Wow.
We could expend thousands of words trying to capture what occurred in Chicago this week, and I hope to add more in-depth thoughts in the days ahead.
But for now, what can one say after Kamala Harris’ breathtaking capstone oratory accepting her party’s nomination for president other than “Wow”?
Watching her poise, power, passion, and patriotism on display, it was almost as if this was a Hollywood version of the latest twist in a dramatic political thriller, except this isn’t fiction and the results of the election will have profound global consequences. Here was the leader, rising to the moment, accepting the mantle of leadership she was obviously prepared to own.
It was in tone and substance the perfect end to a convention that marshaled countless voices from every corner of America with one central theme in mind: The United States is a great country, and one Donald Trump, with his mean-spiritedness, weakness, corruption, and ego-driven autocratic ambition, has no business leading.
Looking back at what we have faced in recent years, it’s almost impossible to believe what we have been forced to endure as reality. The tectonic shifts that promoted Harris to this moment are so improbable that we know we have unpredictability before us.
Where this race will go is hard to predict. But one can feel a rolling thundercloud of energy pulsating from the Windy City across the country. Not only is a party unified, but it brims with confidence that it represents the majority of this country, which so desperately wants decency, the rule of law, and justice.
Vice President Harris is not running as a woman, a person of color, a daughter of immigrants, or even a Democrat, even though she embraces all of these identities. She is running as an American in service to a country she loves and understands is the only place on Earth where her remarkable journey is possible.
To all the naysayers complaining about a lack of specifics or policy details, what can be more consequential than wresting this nation from a divisive cancer that would destroy all that makes it special?
Harris’ rhetoric was exceptional because it was quintessentially American. What a stark contrast to the dystopian hellscape promoted by Trump, who foments chaos and division, sells out our allies, and eagerly bends the knee to foreign despots.
Harris’ words capture the spirit of this nation, with all the complexity and hope it entails. What a contrast to the meandering grievance-driven drivel we heard from the other candidate at his moment in Milwaukee.
I closed my eyes for a stretch of Harris’ speech just to let her voice resonate. I heard someone who, even though she may look different from anyone else who has ever held the office she seeks, made it very clear to this country and the world that she undoubtedly has the bearing, character, and fierceness of a president.
Now it is our turn, to get her across the finish line.
YES she can, Yes America can.........hoping down here in NZ for America, maybe the rebirth of the dream, the hope and experiment of America, but this time without the ra ra and a heart. I truly hope that, a reflective movement and administration...........not the same old smae old that has got us here, and is worn out. I say us, because maybe not as much as Americans think, the world, the one out there beyond the world series..............that world is better with a better America. And if we dare to be honest, what we see with tRump and Maga as the ugly side that has always been there.............what we see with Harris/Walz is the reformation, the revolution for a new America perhaps..........joy, vision, the best kind of patriotism (not the blind kind), hope and kindness................for you America, I want that, and for the world........I want that. Please do it.