A screen displays the presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee, US Vice President Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania, US, September 10, 2024. (Reuters)
Kamala Harris’s greatest advantage as she runs for President of the United States at this moment in history is that she is not a White man. More specifically, that she is neither Joe Biden, nor Donald Trump, as she made clear at various points during the live presidential debate with the latter on September 10 — the first time the two were facing off. Harris underlined this by striding over to her opponent’s side of the room, giving him a firm shake of the hand and introducing herself. Some opening jitters aside, Harris went into the debate sounding calm and in control, with a clarity of speech that would have soothed any Democratic fears going back to the disastrous June night when Trump, so to speak, wiped the floor with a clearly in-over-his-head Joe Biden.
In that debate, Trump emerged as the clear frontrunner, as Biden muddled and fumbled his way through arguments and counters. In this one, the former President had no chance before an opponent who had done her homework about which buttons to push — the crowd size at his rallies, his unpopularity with world leaders, his legal troubles — for the real Trump to pop out.
And pop out he did, like an unhinged Jack-in-the-box. From raving about how Tim Walz, Harris’s vice-presidential pick, allowed babies to be “aborted” after they were born, to regurgitating conspiracy theories, amplified by his own running mate J D Vance, about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, stealing and eating people’s pets, Trump was quick to discard any self-control he had in the early minutes of the debate. For Harris, it was enough to stand back and look at her opponent with an exaggerated expression of interest — a visual that is already being meme-ified — to drive home the difference between herself and the Republican nominee. She returned to her campaign theme of “turning the page” and moving on from the past to a brighter future a few times during the 105-minute event but the point was already made: A second Trump presidency would just be more of the same, with tall claims, outright lies and tinfoil-hat demagoguery.
If one of Trump’s strategies for the evening was, as reported, to firmly tie Harris to Biden’s legacy, it didn’t go as he might have hoped. “You’re running against me, not Joe Biden,” Harris reminded him at one point, while at another, she stated, “Clearly, I’m not Joe Biden, and certainly not Donald Trump.” By bringing every conversation that began with Biden to her plans for Americans’ future, Harris succeeded in the delicate balancing act of distancing herself from a hugely unpopular president without throwing him under the bus.
Yet, if Harris does win the election in November, it won’t necessarily be because of her “plans”. To the moderators’ pointed questions about her policy stance on fracking (a hugely contentious issue, including in swing state Pennsylvania, where the debate took place), Israel’s war on Gaza, climate change, etc, the vice-president’s answers were fumbled and non-committal or segued into attacks on Trump. Even on abortion, on which she held forth passionately and forcefully about women’s bodily autonomy and where Trump could only waffle about “bringing (the issue) to the states”, a question about whether she was in favour of term limits for termination of pregnancy found Harris on the back foot — her vague response will not have gone unnoticed by supporters, especially women, who have rallied around her on this issue since Biden withdrew from the race.
Seen as an opportunity to understand how the next US President might address burning questions about inflation, jobs and America’s place in the world, the September 10 debate would be a disappointment. It was a battle of temperaments, not ideas; a contest of narratives, not plans. “I have the concepts of a plan,” Trump said, in what is certainly one of the most quotable quotes of the evening, when asked about his proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It is arguable whether Harris has anything more to offer on many of the issues that were raised during the debate. Yet, at this point, it may be enough that she presents a saner, more grown-up alternative to Trump, who speaks of his opponent wanting to conduct “transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison”.
In 2024, the more hopeful story might carry the day and there is no doubt that the one about how the mixed-race daughter of immigrants, who went up against a powerful, White billionaire with a history of denigrating women and exploiting racial divides, is compelling. It just might be what gets Kamala Harris into the White House.
pooja.pillai@expressindia.com
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 11-09-2024 at 11:47 IST
