While recognizing the necessity of the ongoing and incoming thrilling and exhaustive analysis about the 2024 presidential contest and why it ended the way it did, what went wrong or right, who was or was not to blame, who did or didn’t do this or that, the crises and disasters of everyone’s pressing personalized post mortem, I would like to very humbly thank Kamala Harris for running for President of our great country and distinguishing herself – in my judgment – as a courageous leader.

Vice President Harris delivered in many significant ways on the trail, from her rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention, to her lawyerly and expert prosecution of her opponent in their single debate, to her genuine efforts to connect with voters in the great City of Brotherly Love and elsewhere.

She made the hard decisions, maybe not all of them the most politically pragmatic. But she ran the hard race. I believe she gave of herself with a true fighter’s pride, with honor, and that her belief in America shone through in her words and deeds.

I am proud that this American woman from my generation, Gen X – finely trained and educated and with real demonstrable character and deep civilizing formation – stepped into the breach as she did and made what I believe to have been an exemplary and urgent case for the country.

I do not claim membership in either party, mostly because I cherish the value of independence, and am fixated on the precision of our language in a way that prevents me from committing to what I hear as the confining preconditions of party-speak. In addition, I learned a long time ago as a beat reporter in Wyoming to serve the readers, not a party. But I respect the real leaders in both parties and the people who see them as the imperfect vehicles for political endeavor.

In this case, with the stakes of the ideals of our beloved nation clear to me, and deficiencies admittedly rampant on both sides as we painfully do less than fully strive to realize those ideals for everyone, I saw Vice President Harris as a strong choice for the White House. In her short time on the trail, she proved a worthy leader, prepared, hard-nosed, and hard-working, with a real sense of the law at the core of our brilliant system of government and an exacting prosecutorial toughness. I want to thank her for running, and for representing my generation with dignity, decency, and grace, a blessing, I think, within the ongoing blessing that it is to wake up in this world as an American. Vox Populi. Vox Dei.