Kamala Harris Offers a ‘New Way Forward’ of Platitudes

Kamala Harris introduced herself to the American public on Thursday, and her presentation was much like this week’s Democratic convention: well delivered, confident and optimistic, and mostly devoid of policy substance. Whether she can keep this up, unexplained and unexposed, for the next 12 weeks will determine whether she becomes America’s 47th President.

The Vice President spoke with authority and admirable brevity at 37 minutes. She opened with a lengthy account of her own biography, relying heavily on the story of her mother’s lessons and resilience as a divorced single parent. It’s not an unusual American story, which may have been the point as she tries to convince voters to take a risk on someone they know little about.

But she then turned to the main business at hand, which was to make the case that the real risk is re-electing Donald Trump. Her attack was a mix of truth and falsehoods—truth about his effort to overturn the 2020 election, but falsehoods that he intends to cut Medicare and Social Security and that Project 2025 is his agenda. He has repeatedly disavowed the latter and has shown no plan or interest in touching entitlements despite their looming bankruptcy.