The whole world will be watching, once again.
In 1968, political guru Don Rose first coined that phrase. The world watched as the Democratic National Convention became a tornado in a bathtub, with blood on the streets and chaos in the convention hall.
The four-day extravaganza, the 2024 Democratic National Convention, is kicking off once again in Chicago.
By this time next week, will the city be pleased with the political festivities, or slack-jawed at the sight of a political calamity?
There are hopeful signs for the former. As the Democrats have rolled into town, former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have been on the political back foot.
The GOP is seriously out of step with the cadence of an electorate looking for change. Trump has morphed from a robust behemoth to a doddering elephant who pats himself on the back for being able to walk up a flight of stairs. The Republican presidential nominee is running a Rose Garden strategy, and he’s not even in the White House.
Yet, there are risks and perils ahead for Chicago and its coveted status as a leading “blue” city.
Back in ’68, the convention venue was the now-demolished International Amphitheatre; today, the United Center. Mayor Richard J. “Boss” Daley headed Chicago’s Democratic Party machine then; now, Brandon Johnson, one of the nation’s most progressive big-city mayors, is in charge. Gov. JB Pritzker has taken the place of then-Illinois Gov. Sam Shapiro.
This convention arrives with much at stake. Pritzker and Johnson have a lot to gain — and even more to lose. Their political futures hinge on the outcome.
The whole world, including millions of hopeful Democrats and undecided swing voters, will be closely eyeing the proceedings.
There are warning signs.
The ghosts of 1968 will hover over the planned protests, platform machinations and speeches. Downtown business owners are boarding up their windows and doors for fear of rampaging looters. Companies are telling their employees to work from home. The Chicago Police Department has mounted an array of officer training to manage protests, hostage situations and high-tech disasters. The police may be all-hands-on-deck in the central city, but will Chicago’s most vulnerable neighborhoods get the protection they need?
The protesters are promising to disrupt the Democrats’ hopes for kumbaya harmonies in the convention hall. A consortium of more than 200 interest groups are promising massive demonstrations, determined to make their angst and anger heard. Lurking among them are sure to be anarchists and other bad actors hell-bent on mayhem.
When Johnson was elected mayor last year, he made national headlines as the left-leaning chief executive of the nation’s third largest city. Now, he must ensure law and order in his convention town while standing tall with his compadres who will be in the streets raising hell. The Johnson administration’s slow-motion start has fielded doubts that he is up to that task. There are also questions about who’s in charge, versus who can execute. Pritzker’s allies worry that Chicago’s rookie mayor will drop the ball, but they can’t big-foot Johnson’s role as host. All that has created tensions between the Pritzker and Johnson camps.
Johnson should also be staying up all night worrying about his embattled CTA. Despite the avalanche of problems battering the city’s massive transit system, Johnson has steadfastly defended the beleaguered CTA president, Dorval Carter Jr. This week, the transit system will have to contend with roadblocks, closures and detours from McCormick Place to downtown to the United Center. The CTA will help ferry the 50,000-plus delegates, politicians, big shots, media and protesters who will blanket the city this week. Not to mention tend to its main job, to serve the hundreds of thousands who depend on the CTA every day.
Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, Chicago’s transit system has been plagued by dysfunction and disarray. If the trains and buses didn’t run on time before now, will they run at all this week?
Pritzker will have a speaking role at the convention, allowing him to showcase his status as a top Democratic governor and his “Think Big” agenda that focuses on protecting reproductive rights.
Pritzker has branded himself as the guy who gets things done, with his handy billions in tow to help things along. The second-term governor is counting on a bang-up convention to boost his presidential ambitions. If chaos erupts, his future political plans will stop dead in their well-worn tracks.
A triumphant convention could banish the denigrating stereotypes and phony narratives that Trump and his right-wing cronies have been peddling for years.
As the world watches, will DNC 2024 be another nail in Trump’s coffin or a millstone around the necks of Chicago and the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign?
Laura Washington is a political commentator and longtime Chicago journalist. Her columns appear in the Tribune each Monday. Write to her at LauraLauraWashington@gmail.com.
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