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The Democratic Party has been criticized for moving too far to the left on social issues.
Its leaders, at times, use academic jargon instead of talking like most people talk. (Words like Latinx and BIPOC haven’t helped.)
Vice President Kamala Harris has been guilty of this, giving a sometimes confusing explanation of the difference between equality and equity, for instance.
But in her widely praised, 35-minute acceptance speech Thursday, Harris dispensed with all of that in a bid to claim the center.
What was notable was what wasn’t in it, or was mentioned so briefly it was easy to miss.
Joe Biden
The president was mentioned 10 seconds into the speech. Harris thanked him for his service.
Biden wasn't spoken of again by Harris, except for a mention of how she and the president are trying to bring a ceasefire to Gaza.
Black Lives Matter/Racial Justice
Harris was not going to say “Black Lives Matter.” But the entire speech avoided one of the most important issues to the Democratic base, four years after the George Floyd protests.
The speech did not include the words “African American” or “Black” and did not mention she would be the second Black president the country has had.
There were just two brief references to race.
She mentioned that her mother was “a brilliant, 5-foot-tall brown woman with an accent.”
She also accepted the nomination on behalf “of every American, regardless of party, race, gender or the language your grandmother speaks … on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America.”
LGBT+ Rights
This is another key Democratic issue that may not be a winner for swing voters in, say, North Carolina and Arizona.
Harris technically checked this box, but with the lightest pencil mark.
As mentioned earlier, she accepted the nomination on behalf of everyone, “regardless of party race, gender or the language of your grandmother.”
Later in the speech, she said the election was about “fundamental freedoms” being at stake.
One of those: “The freedom to love who you love openly and with pride.”
Biden mentioned the transgender community specifically in his 2020 acceptance speech. Harris did not.
Climate Change
This was technically covered, though it would have been easy to miss.
In the same stanza about freedoms, Harris said we should have “the freedom to breathe clean air, and drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis.”
Words that did not appear in the speech: Warming. Solar. Wind. Electric vehicle. Fracking.
Guns
Early in her speech, Harris said as California attorney general she “fought against the cartels who traffic in guns and drugs and human beings.”
She later said we have “the freedom to live safe from gun violence in our schools, communities and places of worship.”
No mention of gun control, assault rifle, military weapon — though other speakers such as Gabrielle Giffords hit on those themes in emotional speeches a couple hours before.
Hillary Clinton said “guns” 10 times in her 2016 acceptance speech.
Glass Ceiling
Clinton made being the first woman president a key theme in her acceptance speech in 2016.
“Tonight, we’ve reached a milestone in our nation’s march toward a more perfect union: the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for President,” Clinton said.
“Standing here as my mother’s daughter, and my daughter’s mother, I’m so happy this day has come. Happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between.
“Happy for boys and men, too – because when any barrier falls in America, for anyone, it clears the way for everyone. When there are no ceilings, the sky’s the limit.
“So let’s keep going, until every one of the 161 million women and girls across America has the opportunity she deserves.”
Clinton said “woman” or “girl” nine times in her speech. Harris said “woman” one time, in reference to her mother.
What it means
Listing these is not a criticism of her speech — it’s an acknowledgment that Harris and her team saw the need to remake her image quickly.
And her speech did lean into issues that are winners for Democrats, such as abortion.
She said that word four times. And she talked a lot about it:
“But tonight, in America, too many women are not able to make those decisions. And let’s be clear about how we got here: Donald Trump handpicked members of the U.S. Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom. And now, he brags about it.
“In his words, ‘I did it, and I’m proud to have done it.’
“Well, I will tell you, over the past two years, I’ve traveled across our country, and women have told me their stories. Husbands and fathers have shared theirs. Stories of women miscarrying in a parking lot, developing sepsis, losing the ability to ever again have children, all because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients. Couples just trying to grow their family, cut off in the middle of IVF treatments.”
I spent most of the speech listening to what wasn’t said.
One word did jump out, however.
Lethal.
“As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world,” Harris said.
It could apply to her speech as well.
