Perspectives
Current issues
Harris’ first few months in office as vice president of the United States alongside President Joe Biden were focused on implementing measures that would help get the Covid-19 pandemic under control in the United States. Harris mentioned the pandemic in her Victory Speech and said the work to help end the pandemic is only beginning. She also implied that she will carry out this work with President Biden. Since then, Harris has voted in favor of a plan proposed by Biden to end the pandemic. Her vote turned out to be decisive as the plan passed without the support of any Republican senators. Biden and Harris’ plan focuses on economic recovery, tackling unemployment, and providing funding for testing and vaccines.
Textual perspectives
Joe Biden’s Victory Speech, which was delivered right after Kamala Harris’, has a similar intention. In his speech, Biden aims to inspire confidence in himself as a president and persuade Americans to be united and stand together in order to fix their country. Like Harris, Biden says he will work in the best interest of all citizens, even those who did not vote for him, and stresses the importance of unity. Both speeches aim to inspire hope for the future in American citizens.
Harris’ Victory Speech is also similar to Joe Biden’s Inaugural Address which he delivered a few months after the Victory Speech. The Inaugural Address shares the same message of unity and highlights its importance. Like Harris, Biden acknowledges the challenging context and the struggles of the American citizens and says they can only overcome them if they work together. Like Harris’ Victory Speech, Biden’s Inaugural Address also aims to inspire confidence in the speaker as a fit candidate to represent the citizens of the United States.
The poem “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman was performed at the 2021 presidential inauguration where Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in and took office. The poem talks about the duty American citizens have to protect their country’s democracy. This is also one of the main topics of Kamala Harris’ Victory Speech. “The Hill We Climb” also talks about the role of Black women in contemporary America and the progress that is being made towards gender and racial equality which are issues present in Harris’ speech as well.