When Kamala Harris strode on stage in Chicago last night, it was clear she meant business. She was clad from top to toe in navy blue with a pussy bow blouse. Where had I seen this look before? Of course! She was presenting herself as the new Iron Lady. A woman capable on day one of assuming the presidency, dealing with Vladimir Putin and burying Donald Trump. An American Margaret Thatcher, no less.
Harris has been full of surprises in the past few weeks, but I hadn’t expected her to be wearing Thatcher’s armour. We had seen the fun Kamala at her rallies, beaming with optimism and unleashing “joy”. She was “brat”, as Charli XCX called her. But now she wanted to show her sterner side. She was Kamala Harris “for the people”, the phrase she had used all her life prosecuting felons in court, but also a compelling warrior and commander-in-chief.
Harris promised “to ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.” The Democrats snapped to attention and practically saluted her, waving their carefully orchestrated American flags. “As president, I will stand strong with Ukraine and our Nato allies,” she added. “Freedom”, the word Harris has made the watch-word of her campaign, turned out to mean more than the promise of an inclusive America, free from the destructive politics of Trump. Last night it became a patriotic rallying cry.
What a contrast the two closing speeches of the Republican and Democratic conventions presented. Trump in Milwaukee, fresh from the attempt on his life, had looked unassailable until he rambled indulgently for over an hour and a half about the “late great Hannibal Lector” and how the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wanted him to win. “I think he misses me,” he smirked.
This was a gift to Harris. “I will not cosy up to dictators like Kim Jong who are rooting for Trump,” she thundered. “They know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favours. They know Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable because he wanted to be an autocrat himself.” Mrs Thatcher would have approved of the tough new iron-plated Harris.
Admittedly, Harris has U-turned quite a lot to become the official Democratic nominee for president. She has ditched many of the left-wing policy statements she made when she stood against Joe Biden for the nomination in 2020. In Chicago she presented herself as a moderate, pragmatic centrist, with the kind of improbable backstory that is part of the toolkit of the successful modern politician. The daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian immigrant scientist mother with a “dream” to cure breast cancer was now on the verge of making history as the first woman US president.
“I promise to be a president for all Americans to hold sacred America's constitutional principles, fundamental principles, from the rule of law and fair elections to the peaceful transfer of power,” she vowed.
Where was Beyonce, after a star-studded convention that had provided us with John Legend and Stevie Wonder? The whispers that Queen Bey was in the house had been fanned by TMZ. “We got this one wrong,” the celebrity website admitted, red-faced. It was a mistake for the Harris campaign to have let the rumours get out of hand (although some cynics thought it was a great way to encourage viewers to tune in). But it was right to let Harris be the biggest star of the night.
There was an adorable moment when her two young great-nieces taught everybody how to pronounce Kamala. I hope Bill Clinton, who pronounced her name like “camel”, was watching. “First you say, ‘Kama’, like a comma in a sentence,” Amara said. “Then you say, ‘la,’ like ‘la-la-la-la’,” younger sister Leela added. At the famous balloon drop, they were bouncing with excitement all over the place. Harris has made her extended and blended family a model for modern America. If she wins, husband Doug Emhoff will become the “first gentleman” of the United States.
That big “if” still hangs over Harris. Her convention was a triumph and her speech was bold, but she is still only two points ahead of Trump in the polls. The November 5th election is going to be a squeaker. If the vote were today, Trump would probably win the electoral college. It is a sobering thought that the pollsters have consistently underestimated Trump’s vote – and he is still ahead or breaking even with her in the states that matter most, like Pennsylvania and Georgia.
August has been an exhilarating month for Democrats. They have been liberated from Biden’s cloying grasp. Freedom, indeed. “We’re not going back,” the delegates chanted. But there are two months of hard slog ahead. “I feel good,” Harris told NBC at the end of her speech. “Now on to tomorrow.”
