The ideal backup is talented but unspectacular, ready to step into the top job but content to never do so.
At the 30th annual Essence Culture Festival in New Orleans, Kamala Harris, wearing a drab suit that matched her chair, made staccato, technical comments about U.S. policy needs. Harris spoke here in 2019 as a candidate in the Democratic presidential primary, trailing fewer than 10 reporters.
Instead, on Saturday, Harris, dressed in a bright teal suit and flanked by an army of reporters that more than quadrupled in size, addressed a standing-room-only crowd in a room that holds more than 500 people. .
In an onstage conversation with Essence CEO Caroline Wanga, Harris confidently delivered a mix of standard campaign-season speeches — recalling the Biden-Harris administration’s key policy accomplishments while expressing concern about A dire warning of possible dangers a second time around.
It would be a stretch if Harris studiously avoided mentioning recent questions about Biden’s fitness for public office, and Vanga failed to ask or appear to make room for questions plaguing much of Washington. Over the past week, the fallout from the president’s poor performance at the June 27 debate has been reflected in calls for him to drop out of the race, joined by a handful of Democratic lawmakers. Many of the same critics are now hoping that Harris might be the new nominee in November.
For those who like to read the tea leaves, there may be more in New Orleans. Harris encourages viewers to embrace ambition and overcome obstacles to forge new, even history-making, paths.
“I implore you, don’t hear that some things can’t be done,” Harris said. “However, the people in your life will tell you that it’s not your time yet. It’s not your turn yet. No one has done it like you before. Don’t ever listen to this.
“I like to say, ‘I don’t eat breakfast,'” she said.
Harris was introduced as a woman who “carries the weight,” “smart,” “tough” and “a proven fighter who is the backbone of this country.” She then danced in and out to the sounds of “Freedom,” a collaboration between Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar, with Beyoncé singing: “Sing, freedom, freedom, where are you? … Hey! I gotta keep running.”
While Biden insists he will stay in the race and, according to him, Washington insiders and columnists insist he should step down, Harris’s poll numbers have improved and her public speeches and comments — once a highly regarded factors of criticism.
Harris has traveled the country in recent months speaking out about threats to reproductive rights, maternal mortality, economic opportunity and inclusion. In New Orleans, Harris called this election more important than “any election in your lifetime,” adding that democracy might not survive a second Trump term. She said Trump is a convicted felon and the Supreme Court just granted him immunity from prosecution.
Harris also spoke about a range of government efforts to address issues plaguing the lives of Americans, including many here: capping the price of insulin paid by those on Medicare; expanding postpartum access for low- and moderate-income women the opportunity for public health insurance during a time when many fatal complications occur; and forgiveness of billions of dollars in student loan debt. Hundreds of hands went up in the room as Harris appealed to those who have had some of their student debt forgiven.
“You get this because you voted in 2020,” Harris told the audience.
She said there is still work to be done, such as lowering the cost of child care to no more than 7 percent of household income for all Americans, which is almost done. That includes government efforts to remove medical debt from the calculations that generate credit scores and make it difficult for some Americans to rent apartments or buy cars.
Leshelle Henderson, a licensed nurse practitioner in Cleveland who provides family medicine and psychiatric care, said she is working to serve a community and country in the midst of a mental health crisis. She also has to work twice as hard to pay off hundreds of thousands of student loans, none of which have been forgiven. She came to the festival for fun, but wanted to hear the vice president talk about student loan relief and what a second Biden-Harris administration would do for the economic wealth of Black men and women.
That was before the event.
“I liked what I heard,” Henderson said. “I’ve heard it, but I want to hear more. Honestly, I think what we’re hearing tonight is the next president of the United States. Isn’t that what it is?
