Kamala Harris Pledges a Thoroughly American Future

The vice president made her closing argument before a massive crowd in the place where Donald Trump sought to overthrow our government

Kamala Harris delivers her closing argument. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis via Getty Images)

On Jan. 6, 2021, Donald Trump used the Ellipse near the White House to incite his followers and activate a deadly insurrection to deny the people’s choice of Joe Biden as president. The Ellipse has been sadly associated with that terrible day.

Well, Kamala Harris returned to the scene of that crime Tuesday night—seven days before the most significant election of our lifetimes—to make her campaign’s closing argument and remake that space. Before a crowd estimated to exceed 75,000 and with the backdrop of an elegantly lit White House behind her, the vice president combined soaring idealism about democracy and the country she loves with razor-sharp assessments of her dictator wannabe opponent and practical promises of how she will govern to get things done.

Soon we may remember the Ellipse as the place where the first female president delivered a vivid articulation of her vision for the future. This was not primarily a speech for Democrats—or, for that matter, Trumpist Republicans—whose minds are made up, but rather a speech to close the deal with voters that may still be deciding who to vote for or whether to vote at all.

Here’s how she described this chosen setting and her rival. Donald Trump, she began, “is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election and an election that he knew he lost... And while Donald Trump sat in the White House watching as the violence unfolded on television, he was told by his staff that the mob wanted to kill his own vice president president and Donald Trump responded with two words: ‘So what.’ America, that's who Donald Trump is and that's who is asking you to give him another four years in the Oval Office.”

Her opponent, she said, “is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power. Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is. But America, I am here tonight to say that is not who we are.”

The latin words e pluribus unum, found on a dollar bill and meaning “out of many, one,” she said, “is a living truth about the heart of our nation. Our democracy doesn't require us to agree on everything. In fact, we like good arguments from time to time.” But “as Americans, we rise and fall together. America, for too long we have been consumed with too much division, chaos and mutual distrust, and it can be easy then to forget a simple truth: It doesn't have to be this way.”

Her simply stated conclusion: “It is time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and division. It is time for a new generation of leadership in America—and I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States of America.”

The vice president took time to introduce herself to those who may still think they don’t know enough about her, including her work as a prosecutor. And she touchingly shared the moral and emotional foundation that drives her—and what that means for her desire to be president.

“For as long as I can remember I have always had an instinct to protect,” she said. “There's something about people being treated unfairly or overlooked that, frankly, just gets to me. I don't like it. It's what my mother instilled in me: A drive to hold accountable those who use their wealth or power to take advantage of other people. The drive to protect hardworking Americans who aren't always seen or heard and deserve a voice. And I will tell you, that is the kind of President I will be.”

Then she made a pledge: “I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. But here's what I promise you: I will always listen to you, even if you don't vote for me. I will always tell you the truth, even if it is difficult to hear. I will work every day to build consensus and reach compromise to get things done. And if you give me the chance to fight on your behalf, there is nothing in the world that will stand in my way.”

The contrast with the man the Republicans have nominated as their candidate could not be more clear. And after detailing much of the policy agenda that she has been touting over the last months, she returned to her pledges. They are both strikingly simple and yet profound after these exhausting years of conflict, hate and division.

“I pledge to seek common ground and commonsense solutions to make your life better,” she said. “I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress. I pledge to listen to experts, to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make and to people who disagree with me. Unlike Donald Trump I don't believe people who disagree with me are the enemy; he wants to put them in jail. I'll give them a seat at the table. I pledge to you to approach my work with the joy and optimism that comes from making a difference in people's lives and I pledge to be a president for all Americans and to always put country above party and self.”

And the vice president ended her speech by putting this moment in a larger historical context. “Nearly 250 years ago America was born when we wrested freedom from a petty tyrant,” she said. “Across the generations, Americans have preserved that freedom, expanded it, and in so doing proved to the world that a government of, by and for the people is strong and can endure.”

She referenced American “patriots” who fought in Normandy and Seneca Falls, Selma and Stonewall. And then she connected that history with our living history and the danger we now face. “They did not struggle, sacrifice and lay down their lives only to see us cede our fundamental freedoms,” she said. “They didn't do that only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant. These United States of America are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators.”

America, she concluded, “is the greatest idea humanity ever devised—a nation big enough to encompass all our dreams, strong enough to withstand any fracture or fissure between us and fearless enough to imagine a future of possibilities. So, America, let us reach for that future…the country we love.”

This speech was not only the clearest expression of why she’s in the race, but also the most succinct pronouncement of her pledge to all Americans about how she will govern. It could not have been a more vivid contrast with the aggrieved, self-serving and hateful malignancy that she’s running against. (Just today, he called Sunday’s Madison Square Garden line-up of bigotry and hate “an absolute love-fest”).

For those who listened and are still deciding, it should close the deal to make her both the next President of the United States and the first president that we will refer to as Madam President. It’s just one week until Nov. 5. The ascendancy of Kamala Harris—if the turnout proceeds at record levels—can not come soon enough.

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