On the final night of the Democratic National Convention, expectations were high and rumors were flying.
Speculation about a surprise guest (Taylor Swift? Beyoncé?) turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking.
it doesn't matter.
Kamala Harris dominated it.
The vice president was always going to be the headliner of the four-day event, and Thursday night's acceptance speech was always going to be the event's grand finale.
From the moment she strode onto the stage with a vibrant smile, Harris commanded the stage with a sense of purpose and passion that was absent during her last, aimless bid for the White House.
In just over 37 minutes, Harris capped a month of remarkable fortune and political success with a powerful speech that positioned her powerfully for the final stretch of this tightly contested presidential campaign.
Our columnists Mark Z. Balabac and Anita Chhabria, who have together never been to a Swift or Beyoncé concert, managed to get over their disappointment in not seeing them and share these thoughts.
BalabacWatching the convention in advance, I made fun of the breathless hype surrounding Harris' Thursday night closing speech as the most important speech of her career, not because it wasn't true, but because it was so predictable and trite.
That being said, Was It was a crucial political moment, but Ms. Harris delivered a flawless speech. I have followed her career going back to her time as District Attorney of San Francisco and have never seen her deliver a speech as brilliant as this one.
She was strict, authoritative, and substantive—and, of course, she was fun.
What are your thoughts?
ChhabriaThere was very little to criticize in this speech. Simply put, she looked presidential, and that was exactly the point of the speech.
We've seen dozens of yelling speeches this week, a staple of rallies, meant to inspire with their energy, but on this arena stage, with a sound system built for TV, much of it sounded bombastic and just plain loud to viewers at home.
Harris took a different approach. This speech was meant to inspire people not just with the delivery but with the content. She was confident. She was calm, and above all, she was collected. This was her chance to sell herself to undecided voters, and she delivered the perfect pitch.
BalabacDemocrats' indulgent and sloppy scheduling has placed other speakers well past prime television time, when it matters most and when the largest audiences are likely to see them.
Thursday night was no problem.
A former trial prosecutor, Harris knows how to put together an argument: a strange combination of being well-known yet little-known, she had a lot of ground to cover, and she did so with clarity and forensic precision.
She told the story of her life, beginning as a young girl, outlined her career as a politician and prosecutor (leaning heavily towards her role as California's attorney general fighting crime and protecting consumers), and outlined her vision of what a Harris presidency would be.
Harris vowed that strengthening and expanding the middle class would be “the defining goal of my presidency.”
She promised to cut middle-class taxes, fight to restore abortion rights nationwide, “end America's housing shortage” (there's no magic wand in the presidency, so good luck on that score), and fix the country's broken immigration system by signing a bipartisan bill that Trump killed for political purposes.
Chhabria: But she didn't shy away from the tough issues. Gaza and the U.S. response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were underlying themes at the conference. There were protests, though not the massive, disruptive protests that many had feared or expected. She also lobbied hard, unsuccessfully, to add Palestinian speakers to the agenda.
Harris addressed the issue head-on with a clear stance.
“I will always defend Israel's right to self-defense and I will always ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the Israeli people must never again face the horror unleashed by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7,” she said.
Then she went to Gaza.
“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months has been devastating,” Harris said. “President Biden and I are working to end this war so that Israel can be secure, the hostages can be released, the suffering in Gaza can end, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.”
This part of the speech drew the loudest and longest applause. Of course, this problem won't go away with one speech, nor should it. Both Biden and Harris need to follow through on their promises.
But calling it out directly and clearly shows the kind of accountability we expect from our leaders.
She directly attacked Donald Trump. Mark, what did you think of that part of her statement?
Balabac: She blasted Trump, citing his role in inciting the Jan. 6 riot, his felony conviction for election interference and a jury finding he was responsible for sexual abuse.
“Imagine Donald Trump without the guardrails,” she said, referring to the immunity handed to Trump by a compliant Supreme Court.
But Harris left nothing to the imagination, outlining the barrage of violence that would await Trump if he were to sneak back into the Oval Office: Journalists and political opponents would be jailed, riots would break out on January 6th and the military would crack down on citizens and dissent.
A strong one.
ChhabriaWe certainly heard how Harris behaved in court, and it infuriated Trump, who was tweeting like crazy on his platform, Truth Social. What struck me was how banal Trump's counterattack was, compared to what Harris said on stage, calling her a communist and blaming her for the border.
For those all-important undecided voters, she really does offer something fresh, something Biden's candidacy didn't. Undecided voters are always a mystery because you never know if they're just not paying attention, or if they've already made up their mind and don't want to say, or if they're just operating on their own terms. But if there was ever a voter looking for a candidate with a new feel, she's it.
Besides Harris, her predecessors at the convention last night did a great job, including her nieces, who gave an adorable demonstration of how they pronounced her name (even Bill Clinton got it wrong). Comma-la. It's not hard.
Four of the five Central Park victims, now known as the “Innocent Five,” also gave powerful speeches, reminding us that Trump still believes in their guilt, decades after the real rapists and DNA evidence proved them innocent. I was struck by how many of the words Trump uses to talk about this case and the black teenagers he now uses to talk about immigrants.
But I was interested in victims and advocates of sexual abuse. Courtney BaldwinThe California resident was “trafficked and bought” through the website Backpage.com as a teenager, she said.
It was the Attorney General's Office, led by Attorney General Harris (and Deputy Attorney General Maggie Krell, who is now running for the California Assembly), that shut down the site with innovative legal strategies and relentless tenacity.
Harris is an advocate for sexual abuse victims, a part of her story that she mentions but which is still little understood: Despite the right's fears about human trafficking, she has actually sent many pimps to prison.
“She's protected people like me her whole life,” Baldwin said, “and I trust that as president she'll fight for all of us.”
Mark, was there anything else that made an impression on you?
Balabac: Let's be real: As a woman, Harris has doubts about her robustness, especially on defense and foreign policy, but Trump's oddly sycophantic stance on authoritarianism makes it easy for her to draw a sharp contrast.
She vowed to never succumb to sycophancy, like one vain former president, and said she would always ensure that America was “the strongest and most fearsome fighting force in the world.”
Putin, I'll take it on!
One of the most remarkable developments in recent years has been the reversal of political roles under Trump's Russo-phile, isolationist Republican Party: the Cold Warriors are now the Democrats.
Looking at the American flags filling the convention venue and hearing the repeated chants of “USA!” “USA!”, you'll feel as if you're at Ronald Reagan's Republican Convention.
Chhabria: Republicans love to demonize women, individually and collectively. Remember how they treated Hillary? They literally accused her of artificially maintaining her youth. Sacrificing children in a secret hideout beneath a pizza place.
No doubt Harris will see growing pressure to see her not just as a bad politician but as something sinister.
But such personal attacks can no longer be separated from collective attacks: Women generally now feel attacked on the abortion issue, and attacks on Harris feel different from attacks on Clinton.
Harris said: “You have to ask exactly why we don't trust women. We trust women. We trust women.”
Any final thoughts, Mark?
Balabac: Harris has always prepared herself to the brink, so her stellar performance was no surprise because, after all, it's a performance.
The vice president's forte is big, controlled stages like major speeches and congressional hearings.
Her departure from Chicago will see her return to a chaotic and unpredictable campaign and at least one debate with a wild and unpredictable Trump.
Who knows what crises will emerge over the next 70 days, or what gaffes Harris will make? Will her good fortune continue?
Her path from here to November remains to be seen, but she's certainly off to a good start at the convention.
That's it for our short introduction from Chicago. Thank you for joining us and please keep tuning in.
