CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Late on Thursday evening, the awaited moment arrived when the Democratic presidential candidate Terrible Harris stepped onto the stage of the conference hall to give the most significant speech of his life.
Its main message was this: Harris represents the future, and the Republican candidate Donald Trump wants to drag the country back to the past.
– We are not going back – we are opening the way forward, towards the future, Harris said.
During the speech, the audience at the party meeting repeatedly erupted into the already familiar collective cry, We are not going back, we are not going back.
Harris’s speech closed the Democratic caucus, and a new phase in the presidential race now begins.
The spotlight is no longer pointed directly at the Democrats, but you have to fight for the voters’ attention.
The week of the Democratic caucus revealed how Harris’ campaign plans to win. The strategy consists of three parts: talking to the middle class, bullying Trump, and one historic change that Harris could bring to American politics.
For many Americans, Harris still is a relatively unknown politician. It would normally be a big problem this close to the election. However, the Democrats have turned this to their advantage.
Since citizens do not have a fixed image of Harris, he has been able to be presented to the public according to the needs of the campaign strategy.
Harris’s main goal is to appeal to the country’s middle class, so the election campaign emphasizes his middle-class background. In Thursday night’s speech, Harris himself talked about how his mother taught him to be careful with money in a middle-class family.
– A strong middle class has always been the guarantor of America’s success, Harris said.
– Building that middle class will be the most significant goal of my presidency.
The high cost of living is probably the most important election theme this fall. The economy is so far the only issue on which Harris has offered the voters concrete information.
In his speech, he summarized some of his policies, promising, among other things, to lower taxes on middle-income earners and to end the housing crisis that plagues the United States.
Harris aims to appeal to the middle class, because the goal of the campaign is specifically to expand the Democrats’ base of supporters from the middle.
It was also visible when Harris spoke about foreign policy.
Speaking about the war Israel is waging, Harris said that as president he intends to make sure that Israel is able to defend itself. But he added that Palestinians must also have the right to peace and security.
Harris’s comments are hardly enough for protesters demanding an end to Israel’s armaments, but they appeal to the vast majority of Americans.
The campaign is also trying to seduce middle-line Republicans. It involves the second part of the Democrats’ campaign strategy, Trump’s bullshit.
Harris’s campaign aims to create as much as possible a clear contrast between Harris and Trump.
In his speech, Harris portrayed himself as a staunch defender of democracy and citizens, and Trump as a frivolous man whose goals are serious and dangerous for the entire nation.
The campaign also tries to create a contrast in the images associated with the candidates. The Democratic campaign portrays Harris as a warm person who is proud of his country. At the same time, they are trying to frame Trump as angry, selfish and cruel.
The angrier Trump is, the easier it is to succeed in this goal, and the Democrats seem to know it.
While Harris focused on the issue message, his supporters’ vice presidential candidate From Tim Walz to the former president To Barack Obama are trying to get on Trump’s nerves.
In his own speech on Wednesday, Walz repeated the message that Trump and his vice presidential candidate JD Vance are strange people. Obama, on the other hand, mentioned Trump’s “strange obsession with the size of audiences” in his speech, but used a hand gesture with a sexual hidden message when talking about size.
When Trump gets angry, he often falls into insults and does not focus on his own political message. Then it’s easy for Harris to present himself as a more presidential option.
Perhaps the most important of Harris’s campaign however, the task is to represent change. Opinion polls show that this is exactly what the voters are thirsty for.
Harris is part of the current administration, so appearing as a candidate for change can be considered quite a hat trick. All the political policies mentioned in his speech are a direct continuation of Biden’s policy.
Harris may still succeed in representing change, for one obvious reason.
On Thursday, Harris stepped on stage wearing an all-black outfit. He spoke to an audience filled with women dressed in white.
Wearing white symbolizes women’s fight for the right to vote.
During her campaign, Harris has never emphasized that if she wins, she will be the first female president in US history. First of all, because identity politics does not win over the middle class. Second, because he doesn’t have to – everyone knows it.
After the week of party meetings, Democratic activists are even more ready to fight for historic change.
The biggest question is whether there is enough time. There are now 73 days until the election.
What do you think of Kamala Harris’ political line?