The everyman moment for the man from Mankato

Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz reacts to audience members as he speaks during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

They were tears of joy in the eyes of manchild Gus Walz as he looked up and saw his dad at the podium on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was just getting acclimated to the stage, the sea of totem-like banners and cheers all for him, when his son Gus on the convention floor was caught by the cameras giving what may be the shortest, quietest and best unofficial impromptu speech of the night.

“That’s my dad. That’s my dad,” lip readers will attest Gus said to the world as he pointed to the stage, his everyman father at the top of his political life.  (I wonder if Bongbong said that about Ferdinand the day that Benigno Aquino was gunned down in 1983?)

Gus Walz cries as Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The Chicago scene captured the emotion of the room and of the country seeking new leadership, on a night intended to be the governor’s acceptance speech moment. All he really had to do was say, “Yes,” to being Kamala Harris’ Number 2, the vice president’s vice president.

But it was more. As it played out in real time, the players involved could have been any of us.

That’s democratic.

It was also a moment for everyone else – the Walz family, the convention and the entire nation – to embrace and accept Walz, the former social studies teacher and high school football coach turned purplish politico, as the man who would be the new presidential wingman, Harris’ now not-so-secret weapon as her white male anti-Trump.

Just another night of joy for Harris and the Democrats, as they forged what they hope will be a winning campaign for the votes of America.

Following the path laid out by the Obamas the previous night, speakers hammered home the core ideas of a revived political party that only a month ago seemed doomed to a loss in November until the cast was changed.

The Dems are now an energized party of just regular folks, neighbors, who care about each other and their country. All of them fellow Americans, indivisible. And ready for a new day.

“I want to say this from the bottom of my heart,” said former President Bill Clinton, 78, who attended his first convention in 1972 and wasn’t sure how many more conventions he had left. “But here’s what I want you to know. If you vote for this team, if you can get them elected, and let them bring in this breath of fresh air, you’ll be proud of it for the rest of your life. Your children will be proud of it; your grandchildren will be proud of it.”

Former President Bill Clinton salutes as he walks off the stage during the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

After the pollutants from the right, we need clean air.

Before he left the stage, the former president once called “the man from Hope,” as in Arkansas, connected the past with the future.

“We need Kamala Harris, the president of joy to lead us,” Clinton said.

The star power of DNC Day 3 was led by Oprah Winfrey, the talk show host and pop media icon, who was Oprah-esque.  She delivered one of the night’s best speeches, focused on what our common ground should be, the good in all of us.

She called it the “best of America,” and defined it as “human beings, both conservative and liberal, who may not agree with each other, but who still help you in a heartbeat if you’re in trouble,” Winfrey said. “They are the best of America, and despite what some would have you think, we are not so different from our neighbors. When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the homeowner’s race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is, or how they voted, No, we just try to do the best we can to save them. And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out too.”

Animal rights activists cheered.

Winfrey added that “[V]alues and character matter most of all in leadership and in life, and more than anything, you know this is true that decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024, and just plain common sense. Common sense tells you that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can give us decency and respect.”

And then she punctuated it, Oprah-style, in her signature bellow: “Let us choose honor and J-ooooooy!”

Oprah Winfrey speaks during the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago.(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

It was optimism over cynicism, a theme repeated by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor and presidential candidate. He denounced the GOP’s politics of ‘negativity and grievance.”

“Darkness is what they’re selling,” said Buttigieg. “I believe America is ready for a better kind of politics. Yes, politics at its worst can be ugly, crushing, demeaning, but it doesn’t have to be. At its best, politics can be empowering, uplifting.”

He said politics could “even be kind of soul craft,” where our leaders bring out the good in others.

Broadening the coalition  

The night an attempt to coalesce a new kind of 2024 Democratic Party yearning for a new America. It was multi-generational, open-minded and independent, big enough to welcome even the other side.

“My fellow Republicans, you aren’t voting for a Democrat, you’re voting for democracy,” said Olivia Troye, a proud Mexican American and former national security adviser for Trump. “You aren’t betraying our party, you’re standing up for our country.”

Filipinos, among the most Trumpy of Asian American voters, with nearly 40 percent leaning toward Trump, should take note.

Georgia’s former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan vowed, “If Republicans are intellectually honest with ourselves, our party is not civil or conservative. It’s chaotic and crazy, and the only thing left to do is dump Trump.”

Then he told Republicans directly, “if you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you are not a Democrat, you are a patriot.”

There were cheers, but it all turned somber when the lights dimmed and a video clip of the Jan. 6 attacks played – the lowlights. It was a reminder of Trump’s role, how he was charged, and how, if elected, he may never be held accountable.

The video took me back in time. And I confess made me cry for our country.

But the Democrats know how to do a convention. One does not dwell too long. Besides this show was the convention of Joy. The Democrats are not dark; they’re fun and entertaining. So John Legend, Sheila E. and a wicked female guitarist honored Minnesota’s Prince with a rendition of “Let’s Go Crazy.”

To match the vision of Harris-Walz, the night featured Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions album and his song, “Higher Ground.”

And then all the night’s joy was funneled into the Man from Mankato.

Walz’ moment

Walz is from Minnesota, Mankato specifically, which sounds like the Green Hornet’s man, Kato. Bruce Lee? No, but I kept thinking of him.

Mankato is 4 percent Asian, a town of 45,000 that’s 77 percent white according to the 2020 Census. The Asians are likely from the nearby universities or the Mayo Clinic area, or among the state’s huge Hmong population. The town is not exactly the paragon of diversity.

Yet it seems to be just the place where people are caring and neighborly like Walz.

After he taught high school social studies and coached football, Walz was convinced by Mankatoans who urged him to run for public office despite all odds. He was a 40-something Democrat with zero political experience, with no money in a deep red district.

What did they see in him? The basics, pretty much.

“A commitment to the common good, an understanding that we’re all in this together, and the belief that a single person can make a real difference for their neighbors,” said Walz.

Mankato elected him to Congress, then he went back to run for governor and won.

“I grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people,” Walz said to the convention. “I’ll tell you what, growing up in a small town like that you learn how to take care of each other. That family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they’re your neighbors, and you look out for them, and they look out for you. Everybody belongs and everybody has a responsibility to contribute.”

Does that sound like the America you know? Or the one you want?

It’s a democratic attitude that has voters excited about a new vision for our country in a post-Trump World, the theme established by the Obamas.

On Wednesday night we saw why Walz was picked by Harris.

On the fourth and final night, we will see why Democrats think you should pick her.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator, who writes a column for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. He talks about this column on his micro-talk show at YouTube.com/@emilamok1 at 2 p.m. (PST). Contact him at www.amok.com