A Sigh of Relief

Listening to Kamala Harris' acceptance speech tonight (and of course Joe Biden's introduction) a little of the weight that descended like an ever present millstone when the orange buffoon was elected was lifted very slightly. She was direct, heartwarming and feisty, and provided a ray of hope that for perhaps the next twelve years we'll have someone decent in the White House.

It was beautifully crafted, truly I think, a speech for the ages. Linking her working relationship to Beau Biden back to his father was elegantly done and created a vicarious link between herself and the former Veep. It also creates a neat way for her to talk about Joe Biden, the tragedy of his loss, his fortitude and his commitment to his children; in short his character.

The next artful segue was the transition from Joe, to Jill Biden, to her family and her favorite title "Mamala".  That put here squarely into the suburban mum's demographic.  And then a smooth transition from herself as a parent to her parents, touching on her parents status as immigrants, her Black and Asian heritage, and her upbringing amidst the protest movement of the 1960s.

Then a stunning turn of phrase, when she recounted her first court appearance for the prosecution: "Kamala Harris, for the people". She turned an almost throw-away phrase that as a Law and Order (the TV series) fan one hears almost every episode, into something deeply meaningful that also insulates her from the criticism she will likely get from the left about her role as San Francisco's DA and then California's AG.

Next, she brought the flow neatly back to Trump and Pence with "let me tell you. as somebody who has presented my fair share of arguments in court, the case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut".  Then she then laid out the argument, in withering clarity, beginning with the facts, the number of deaths, tempered with a human angle to the tragedy of so many people dying in isolation from their families.  Drawing a parallel to Ebola, she painted a clear contrast between Trump and Pence and Obama and Biden, providing evidence for her assertion that "it didn't have to be this way", which otherwise might have been seen as an untestable hypothesis.  She laid out how poorly the US had handled the crisis compared to other countries, highlighting Trump's failure to lead and connecting the consequences of his lack of action to the difficulties of many Americans.

Without a pause she was able to make the case on the economy too; noting that Obama and Biden has presided over a sustained period of job growth and economic resurgence after the financial crisis, she noted that "like everything else he inherited, he ran it straight into the ground".  In one line she painted Trump as a spoiled rich kid who squandered the life his father had bequeathed him. While perhaps a tad hyperbolic, it was beautifully done. And invoking John Lewis and voting rights, just before the election, was also smart given the GOP's efforts to disenfranchise Democratic voters, to make voting more difficult for the less well off.

She came across as passionate, and a somewhat awed by the responsibility that had been handed to her. It was a wonderfully crafted speech.

For me, this is what intelligent leadership looks like, and I couldn't be happier. After almost four years of daily "surely it can't get any worse?" and then it does, I begin to recognize the country I so admired when Barack Obama was elected.  Kamala's America, Barack Obama's America, that's the country I wanted to live in.