas in ads and in videos at the Democratic National Convention, the 1992 version was called “The Man from Hope”;
- In 2008, one of Barack Obama’s main messages was “Hope” as was featured in ads and in an iconic poster bearing his stylized stencil image which also ended up on a bunch of t-shirts;
- In 2024, although the word “hope” has not been specifically adopted by the Kamala Harris/ Tim Walz campaign, it seems to be the clear theme and was highlighted in a speech by Walz in which he referenced his daughter (born with the help of in vitro fertilization (IVF)) whom he and his wife aptly named “Hope”.
Even before 1992, hope seemed to play well for successful Democratic candidates, like Jimmy Carter in 1976 and John F. Kennedy. Carter, the smiling peanut farmer from Georgia ran a grass-roots, hope-for-change campaign which Rolling Stone magazine referred to as “very proto-Obama.” In 1960, Frank Sinatra changed a few words to his hit single “High Hopes” to create a catchy tune in support of JFK’s campaign.
Frank Sinatra and John F. Kennedy
Only the Young Can Say
The 2024 election has turned from a battle between two old curmudgeons to one between a curmudgeon and a youthful, energetic, hopeful campaign from the Democrats led by 59-year-old Kamala Harris. The elections from the past 65 years highlight that the key to victory may not solely be the word “hope”, but perhaps a more lively, optimistic attitude about the future. One might surmise that only energetic, younger candidates can sell hope and properly bring it to life. Consider the ages of successful Democratic candidates: JFK was 43, Carter was 52, Clinton was 46, and Obama was 47. Then again, perhaps it is the hopeful spirit of the candidate rather than their physical age that matters most: 99-year-old Jimmy Carter, who has been in hospice for over a year, is trying to make it to age 100, reportedly saying, “I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris.”
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz
Hope – Just What the Doctor Ordered
Rather than “Making America Great Again”, maybe the true winning formula in Presidential elections is promising to “make America greater tomorrow”, or as JFK said in July 1960: “We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through the darkness to a safe and sane future.”
That, my friends, is another way of expressing hope. And judging by the sad and stressed faces I see virtually everywhere I go these days, apparently a symptom of what the U.S. Surgeon General calls America’s “epidemic of loneliness”, hope is exactly what the doctor ordered!