Will Leitch on the Harris-Walz ticket, the DNC, and most importantly, the legacy of Barack Obama.

There are many reasons the Harris-Walz campaign has caught fire, that it has conjured up those 2008 feelings, that there is a sense that, if we can follow this through, we can finally slam the door on this last decade of callousness and cruelty and downright foolishness and, at last, move forward. There’s Trump disdain. There’s Biden exhaustion. There’s Harris’ maturation as a candidate, her unique ability to be a better messenger, her disciplined, creative political mind. But in the end, I do think it comes back to that initial Obama message: That fundamental belief - I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper - that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. You leave the world a little bit better than how you found it. You believe this country can be better. And you love it enough to try. You won’t get it perfect; you won’t even be close. But you’ve got to try. And you’ve got to believe.

I believe that Kamala Harris believes this. The convention was a clear sign that she is rejecting the dead-end-ism of that “decadent interregnum” cynicism. Obama was right then, and he is right now. That she understands that, and may in fact be the ideal person for this particular moment, is the most encouraging thing I saw this week. And it’s why I think she’s going to win.

Maybe I’ll be wrong. Trump could still very well eke out this election. Maybe it will all go to shit. But that’ll just be another reason to keep fighting then too. Losing the hope that things can get better, and that desire to push to make them so, isn’t clever or wise. It’s just self-destructive. I need this world to be better than it was when I found it. So do my kids. So do you. Believing it can be so isn’t foolish or cringeworthy. One might even call it audacious.

Pitch perfect.