On the final, and most anticipated, night of the four-day Chicago convention, Harris, 59, promised to chart a “New Way Forward” as she and Trump, 78, enter the final 11 weeks of the razor-close campaign.
After days of protests from Palestinian supporters who were disappointed at not getting a speaking spot at the convention, Harris delivered a pledge to secure Israel, bring the hostages home from Gaza and end the war in the Palestinian enclave.
“Now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done,” she said to cheers. “And let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.”
“What has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost, desperate hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking,” she said.
This description of what she said last night is undeservedly charitable. There was a tone shift about half way through, where all the joyful, salt of the earth family shit shifted into Emperor Palpatine territory. It happens right around when she invoked the word “lethal”. I heard nothing, absolutely nothing, to indicate that her administration will veer in any way from Biden’s actively genocidal policies. There were platitudes about Palestinians, but honestly she deserves no benefit of the doubt on this given how vague she is being and what has occurred this last year. It’s ironic that DO SOMETHING was a theme for her since she communicated that she’s not really doing much but supporting Israel and providing cover for their atrocities all while wrapping herself in a fuzzy veneer of joyful neighborliness.
As a whole, the speech was incredibly disheartening and has evaporated any active excitement I had for her campaign. It sounds like her plan is to GO BACK to to triangulation strategies that made both the Clinton and Obama administrations so middling and ineffective. I thought we might be on the precipice of an actual change in Democratic politics, but I guess that was fanciful hope.
It’s called doing the hard work of diplomacy and upholding our promises as a country. Did you miss the part where she then deftly fit in that she’s pushing for an immediate ceasefire, the full withdrawal of the Israeli military, and a 2 state solution? She’s actually accomplishing something quite incredible by authentically embodying both of those positions. She will plot a new path forward that will surprise many, as she has surprised many people many times so far in this race (1 month!)
Also, what “promise” are we upholding with regard to Israel? Did we promise to help genocide Palestinians? If so, fuck our our promises and any leaders, candidates or constituents who advocate it.
Did you miss the part where dangling the prospect of a 2 state solution has been used as stalling tactic by Israel and the US for about 30 years at this point? Did you miss the part where Israel is not actually participating in negotiations, as evidenced by the fact that they assassinated the main Hamas guy that was involved with negotiations? Do you actually think that Harris, or Biden, or the DNC are not aware of these things and just might be banking on a general ignorance about the history of this region to avoid being held accountable? These are not new positions. People who have been paying attention have been hearing the same sentiments for decades with no progress. It’s almost like the leaders expressing this stuff are lying and distracting and gaslighting.
Why would you take anything that she is saying at face value? The Biden administration has been delaying action for almost a year now, by saying the same things that Harris is now saying.
“She will plot a path” - This sound a lot like ‘I have a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam’. Why should I believe that? She has offered nothing but slightly more warm and fuzzy platitudes than what Biden himself has expressed.
She had a chance to show leadership in this moment, and she did the opposite. Listen, I’m glad she’s not a fascist like here opponent, but that doesn’t excuse what she presented last night. If we don’t hold our leaders to higher standards, we will never actually accomplish anything real. I’m glad that a Harris win means we get a reprieve from US fascism for at least another four years, but based on her presentation, we’re going to get more of the same middling, ineffective, mealymouthed , insecure Democratic Party leadership that characterized the last two Democratic administrations. Given the opportunity in this moment, that is a tragic mistake.