Kamala Harris Inauguration | “A President for All Americans”

(Chicago) A month and a day after announcing her intention to replace Joe Biden at the head of the Democratic ticket, Kamala Harris completed Thursday evening her lightning conquest of a revitalized party that she hopes to lead to a historic victory on November 5.

In the most anticipated speech of the Democratic convention in Chicago – and the most important of her life – the vice president formally accepted her party’s nomination as its presidential candidate and presented her personal story and political vision to a country that still knows little about her.

“America, the path that has brought me here these past few weeks has certainly been unexpected,” she said at the outset, dressed in a black pantsuit, after gently asking the crowd to let her speak and thanking Joe Biden and her husband, Doug Emhoff, with whom she was celebrating 10 years of marriage.

“But I’m no stranger to improbable journeys,” she added. “My mother, Shyamala Harris, had one herself. I miss her every day, especially today. And I know she’s looking at me tonight and smiling. My mother was 19 when she crossed the world alone, from India to California, with the unwavering dream of becoming the scientist who would cure breast cancer.”

“My mother was a brilliant, six-foot-two woman with an accent, and as the oldest, I saw how the world treated her at times, but my mother never lost her cool. She was tough, courageous, a pioneer in the fight for women’s health, and she taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle [Obama] mentioned the other night. She taught us never to complain about injustice, but to act.”

After discussing her childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area, where her father and mother introduced her to the civil rights struggle before their divorce, she discussed meeting Wanda Kagan, her best friend from Montreal, whose personal experience contributed to her career as a prosecutor.

“One day I asked her if everything was okay,” she recalled. “She told me she was being sexually abused by her stepfather. I immediately told her she had to come and live with us. And that’s what she did.”

“That’s one of the reasons I became a prosecutor. To protect people like Wanda,” she added.

A little later, she caused the crowd to burst into cheers with these words: “So, on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender or the language their grandmother spoke, on behalf of my mother and all those who have embarked on an improbable journey, on behalf of Americans, like the people I grew up with, people who work hard and chase their dreams and look out for each other, on behalf of all those whose stories can only be written in the greatest nation on earth. I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America.”

The vice president went on to define the November election as “a precious and fleeting opportunity to move beyond the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past.”

She said it was “a chance to chart a new course for the future. Not as members of a party or faction, but as Americans.”

Although she sees Donald Trump as “in many ways an unserious man,” Harris warned against the temptation to allow him to return to the White House.

“The consequences of Donald Trump returning to the White House are extremely serious,” she said. “Think of the power he will have — especially after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution.”

With 75 days to go until the presidential election, the Democratic candidate has promised to focus her economic policies on the needs of the middle class. She has notably pledged to tackle the housing crisis, cut taxes for the middle class and protect retirement and health care programs.

“We will not go back to when Donald Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare. We will not go back to when he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act,” she said, prompting the crowd to repeat, “We will not go back.”

She also accused Donald Trump of wanting to offer the richest tax cuts that will add $5 trillion to the debt and introduce a new national sales tax in the form of tariffs.

Picking up on a theme that has dominated the Democratic convention, Kamala Harris promised she would sign into law a bill guaranteeing women’s access to abortion.

“Donald Trump handpicked the members of the United States Supreme Court to take away their reproductive freedom, and now he’s bragging about it, ‘I did it, and I’m proud of it.'”

Internationally, she has called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages, while defending Israel’s right to defend itself and the Palestinians’ right to security and self-determination. She has also vowed to defend the United States against its enemies, including Iran.

“And know this: I will never hesitate to take any action necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iranian-backed terrorists,” she said. “And I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un who support Trump. Because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors.”

She ended her speech on a patriotic note.

“My fellow Americans, I love our country with all my heart. Everywhere I go, in everyone I meet, I see a nation ready to move forward. Ready to take the next step in the incredible journey that is America.

“I see an America where we hold fast to the fearless belief that built our nation. That inspired the world. That here, in this country, anything is possible. Nothing is out of reach.”