Harris and Walz enjoyed a successful convention, but it didn't achieve a critical goal

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Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democrats had a successful convention this week in Chicago. At every juncture, they sought to rebut the attacks from their opponents. The Harris-Walz team argued over and over, and particularly effectively, I thought, in the vice president’s Thursday night speech, that they were for national unity, against ideology, for the middle class, for women and most of all for the United States.

Even a casual observer couldn’t help but notice that there was very little in Vice President Harris’ speech that added up to an agenda for the United States or even policy prescriptions. The strategists behind the Harris-Walz ticket understand that, on issues, they could very easily lose to former President Donald Trump. But on life story, aspiration and symbolism, it is much more likely that the Democrats will turn what was a once a possible defeat with Joe Biden at the top of the ticket into a potential victory with Kamala Harris.

The Democratic convention has been characterized this week as one of great vibes and the politics of joy and Harris herself was able to rise to the occasion Thursday night. She gave voters, of all parties and ideologies, a sense that she stood with them and for them, in contrast to an aging, out-of-touch Donald Trump who, in her telling, stood specifically and principally