Foreign and Defense Policy in Harris’s Acceptance Speech

Foreign policy, politicians like to say, never won an election. That’s probably true, and last night’s ssession of the Democratic Convention reflected that. The speakers who focused on it drew little applause. They seemed chosen for their plain vanilla approach, and probably were. Kamala Harris presented some further substance in her speech, but it was a very small part of it.

Mark Kelley is wonderfully supportive to his wife, Gabby Giffords, but he’s not an inspiring speaker himself. He endorsed Harris as supporting the US (something worth saying in contrast to Donald Trump’s love of dictators) and maintaining a strong military.

Leon Panetta is a Democratic elder statesman. He has held numerous offices in Democratic administrations and is 86 years old. In a Harris administration, he would be, at most, a senior advisor.

A convention setting provides particular challenges to what may be said on foreign policy and who may say it, particularly for a sitting Vice President. Those who have worked with her and are still in government cannot speak at the convention because of the Hatch Act. Bringing in a speaker from outside risks an implied criticism of the current administration. And, in both cases, sensitive negotiations are under way that could be upset by anything said or implied by a Vice President who is involved in those negotiations.

That leaves as the choice an elder statesman endorses Harris on the general aspects of foreign policy.

Adam Kinzinger was more specific on Harris’s stand on Ukraine and, again, a strong military. I am not recalling his speech in detail and would like to read it to get the details. But Kinzinger clearly is not  party to administration deliberations and was speaking on his own. And he was speaking to Republicans, as were the other Republican converts throughout the convention, giving them permission to vote for Harris.

Harris’s speech had the most content on foreign policy. She unambiguously supports Ukraine and is working with Biden to negotiate a hostage exchange and ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. I’d like to read her speech too before I say much more. The negotiation in progress is why the Uncommitted group was not allowed to speak. If they were, a pro-Israeli group would have had to have been brought in as well, and anything either group said would muddle the waters for the negotiation. And the Democratic Party and the Harris campaign did not want a fight.

Overall, I thought it was a great speech, perfectly delivered. I hope the campaign makes a transcript available.