Kamala Harris's Navy

But Harris paid particular attention to "a very real threat to our national security" -- climate change. "You are ocean engineers who will help navigate ships through thinning ice," Harris said, in her only acknowledgment that the Navy has any sort of relationship with the world's oceans. "You are mechanical engineers who will help reinforce sinking bases. You are electrical engineers who will soon help convert solar and wind energy into power, convert solar and wind energy into combat power. And just ask any Marine today, would she rather carry 20 pounds of batteries or a rolled-up solar panel? And I am positive she will tell you a solar panel, and so would he." Left almost entirely undiscussed was the more basic mission of the Navy and Marines. They fight wars. Heavily armed, they protect United States interests and shipping and project American power at sea and around the world. They have done it, with great valor and sometimes at enormous personal sacrifice for sailors and Marines, for more than 200 years. Harris mostly left the war-fighting core of the Navy and Marine mission out of her speech. It was not as if there weren't reminders all around her. Harris spoke at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. The stadium's upper decks are emblazoned with the names of battles that are legendary in the history of the Navy and Marines. As she looked around, Harris could see them: CORAL SEA. BELLEAU WOOD. TARAWA. CHOSIN RESERVOIR. MIDWAY. GUADALCANAL. If Harris noticed them, she did not let on; she never mentioned any of the great moments in the storied pasts of the Navy and Marines.