5 Questions For: MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry, On Political Diversity And Being “Better Off” [#DNC2012]

When you look, for example, at Democratic surrogates, some of them are Congressional Black Caucus members who are in relatively safe districts, who have a long history of being the conscience of Congress and, therefore, saying what they really believe even if it’s not the party line. But the CBC now, they need them in line, because turning out the black vote for President Obama is going to be so critical. So I think part of what happens is there are some aspects of the Democratic coalition that have typically been able to be more aggressive or kind of off-message, and that’s been fine, that’s been good, that’s been part of the messiness. But in an election this tight, you have to have one messaging machine.

And at least on Monday, I think the word “stumble” is a good way to describe it–they didn’t quite have their footing. Certainly the First Lady gave an extraordinary speech last night, but it was not a policy speech. It was an amazing rally-the-base, remind-you-why-you-love-President-Obama sort of speech, but only the First Lady can carry that message. What we’re going to hear tonight from former President Clinton–and then of course from President Obama himself–will be what the actual message for the party is gonna be.

Raw Story: Like a baton relay.

Harris-Perry: It’s like a baton marathon at this point.

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