Alan Zendell, July 31, 2024

Last evening, Kamala Harris held her first campaign rally. She selected Atlanta, a great choice. Atlanta is where the bulk of Georgia’s Democrats live. It’s also where a large concentration of non-white voters live, both critical to keeping Georgia in play in November.

She was brilliant! There’s no other way to describe her performance. She can work a crowd as well as Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama, although she adds a woman’s touch, which in a campaign against Donald Trump will make her even more effective. Her rapport with the crowd was seamless. The rhythm and flow in the hall were palpable.

She is damn good at this, so good that she vindicates Joe Biden’s decision to leave the race. Even those of us who love Joe could feel the difference and relish it. Harris is twenty-two years younger than Biden, and last night she was clearly representing an entirely different generation. It should be interesting to see if Trump, at 78 and not in the best of health, can match her energy for three months. Her mood and demeanor were infectious, and she not only grabbed the attention of her audience, but quickly had them responding in a back-and-forth interaction like an old-time preacher.

The contrast with Biden was stark and immediate. Where Biden had much of his audiences on edge, hoping he wouldn’t stumble or appear flustered, Harris seemed to be enjoying herself. She smiled constantly and never missed a beat. It was only one sixteen-minute speech, but it set the tone for the campaign. She is in her element in front of a crowd, and while Donald Trump can work a crowd masterfully as well, he does it by riffing and rambling and sounding incoherent much of the time, and there is rarely anything of substance in his rants. He’s just there to stoke up his base.

Harris, on the other hand, intends to broaden her base, and showed that she has no need for a teleprompter. She speaks as coherently as a law professor. She speaks in whole, grammatical, English sentences, something we rarely hear from Trump. And instead of constantly throwing out random barbs and insults, she faced her opponent, speaking directly to him. She taunted him for backing out of the September debate and challenged him directly, woman to man. “He and his running mate seem to have a lot to say about me….Well, Donald, [crowd erupts and cheers] I do hope you’ll reconsider and meet me on the debate stage. And as the saying goes, if you have something to say, SAY IT TO MY FACE.”

It wasn’t just what she said, though. The expression on her face was joyful. She was laughing as she said it, and the message was, “I’m not afraid of you. I’ll go head-to-head with you on any stage any time.” That message of strength and confidence, and the response of almost everyone who watched her speech, has to have Trump quaking today. We know how desperate he is to always appear strong, but Harris made a mockery of that idea, essentially laughing in Trump’s face on national television. And she was kind of laughing at herself, too. What she said was deadly serious, but the image of a dark-skinned, eloquent woman thoroughly enjoying herself at Trump’s expense was priceless.

Harris also demonstrated her prosecutorial skills. She addressed Trump the same way she used to talk to convicted criminals in her courtroom. She held him accountable for every bad act he has committed, from sexual assault to business fraud, from attacking voting rights, to staging an insurrection. Her voice was strong and resonated throughout the hall in a way that Hillary Clinton’s never could during her campaign. Harris showed that she’s ready to take on Trump and the world, not to mention making history as our first female president.

But Harris wasn’t only about taking on Trump, last night. In a relatively brief speech she talked policy, too. She addressed the border bill that met almost all the Republicans’ demands, but was scuttled by Trump’s allies in Congress because they thought that would give him a edge in the election. She pledged to sign it as soon as Congress passed it, acknowledging that Presidents are not all-powerful in our system. She talked about the economy in terms average people could relate to, noting the Biden administration’s accomplishments, while acknowledging that prices are still much too high and saying exactly what she intends to do to lower them. And she reiterated the Biden message that the country is only as strong and prosperous as its middle class.

In less than two weeks, Harris showed the world that she’s ready and able to step up to serve as the President of the United States. This is her moment, and more important, this is our moment and the country’s moment.