Harris promises change but offers few specifics

US Vice-President misses chance to win over undecided voters on domestic issues

- Bhagyashree Garekar

As she accepted the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party on Aug 22, US Vice-President Kamala Harris promised to keep "the people" she once represented in court at the centre of her policies.

Ms Harris, who began her career as a prosecutor from California, seemed to be reprising that role in national politics in a 40-minute address in Chicago's cavernous United Centre arena, which resounded with roaring applause from the party faithful.

But there were not enough details in her arguments to convince undecided voters; and she leaned once too often on criticising her opponent to enhance her own appeal.

Ms Harris, 59, made the case by leveraging her humble beginnings as a child raised by a single mother in a rental flat to encourage the voters to trust her to deliver on promises she has made to make their life better.

"The middle class is where I come from," she said, contrasting herself with her billionaire opponent Donald Trump, whom she painted as an untrustworthy and dangerous choice.

"In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man," she said in the first of 15 references to him by name in her speech. "But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious." She cast him as a self-centred person who would reward his billionaire friends with tax cuts.

She reminded the voters that he had "fanned the flames" of the Jan 6 Capitol riots in 2021, and that he had refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power when he lost the 2020 election.

"Just imagine Donald Trump with no guard rails," she said. "How he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your life. Not to strengthen our national security. But to serve the only client he has ever had: himself."