Jubilant Kamala Harris makes the choice clear: freedom or chaos

Chicago: She walked out wearing a dark navy suit and took her place on the stage to the sounds of Beyoncé’s powerful campaign anthem, Freedom.

Across the packed arena, the jubilant crowd chanted her name, many dressed in white – the universal colour of female empowerment – while many others were visibly overcome with emotion.

And on the other side of the country was Donald Trump, still coming to terms with the fact the political landscape he dominated so recently has been so swiftly upended.

“Thank you, thank you”: Kamala Harris receives a rapturous welcome to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.Credit: AP

In one of the most important speeches of her political life, Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, making history as the first black and south Asian woman to do so.

Over 40 minutes, she introduced herself to voters and framed the stakes of an election she described as “not only the most important of our lives”, but also “one of the most important in the life of our nation”.

“Our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past,” she said, casting herself as someone who can bring a fiercely fractured nation together.

“I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations. A president who leads – and listens. Who is realistic, practical, and has common sense. And always fights for the American people.”

Inspiration: Amara Ajagu takes in Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, on the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago.Credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Harris accomplished everything she wanted to in her speech, sounding increasingly presidential as the minutes passed. But what matters most is not what the die-hard Democrats at the party’s national convention think, but the doubters, the disengaged and those disinclined to vote at all.

The 59-year-old presidential candidate and her running mate, Tim Walz, now face a 75-day sprint to election day, marking the final stretch of an extraordinary campaign that polls suggest is still anyone’s to lose.

Sure, she has raised a record-breaking $US500 million ($743 million) in a month and leads Trump 46.6 per cent to 43.8 per cent at a national level, according to a compilation of polls by FiveThirtyEight.

Kamala Harris and husband Douglas Emhoff with Tim Walz and wife Gwen Walz.Credit: AP

But the often-scripted Harris has not yet done a press conference or a one-on-one interview since taking over from incumbent Joe Biden as presidential hopeful, and her first debate against Trump is still to come. It is scheduled for September 10 after early voting begins in crucial battlegrounds such as North Carolina.

As Michelle Obama warned in her blistering speech on day two of the convention, in some states, “a handful of votes in every precinct could decide the winner”.

While “hope is making a comeback”, it doesn’t guarantee the Oval Office.

Nonetheless, Harris’ acceptance speech hit most of the right notes.

She told the American people about her middle-class upbringing as the daughter of a Jamaican father who would often tell her, “Run Kamala, run … don’t let anything stop you”, and an Indian mother who taught her not to complain about injustice but rather “do something about it.”

“My mother had another lesson she used to teach: never let anyone tell you who you are. You show them who you are,” she said.

She eviscerated her Republican rival, branding him as someone who would pardon violent extremists, abandon global allies, and “jail journalists and anyone he sees as the enemy”.

“Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States – not to improve your life, not to strengthen national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.”

And she framed the contest as a study in contrasts. She’s a prosecutor, he’s a convicted felon. She wants to unite, he wants to divide. She fights for the vulnerable, he fights for himself. She wants freedom, he wants control.

But Harris’ most powerful moment arguably came when she addressed what had become the most challenging issue the Biden-Harris administration faced: Israel’s war in Gaza.

Pink and her daughter Willow (left), perform on the last day of a star-studded Democratic National Convention.Credit: AP

As protesters marched in the streets outside the convention centre, she sought a middle ground. She reiterated that Israel had the right to defend itself, and vowed that she would ensure the state never again had to face “the horror that a terrorist organisation called Hamas caused on October 7”.

But she also said that “what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating”. She wanted to see their suffering end so that “the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”.

It was easily the most forceful Harris has been on the issue, and as her speech went on, the “joyful warrior” became increasingly sombre and serious, asserting the very characteristic that Trump values most: strength.

“As commander-in-chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world,” she said as the crowd erupted into cheers and chants of “USA! USA!”

But while Harris has pitched herself as an agent of change and someone who could give voters a “new way forward”, it remains to be seen how much change there will actually be.

After all, the vice president is still part of the current administration. She has so far surrounded herself with many former aides to Biden, and most of her plans seem to simply build on the agenda she has spent the past four years advocating with the president.

In terms of economic policy, “building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency”, she said, just as it was Biden’s.

Harris arrives to speak on the final day of the Democratic National Convention. Credit: AP

On immigration, she wants to reinstate the border bill that Republicans torpedoed at Trump’s behest, just as Biden vowed to do.

And on abortion, she wants to codify Roe v Wade into federal law, which was a central plank of Biden’s second-term agenda.

Whatever the case, the four-day Democratic National Convention marked a shift for Harris after years of poor approval ratings, relentless Republican attacks over her policy performance and scepticism within her own party about whether the second in line to the presidency had what it takes.

Indeed, even a few weeks ago, when it was clear that Biden’s days were numbered, Democrats such as former House speaker Nancy Pelosi initially suggested there should be an open process to find a replacement for the president; others argued, albeit privately, for a mini-primary so as not to “risk” Harris getting the nomination by default.

Now, they have rallied behind her, convinced that she is the best person to take on Trump.

“The path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected,” Harris acknowledged. “But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys.”

This unlikely journey could end up making history in the White House.

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