Speech by Kamala Harris: What was the verdict on what she did?

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The stakes could not have been higher for Kamala Harris, as she made history by formally accepting the Democratic vice presidential nomination. How did she do it?

Only three women have ever made it to the top spot for a big party, and none have made it to the White House.

The Californian senator, who spoke in a nearly empty auditorium in Delaware, is also the first African American and Asian American to be nominated.

We asked voters and experts to rate its performance.

‘She moved me but I’m still not sold’

Peyton Forte, 21 – graduate, North Carolina A&T State University

Before her big speech, this young Democrat and first-time voter hadn’t been influenced by Harris.

“I think we’re kind of carried away by the ‘firsts’, especially as black people, by the ‘first this’ and the ‘first that’, it’s just seen as a gigantic step,” he said. she told the BBC last week. “But are you fighting for some of the values ​​held by the black community?”

But the 21-year-old says she was moved by Harris’ speech to convention.

“Kamala’s speech was particularly moving for me because she spent less time attacking President Trump and more time championing her cause as a leader under the Biden administration. She exuded a confidence that made you feel like she was speaking as the current vice president. “

But Forte is still not fully sold by the former prosecutor.

“If I had one review, this would be the part where she claimed we could end this pandemic under the leadership of Joe Biden. Of course, its response to the coronavirus would likely be much better than that of the current administration. However, leadership change alone will not eliminate this pandemic. “

“ She did a very good job ”

KJ Kearney, environmental justice advocate, S Carolina

If I had to rate it I would give it an 8/10.

One of the things I liked about what she did was she yelled at everyone: HBCU [historically black colleges], AKA [an African American sorority], the Divine 9 [nine historically black fraternities and sororities], her Indian heritage, her Jamaican heritage, her white husband. She didn’t fear any of that.

So I’m glad she’s been very straightforward about who she is and everything that makes her who she is. And she stood up for Joe – it’s her job and I think that’s what people are looking for her to be.

I mean, over the next 76 days, they’re going to need her to bring home the Democratic Party messages and help iron out any difficulties Joe might have on the trail when he and Trump get into a fight.

But as for her first appearance as a Democratic vice presidential candidate, I think she did a very good job.

“ He lacked policy ”

Debra J Saunders covers the White House and writes an opinion column for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She used to report Harris in California.

Kamala Harris’ brief acceptance speech was like a leak in the place of a wedding. Held in a makeshift scene at a Delaware hotel instead of the Wisconsin Center where the Democratic National Convention is supposed to be located, the venue provided six American flags and a podium for Harris, who had neither an audience nor the energy to brighten up the moment.

Blame him on the pandemic. Harris, a former San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General who I’ve covered over the years, was down when she should have been electrically charged.

This is a speech written by an efficiency expert. Or worse, a committee of efficiency experts, who wanted to tick the boxes and quickly.

There was little political discussion. Rather than talk at length about the coronavirus and racism, Harris merged the two “There is no vaccine against racism,” she said. And who can dispute that?

While running mates are meant to be pit bulls against the opposition, Harris obediently cited three things she didn’t like about President Donald Trump – “constant chaos,” “incompetence and” callousness. ” No one would argue. But there was no sound bite intended to lead in the news. No great rhetorical moment.

Everyone had already said that Joe could bring the country together. She said it too.

Harris is not afraid to attack. She’s not afraid to be direct. I can only guess that she is trying to do her job because the campaign wants her to do it. But the campaign has no idea. And Harris, usually sharp, looked so too.

‘A mixed response from India’

Kamala Harris reportedly opened up about her biracial roots at the start of her 20-minute speech.

She said she stood on “the shoulders of my mother,” who came from India when she was 19 to study in the United States, fell in love with a Jamaican-born student and tirelessly raised his two children. She “raised us to be proud and strong black women and to be proud of our Indian heritage.”

Ms Harris mostly reiterated what she already said in her 2018 memoir – her mother instills values ​​about the importance of family and its connection to her extended family in India, including her uncle and an aunt she calls “Chitti” or younger mother. .

The Indians were mixed in their response to Ms Harris’ ticket.

Supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are ambivalent, in part because of Ms. Harris’ criticism of her decision to revoke Kashmir’s autonomy and her Foreign Secretary’s refusal to meet with a congresswoman who criticized the same decision .

And although Indo-Americans have historically voted Democrats to be pro-immigration, President Trump is considered a friend of India and of Mr. Modi. It will be interesting to see the support Ms. Harris can garner from Indo-American voters in these polarized times.

‘Comes with smile and warmth’

Kamala Harris has once been in the limelight. She spoke to a crowd of over 20,000 when she launched her presidential campaign in January 2019. She had some viral moments as she keenly questioned Supreme Court justices and Trump-appointed leaders. She made waves when she criticized Joe Biden for opposing school desegregation in the first Democratic debate.

This, however, was his greatest moment so far.

The now official Democratic runner-up for vice-president also had an added challenge on Wednesday night, having to directly follow Obama, the party’s most beloved and rhetorical politician.

What Harris offered was a bit of an amalgamation – an amalgamation sometimes connected and sometimes complicated. It was, in part, a biographical introduction, a sales pitch for Biden, and – most notably – a frontal attack on structural racism.

“There is no vaccine against racism,” she said in what will probably be her most quoted line. “We have to do the job.”

Although she has been attacked by some on the left because of her background as a prosecutor, Harris has tried to turn that into a benefit for the general election public, speaking of how she always tries to fight for the justice.

“I know a predator when I see one,” she said at one point, pausing long enough for her fellow Democrats to fill in the blanks.

His speech was delivered with smiles and warmth, but it took place in a rather haunting environment – a hall built to replicate a party convention hall, with signs for each state delegation, but without them. cheering crowds.

It all had a slightly post-apocalyptic feeling, which, with the vacant classrooms that Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Jill Biden spoke about early on, suggests that the emptiness of the current pandemic-stricken nation is a feeling Democrats want to highlight – and Trump’s Feet.