Everyone is saying Kamala killed it with her speech. But did she?
While there were lots of great moments during her speech, certain rhetorics were worrisome.
“As commander in chief, I Will Ensure America Has The strongest, Most lethal Fighting Force In The World”
“I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists.”
“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself…And as president, I will never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals, because in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny…”
If you didn’t know who said these quotes, what party would you think it came from? For the first time last night, we were able to see Harris’ agenda and her plan for the future. While the past month since the switch had seen a wave of enthusiasm from all demographics, until last night we had not seen clear policy agendas. It’s true that we still don’t have a policy page similar to Biden’s 110-page policy document, but we did get a glimpse as to what hers might look like. And to be frank, it looks a little scary. There were a lot of strong points in her speech. Talking about her middle class upbringing, how she has come from a family of immigrants, her commitment to women’s reproductive rights. She did a great job of explaining her origin and desire to become a prosecutor, saying “This is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor: to protect people like Wanda, because I believe everyone has a right to safety, to dignity and to justice.”
This was all fantastic, but when she eventually got to the foreign policy section, it sent shivers down my spine. Before we get into why though, we must first explore the context of all in which we lived and what came before us. Throughout the week at the DNC, with all of its energy and excitement, there was one looming issue brewing in the background, the uncommitted delegates protesting for a ceasefire in Palestine. I will save the full story for another post, but the short of it is that a group of lifelong democrats who came from uncommitted delegations where people voted protested outside the DNC to have their voices heard. Among their demands there was one simple one, to have a representative speak at the convention, which was denied by the party. This was further aggravated with reports that the DNC made a fake story about how they wanted to have a speaker on, but the uncommitted movement denied this. Furthermore, people were upset that there was time to have Republican members, billionaires, police, and a family of an Israeli hostage while the Palestinian people got no representation.
Now with all of that context, let’s dive into why Harris’ rhetoric on foreign policy was so scary. As we saw at the beginning of the article, there were big talks of having the “Most lethal Fighting Force In The World”, and taking “whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran”. This rhetoric about fighting Iran, increasing our military budget so that we have the most lethal fighting force are talks that you would hear from the likes of Lindsey Graham and John Bolton. At a time when a majority of Americans do not want to intervene in foreign affairs, who want their tax money spent on things domestically that would improve their lives, this type of language not only is scary, but has the potential to drive people away from the Democratic Party. And another slap to the face was her section about Israel and Gaza, saying:
And let me be clear. 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, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on Oct. 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.
At the same time, 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.
Notice something? Painting the attack in October 7th as a horrible act of violence, which to be clear it was, while painting the violence in Gaza as some sort of natural disaster that can’t be stopped. At a time when seven in ten likely voters support a permanent ceasefire, using language that suggests the US will continue funding weapons for Israel and not mentioning how the over 40,000 deaths in Palestine were caused by the same Israeli bombs is worrisome both in her policy and in her electoral chances.
Whatever your beliefs are on foreign affairs, the question that needs to be asked is why are we okay with the Democratic Party sliding more and more to the right? Objectively, it’s not what the people want, and while many may argue that this is the party's way of attracting more center and center-right voters. The truth is that if you have one side that will always pull right and not compromise and another side that always tries to attract those in the middle, you inadvertently end up in a situation where you yourself end up on the right before you know it.
If you got this far into the post, let me know what your thoughts are down in the comments. Has the Democratic Party leaned even more to the right since the Obama years? Do you think it’s still the right move?