Mike Pence is running on what is commonly thought to be Reagan’s platform — a strong national defense and fiscal and social conservatism. I take Tim Scott to be running primarily on what is commonly thought to be Ronald Reagan’s mood about the country. At the end of the 1970s, a time of cratering faith in American institutions and, consequently, rising doubt about American ideals, conservatives championed Reagan as a restorationist — someone who would repristinate our faith in the presidency, and in the country.

Trump played into the mood music of the 2010s in his 2016 campaign and offered to “gladly wear the mantle of anger” at America’s elites.

Fundamentally, Scott is counting on his faith in the endurance of the American dream to be contagious. In his campaign announcement, he started by saying “I’m proud to be an American.” Then he asked the crowd several times, with increasing volume and fervor, whether they were proud to be Americans. He identified “the miracle of America” with someone who “loves unconditionally,” is “tough as nails,” and “puts it all on the line.”

I think Scott is one of the more talented politicians in a given room. His race absolutely matters to his candidacy. Conservative voters have tended to give at least some serious consideration to every past black candidate for the Republican nomination. Alan Keyes made it to the final three with John McCain and George W. Bush in 2000. Herman Cain and Ben Carson both got good rides. Tim Scott will be an African-American Republican candidate with the most serious political résumé since Frederick Douglass offered himself for consideration. Black leaders and Republicans tend to bond through America’s particularly “churchly” tradition of political oration. Scott is preaching revival.

I expect black progressives to react with deeply mixed feelings about Scott’s candidacy. For most minority groups in the nation, joining the conservative cause is seen as a sign of assimilation and normalization. However, I also expect that many black progressives will accuse Scott of being used by a majority-white party to scold the majority of blacks for not singing from his catechism of faith in and appreciation of the American dream as it exists now.

To my mind his candidacy needs another gear to be serious. And unsurprisingly, I though the most effective line in Scott’s speech was his attack against “hand-ups,” focused on Biden’s student-loan scheme, which Scott portrayed as taking from mechanics and giving to grad students.