US Vice President Kamala Harris presented herself to Americans on Thursday as the only option to a “limitless” Donald Trump and promised a “new way forward” as she accepted the nomination at the Democratic convention that makes her the first woman of African-American and Indian origins to run for president of the country.
“On behalf of all whose stories can only be written in this great nation, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States,” she said, capping a turbulent two months for Democrats that began with a dismal showing by an aging President Joe Biden at the June 27 presidential debate.
Harris appeared before thousands of Democratic Party delegates at the Chicago Bulls stadium during prime time, with television cameras across the country watching a speech in which she portrayed herself as a “realistic, practical and common-sense” leader.
The Democratic candidate raised the crowd at this political conclave with a cry of “we are not going back,” referring to the only term that Donald Trump has spent in the White House between 2017 and 2021 and which he now wants to repeat with a new electoral victory.
“We know what a second Trump term would look like,” Harris told her Republican opponent, adding: “The sum total of power would take the country back to the past, but we are not going back.”
Harris stressed that this election is “one of the most important in the life of the United States” and said that “Trump is not a serious man, but the consequences of his return to the White House would be very serious.” “Now he has been found guilty of a new set of crimes, he has been found guilty of fraud and sexual abuse,” she recalled, and then asked: “What would he do if we gave him power again?”
“We know what a second Trump term would look like: the sum total of power would take the country back to the past, but we are not going back,” Harris warned.
The same candidate gave the answer about what Trump would do if he were to become president again. “Consider his explicit intention to release violent police officers who attacked police officers at the Capitol, his explicit intention to cancel journalists, political opponents and anyone he sees as an enemy; consider his explicit intention to unleash our military against citizens, consider the power he will have especially after the Supreme Court ruled that he will be immune from criminal prosecution.”
“Imagine a Donald Trump without limits and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States, not to improve your lives, not to strengthen our nation, but to serve his only client: himself,” he said.
Regarding President Joe Biden, who cleared the way for her by renouncing re-election, supporting her candidacy and leaving her with a campaign with full coffers, Harris said she will be “eternally grateful.” “When I think about the journey we have taken together, I am filled with gratitude. Joe, your record is extraordinary, as history will show. Your character is inspiring,” she added.
Kamala Harris’s path
“The United States, the path that brought me here a few weeks ago has certainly been unexpected. But I am no stranger to improbable journeys,” said Harris, who recalled the migrant past of her mother, Shyamala Harris, who “traveled from India to California with an unwavering dream of being a scientist who would cure breast cancer.”
Harris presented herself to Americans as a middle-class woman who learned “not to be afraid” and who was always told by her mother, when she complained about an injustice, to stand up and do something, a mantra recalled by Michelle Obama in a speech this week at the Democratic convention.
Her inspiration to become a prosecutor, her first step into a political life, was the story of a classmate who was abused by her stepfather and whom she took into her home. In her career she concluded that the important thing “is not to represent the victim, but the people, because harm to one is harm to all.”
Campaign promises
Harris promised tax cuts for the middle class, to work on legislation to restore abortion protections, to revive a bipartisan border bill that restricted asylum access, supported by Biden, and to continue investing in defense to have “the greatest lethal force in the world.”
The Democratic candidate, who was supported by a group of women in positions of power dressed in white in tribute to the voters, closed her speech with the traditional shower of confetti and more than 100,000 balloons that fell from the stadium roof.
The soundtrack to this historic moment was the song ‘Freedom’ by Beyonce, whose presence was rumoured throughout the convention and who was replaced during these four days by talents such as Stevie Wonder, John Legend and Pink.
