The Friday Brief

August 23, 2024

The Big Picture

I’ve wondered for a long time what the speech would look, sound, and feel like. I asked how she would resist the tidal pull of the Old Way of Democratic political speeches, with laundry lists of policy and ideological checkboxes. The glass-ceiling-first-woman tropes were calling, I’m sure.

I wanted her to swing big, connect to America, and show the world the Democratic Party has changed for the better.

She did that and more.

Kamala Harris delivered a stunning, spectacularly effective speech last night. She realigned herself, her party, and the country in ways I’m still processing. It was an intensely patriotic speech that emphasized the strong side of the arguments that Republicans have used against Democrats for decades.