The NPR Politics Podcast - Tim Walz And Oprah Winfrey Speak On DNC Night 3

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota delivered a speech introducing himself and formally accepting his nomination to serve as Kamala Harris' running mate. Oprah Winfrey also spoke.This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, Minnesota Public Radio reporter Clay Masters, senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.The podcast is produced by Casey Morell and Kelli Wessinger. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. And I'm Mara Liason, Senior National Political Correspondent. And longtime friend of the podcast, Clay Masters of Minnesota Public Radio is joining us tonight. Hi, Clay. Happy to be here. And it is 11.13 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, August 21st. And the third night of the Democratic Convention has just wrapped. But as you can hear in the background, the Minnesota delegation is still celebrating.

And the big speech of tonight, of course, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. When Republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor's office. Corporations, free to pollute your air and water, and banks free to take advantage of customers. But when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love. Freedom to make your own health care decisions. And yeah, your kids' freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.

Clay, this speech for him was an introduction to the nation, and it was striking to me how much of it focused more on his personal life story than maybe his record as governor. Well, yeah. I mean, as of two weeks ago, I mean, this guy was a relatively unknown entity in politics across the country. And while he's been traveling to these different swing states with Kamala Harris and introducing himself to these really large crowds, this is the biggest stage this guy has ever in his history. I mean, he laughs about how he hadn't used teleprompters before he was running for the vice presidential nomination. So we got to hear a lot about what he's been saying over and over again. They're really leaning hard into this background of being a public school teacher, teaching social studies in high school, being a

football coach, and leading the team to a state championship. So they're really leaning into this. You know, he's not an Ivy League guy. He's a dad in plaid. He's a dad in plaid that was out there. And you heard different people like former President Bill Clinton speaking him up today, Nancy Pelosi. Just, you know, it's introducing this guy who's new to the scene. But he did also talk about his record. He said that he cut taxes for the middle class.

He passed family medical leave. He made sure that kids got lunch and breakfast in school. I mean, he fleshed himself out. His job tonight was to do two things. One was to introduce himself, because as you said, he was a blank slate, and also to talk about Kamala Harris. That's his job.

And I thought he fulfilled it. He painted a pretty full picture of himself. It was the public school teacher. It was the football coach. It was the National Guard service for 24 years. It was the passing all of these progressive policies in Minnesota, and also planting himself squarely in a very time-honored Democratic tradition, we take care of each other. You know, we're from small towns. You know, the guy who introduced him, the former student said, he's the kind of guy who would help you out of a snowbank.

I know that because he helped me out of a snowbank. Yeah, and, you know, he also talked about how he brought Republicans and Democrats together when he was in Congress. Right, worked across the aisle, compromised. He represented a very rural Republican district in Congress in southern Minnesota. And then when he was elected as governor of Minnesota in 2018, there was split control of the Minnesota legislature. So he was kind of seen as this guy who was making compromises. Then comes 2022. He's reelected along with a full Democratic control of state government. And they passed all of these progressive policies that we heard him talking about tonight.

And he said, as if he was answering a criticism of Kamala Harris, which is that she hasn't put out a lot of detailed policies. At one point he says, let me tell you exactly what Kamala Harris would do if she's the president. If you're middle class, she'll cut your taxes. She's going to lower prescription drug prices because she's going to take on big pharma. She's going to fight for you to live the life that you want.

That's one of the things he was trying to do. He's supposed to be her shield, also her attack dog. And he said, leaders don't insult people and blame others. I wonder who he was thinking about. It's so clear that the campaign wants to brand him as Coach Walls. And quite literally, the signs that they handed out in the convention tonight said Coach Walls on it. They had former football players come out. And his sort of closing message in the speech sounded like a football coach at halftime giving the locker room a pep talk. It's the fourth quarter.

We're down a field goal, but we're on offense and we've got the ball. We're driving down the field. And boy, do we have the right team. Kamala Harris is top. Kamala Harris is experienced and Kamala Harris is ready. Our job, our job, our job, our job for everyone watching is to get in the trenches and do the blocking and tackling. Clay, it seems like, as Mara said last night, nothing that happens on the stage is by accident. And it does seem like the campaign sees Tim Walz as someone that can appeal

largely to male voters, that he's someone that, you know, he's a coach, you want to have a beer with him, all those sort of a bit cliche things of politics, but they see him as sort of a messenger to these voters. Look, there's no way, well, maybe there's a way, but there's a very slim chance that Kamala Harris can win without picking up Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania. Somebody like a Tim Walz can relate to maybe not win in these rural parts of these different states that are kind of similar in the way that they're set up like Minnesota, but running up the tallies, right? Losing by less. Yes, losing by less.

Losing those communities by less. That's the goal. And they want those people in those states and states across the country to see Tim Walz as, oh, I could see him as my football coach when I was in high school, or the social studies teacher who was very animated and was trying to help students. I mean, there was a big eruption in cheers when they were talking about him being the faculty advisor at his high school in Mankato for the Gay-Straight Alliance, the football coach stepping forward and being that.

You know, it's also the other thing, and this is one of his many attributes for Democrats, I'm also a Second Amendment guy who believes in gun control. Yeah. And that, he said, and I'm a great shot, and I'm a better shot than the Republicans in Congress, and I've got the trophies to prove it. And the NRA gave him an A rating when he was in Congress.

Way back when? Way back when. Not anymore. He's got an F, and he proudly wears that F as a badge of honor, as a way to say that he's implementing gun laws in the state of Minnesota. What he's saying is you can be a hunter. He says, I am a hunter, I'm a veteran, and I'm a good shot. You can be for gun safety legislation and also believe in the Second Amendment. Mara, it was notable to me tonight that former President Bill Clinton spoke at length longer

than he was scheduled to, but we should know a time-honored Bill Clinton tradition. But he is a Democrat who, in his prime, also knew how to run up the margins in rural places and appeal to men and working class people. And the through line of that seemed to make sense of what they were trying to drive home, one of the messages they were trying to drive home tonight. Yeah, I think that's right. He is also 78, although, as he said, I'm still younger than Donald Trump. But yeah, that's what he was trying to do. He's a good explainer. And he laid out all the reasons why this Democratic ticket is worth voting for. And he also said he seemed to be warning the delegates here about irrational exuberance and saying, you know, we're not ahead yet. And we have a lot of work to do. And that's not just to ward off overconfidence. I think it's absolutely correct. Kamala Harris has not established a lead in this race yet. She has closed the gap. It's neck and neck, but she does not have a true lead. The point has been made on

this podcast many times, but we've seen the Republican Party, you know, it's the party of Donald Trump. Here tonight, we saw Bill Clinton. We've already heard from Barack Obama, two former presidents. They're really trying to show that there's a lot of work left to do to win this thing. Whereas, you know, just recently, the Republican Convention a month ago, they were saying, we're going to win in a landslide. All right. Clay Masters from Minnesota Public Radio. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. You're welcome. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.

And we're back and senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith is here. Hey, Tam. Hello. So, Tam, we need to talk about Oprah. She was a late add to the speaking. She was a surprise speaker for tonight. This was the first time she's ever spoken at a political convention, although not the first time she's engaged in presidential politics. And she delivered quite a speech. So I'm calling on all you independents and all you undecideds. You know this is true. You know I'm telling you the truth.

That values and character matter most of all. In leadership and in life. She is what you call a validator. There were a lot of validators who spoke at this convention, especially tonight. Yeah, I think tonight was the validation night. It was the night of the validators. And she is someone who, if she says, go read that book, millions of Americans, go read that book. If she says those high thread count sheets are the best high thread count sheets, millions of Americans go out and buy these things. Like she is a brand. She is an empire. She is someone who people listen to. Now, will they listen to her

about politics? Who knows? But it is likely that the people who are reporting on what Oprah said tonight will reach people who don't follow politics. And what's so interesting to me is there's social media and then there's popular culture. Popular culture moves votes more than social media. Oprah is popular culture. Now on the other side, they've got Hulk Hogan and Elon Musk. I don't know how those balance out. But yeah, she has tremendous reach. She has huge crossover appeal. White suburban women pay attention to Oprah. They're part of her large audience. But she also really honed in on two of the main themes of this convention and of Kamala Harris's campaign. First of all, this idea, I'm not going backwards.

I want the sweet promise of tomorrow, not the bitter memories of yesterday. And she also talked about how Kamala Harris is going to focus on people at the bottom, not just helping people at the top. And the people versus the powerful, which was Al Gore's mantra, but that idea is something that has been present in every successful Democratic presidential campaign for the last, well, since before FDR, but she really focused on that.

She also talked about freedom. Yes, yes. As did most people tonight. Talked about the idea of freedom. Yes. As did most people tonight. Talked about the idea of freedom. It is a completely different definition of freedom than you heard at the Republican National Convention. Democrats in the 2022 midterms discovered that if they talked about reproductive rights and a whole suite of issues, if they talked about it as freedom, they were much more effective than if they were

just talking about access to abortion. Well, and also it's Kamala Harris's alternative to talking about democracy, which Biden did a lot of, and it proved to be too abstract for most voters to understand. But freedom from having the government come between you and your doctor, or freedom to have your kids read the books you want them to read as opposed to some other mother deciding for them, that's something people can understand. Before we wrap, I do think we should talk a little bit tonight about how Israel-Gaza politics have been playing in Chicago. There have been protests all week long in the streets of Chicago, and some mild protest has broken out in the chamber this week. At one point when President Biden was

speaking, there was some shouts, but they were quieted down very quickly. And one of the moving speeches tonight came from John Poland and Rachel Goldberg, the parents of an American hostage still being held by Hamas. There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East. In a competition of pain, there are no winners. on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East. In a competition of pain, there are no winners. And I would just note that at the RNC last month, another family of hostages being held in Gaza spoke at that convention. Mara, this has been an overwhelmingly unifying convention for the Democratic Party, but this issue, the issue of Israel and Gaza and ceasefire, is not going to go away for the Harris

campaign in this election. No, it's not going to go away, but what was really important about this week was not the protests outside and the size of them, was whether there were going to be protests inside. And so far, we haven't seen big ones. And if that's true through tomorrow night, I think the Harris campaign has really avoided the worst-case scenario. It didn't erupt into a big fuss on the floor of the 30-odd delegates who are uncommitted, and they could have if they wanted to. But Democrats have decided, and I think this is the mark of a mature party, that winning is more important than anything that divides them, even things they care very deeply about.

And they're just going to have to find another way to work on those divisions. Michelle Obama talked about this where she said, don't be like Goldilocks. If everything isn't perfect for you, that doesn't mean you should go home and sulk. You should still work your heart out to elect Harris. But Tim, there was some tension between the DNC and activists and the uncommitted movement, which is also, there are uncommitted delegates and there's the uncommitted movement. There was some effort to try to get a spokesman for that movement, a Palestinian American, to speak on the stage. DNC made it clear tonight that's not going to happen. Yeah. And I don't know that, I know

that there was a lot of back and forth and that advocates felt like they might really actually get to speak. But what I know is that the overwhelming majority of the people in this room are establishment Democrats. They were Joe Biden delegates. And so this is in many ways, the most united convention that we've seen in quite some time. If you go back to 2016, there were Bernie Sanders delegates who were turned to their backs on Hillary Clinton during the roll call. If you go back to 2008, there were Hillary Clinton diehards who were still really upset that Barack Obama got the nomination. But that's what's so weird about this week. This is a re-election convention. This isn't a contested primary convention.

So by definition, you have hardly any opposition, as opposed to the scenarios you just described. I mean, that's what's so unusual about this. And obviously this is an issue that we're going to be keeping an eye on tomorrow night when Kamala Harris gives her acceptance speech. All right, well, I think we're going to leave it there for tonight. But please remember to hit the follow button if you haven't already. We're going to be back in your feeds again tomorrow night with our wrap of Kamala Harris's acceptance speech. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. And I'm Mara

Eliasson, senior national political correspondent. And thanks for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.