Politics tamfitronics
Running until the final election results come in for the battle between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the Deadline ElectionLine podcast spotlights the 2024 campaign and the blurred lines between politics and entertainment in modern America. Hosted by Deadline political editor Ted Johnson and executive editor Dominic Patten, the podcast features commentary and interviews with top lawmakers and entertainment figures. As the VP prepares to give her acceptance speech today, take a listen to the podcast, and follow all the news, DNC and otherwise, on Deadline’s ElectionLine hub.
“They’re all going to have flaws, they’re all going to have mistakes, they’re all going to have strengths. But the balancing act is what historians take a while figuring out,” Doris Kearns Goodwin says of the pantheon of great presidents, her comments coming in a week that has seen two ex-POTUSes, one almost-POTUS, a VPOTUS aiming for the top job and the current POTUS take the stage at the Democratic National Convention.
As for where Joe Biden fits in history? “Because he saved democracy, people would argue, when he won that first time around, and that he then did leave when he knew he had to leave. … And there are domestic achievements that I think will rank pretty high in history,” Goodwin, the Pulitzer Prize winner and former aide to Lyndon Johnson, says on today’s Deadline ElectionLine podcast.
The author of such tomes as Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (the basis for Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film Lincoln starring Daniel Day-Lewis), Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, as well as books on the Roosevelts (Teddy, FDR and Eleanor) and the Kennedys, Goodwin recently published An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s.
Talking about the turbulent 1968 DNC in Chicago, “echoes of the past” and other conventions in the Windy City and elsewhere, Goodwin helped us put in perspective what we’ve seen the past few days and what we may see tonight from Kamala Harris as she formally accepts the Democratic nomination.
In a week that has seen Biden’s goodbye speech, stirring remarks from former First Lady Michelle Obama, plus ex-presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as oratory from 2026 nominee Hillary Clinton, National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, VP candidate Gov. Tim Walz and short segments from the current VP, the power of Nancy Pelosi has been evident in and outside of the United Center. With a word here, a nod there and never taking her eyes off the flatlining polls, the Speaker Emerita was the pivotal influence in the effort to convince Biden to exit the scene after his debate debacle against Donald Trump.
“Think about what’s happened to women in this convention,” Goodwin notes.
“I mean, Hillary Clinton spoke and Michelle Obama spoke, and there is a woman now running for the presidency,” the Leadership in Turbulent Timeswriter says. “So, I think there’s a power of women, and Nancy’s a part of that power.”
“I think she seemed to understand somehow that what was going to happen if Biden stayed in the race was a loss for the entire Democratic Party, for the Senate and the House, and that was her responsibility, or so she still felt,” Goodwin says of the formidable two-time Speaker, who stepped aside after the 2022 midterms but remains at the heart of the Democratic Party. “So, somehow, I think her leadership will be understood in this whole thing, even though it’s very hard.”
Also, in another arm of history, this year’s DNC has featured a few innovations: A DJ-directed roll call vote, and a special area for social media influencers. But the producers and party organizers haven’t abandoned tradition; there are still speeches for past and present White House occupants, and more speeches, and then more speeches. Yet with an increasing number of viewers watching content via short-form video and clips, we look at what matters more may be what goes viral, not how it looks on TV.
Stick with ElectionLine all the way through the DNC, the debates and to Election Day. Subscribe to the Deadline ElectionLine podcast on Spotify, Apple Music, iHeart and all podcast platforms.
