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In this dystopian world, Kamala Harris sails
above the presidential bar
Richard
Wolffe
Harris reflects something we take for granted in this
circling of the drain we call politics in the Trump era: she looks and sounds
presidential because she is
@richardwolffedc
Wed 12 Aug
2020 01.13 BSTLast modified on Wed 12 Aug 2020 02.14 BST
‘But Biden didn’t choose another Biden. He chose
another Obama: someone who represents the future of a country of immigrants,
with deep roots in the hard work of righting America’s wrongs.’
What is
Mike Pence? When the painted smile fades and the glazed eyes begin to focus on
reality, is there an honest penny in him?
For the
next three months, the core question of whether Pence has any core is the only
real target for America’s history-making vice-presidential candidate, Kamala
Harris.
As much as
the Trump campaign wants to scare the bejesus out of its old, white base with
terrifying tales about Krazy Kamala, her own policy positions don’t really
matter. Like every other veep candidate, Harris doesn’t deliver a voter bloc or
state. She doesn’t displace the top of the ticket because veeps never do.
All that
matters is one debate night, in Salt Lake City, in early October. And even that
night will be quickly overshadowed by the second presidential debate a week
later.
How can the
summer’s biggest political story – except for the pandemic, recession and
racial justice protests – be so easily dismissed? To understand that dynamic,
you need look no further than Joe Biden and Pence.
Back in
2008, Barack Obama’s pick of Biden as his running mate was everything Harris is
today: a counterweight to everything he wasn’t. Biden offered some older,
whiter balance to the first African American nominee for president.
He also
undercut Obama’s main claim to that nomination: opposing the war in Iraq. Biden
had voted for the invasion, even as he turned into a sharp critic of the war
like every other Democrat.
How did
Obama overcome his policy differences with Biden on the campaign trail? He
didn’t need to.
There was
some chemistry between the Obamas and the Bidens on the day they walked out on
stage in Springfield, Illinois, near the old state capitol. But more often that
not, the chemistry story was overblown: Obama was a disciplined speaker where
Biden was not. Obama chose not to wait his turn; Biden had spent his career
waiting for his turn.
Obama was
the main choice, while Biden played a supporting role. Nobody voted for Barack
Obama because of Joe Biden.
Fast-forward
eight years, and somehow the cosmos threw up Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Setting aside the strong possibility that nobody else was desperate enough to
take the job, Pence represented a thin crust of establishment respectability on
the molten lava of anti-immigrant, white supremacist, pro-Russian,
self-enrichment they call Trump’s populism.
Pence
undercuts so much of what passes for Trump’s politics. He built his career as a
Christian conservative and fiscal hawk leading the House Republican study
committee, becoming an anti-abortion, budget-cutting governor of Indiana. Somehow
he signed up to play the role of cardboard cutout to a thrice-married president
who paid off a porn star and blew open the federal deficit well before the
pandemic struck.
[Pence's] biblically-sized differences with
Trump did nothing to change perceptions of the presidential nominee
His
biblically-sized differences with Trump did nothing to change perceptions of
the presidential nominee. They did, however, raise serious questions about
whether the exceptionally principled Pence had any principles whatsoever.
Still,
nobody voted for Donald Trump because of Mike Pence.
Which
brings us to the forthcoming Harris-Pence struggle for definition. Above all
else, Harris reflects something we may stupidly take for granted in this
circling of the drain we call politics in the era of Donald Trump.
Through her
own accomplishments, she meets the only standard relevant to a veep pick: she
looks and sounds presidential because she is. In this dystopian world, Harris
sails above the presidential bar that has been lowered to jackboot level by an
old man who admires neo-Nazis and autocrats in equal measure.
A former
district attorney and attorney general, Harris has navigated law and politics
while Trump has evaded both. It’s no coincidence that her Senate grilling of
Trump’s attorneys general have gone viral.
For
Democrats, Harris is a return to the Obama vision of America: diverse and
driven by social justice. “Her own life story is one that I and so many others
can see in ourselves,” Obama said in a statement on Tuesday. “A story that says
that no matter where you come from, what you look like, how you worship, or who
you love, there’s a place for you here.”
For
Republicans like Mike Pence, however, she represents the power behind the
throne. Even though candidate Harris clashed personally and politically with
Biden, somehow she is really pulling the strings.
“As you all
know, Joe Biden and the Democratic party have been overtaken by the radical
left,” Pence said at a Trump campaign event in Arizona on Tuesday. “So given
their promises of higher taxes, open borders, socialized medicine and abortion
on demand, it’s no surprise that he chose Senator Harris.”
But it is,
in fact, a surprise that Biden chose Harris. The conventional wisdom was that
Harris was too ambitious; that her attacks were too personal in the primaries;
that Biden was too concerned about internal rivalries to pick the California
senator.
Surely
there were safer picks than the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian
mother, who went to high school in Canada and graduated from Howard University?
There
surely were governors and senators who could have faced a smaller tsunami of
disinformation, conspiracy theories and plain old racism on a social media feed
near you.
During the
endless pre-game analysis of Biden’s decision, it was often said that he needed
to find his own Biden. Like Obama in the Great Recession, Biden needed a
partner in the White House, ready to do the work that the boss will be too busy
to handle.
But Biden
didn’t choose another Biden. He chose another Obama: someone who represents the
future of a country of immigrants, with deep roots in the hard work of righting
America’s wrongs.
Biden and
his team have suggested he’s a transitional figure in Democratic politics, and
that’s sensible for someone who could well be sworn in as president at the age
of 78.
To be sure,
Harris struggled with that transition in her own presidential campaign: was she
a former prosecutor or a Bernie Sanders-style supporter of Medicare for All?
After four
years as vice-president, we still may not know the answer to the question of
whether Harris is a centrist or not. But in less than three months, we will
know the answer to the question of what future American voters want for
themselves and their country.
Joe Biden picks Kamala Harris as his running mate
in historic first for a woman of color
US
elections 2020
Choice of California senator follows months-long
search
Harris is first Black woman and first Asian American
on a major party’s presidential ticket
Lauren
Gambino and Joan E Greve in Washington
Tue 11 Aug
2020 23.18 BSTFirst published on Tue 11 Aug 2020 21.21 BST
Kamala
Harris is the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India.
Joe Biden
has named California senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running
mate, a historic choice he believes will bolster his chances of beating Donald
Trump in an election year shaped by the global coronavirus pandemic and a
national reckoning on race.
Harris –
Biden’s former Democratic presidential rival and a barrier-breaking former
prosecutor – is the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India and is the
first Black woman and the first Asian American to be nominated for a major
party’s presidential ticket.
“I have the
great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris – a fearless fighter for
the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants – as my running
mate,” Biden wrote on Twitter.
In a tweet,
Harris said she was “honored” to join Biden on the Democratic ticket and
pledged to “do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief”.
Biden
announced the selection in a text and email message to supporters. His campaign
said the two would hold their first event together on Wednesday, in Biden’s
hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
Though
Biden and Harris clashed during the Democratic presidential debates before she
dropped out of the race last year, she has become a strong supporter and a
voice of authority on issues of racial justice in an election year convulsed by
nationwide protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
The
decision is of great consequence, not only for Democrats’ immediate political
prospects but for the future of the party.
Biden, who,
at 77, would be the oldest person ever elected, has pitched himself as a
“transitional candidate” and a “bridge” to a new generation of leaders, fueling
speculation that should he be elected, he would be a one-term-president.
In
selecting Harris, a 55-year-old Democratic star, he may not only be naming a
partner but a potential successor who could become the nation’s first female
president.
Biden and
Harris speak after the Democratic presidential debate at Texas Southern
University in September in Houston.
Harris is
among the most prominent Black women in American politics, with appeal across
the party’s ideological spectrum. She served six years as the attorney general
of California before arriving in the Senate in 2016.
During the
primary, Harris struggled to reconcile her prosecutorial record with her
support for criminal justice reform, facing criticism from progressives who
doubted her evolution on the issue. But on Tuesday, the announcement was
celebrated by Democrats from diverse political backgrounds.
“Joe Biden
nailed this decision,” said Barack Obama, who went through a similar process in
2008 when he selected Biden as his running mate, in a statement. “By choosing
Senator Kamala Harris as America’s next vice president, he’s underscored his
own judgment and character. Reality shows us that these attributes are not
optional in a president. They’re requirements of the job.”
“She
understands what it takes to stand up for working people, fight for health care
for all, and take down the most corrupt administration in history,” Senator
Bernie Sanders tweeted.
Black women
were critical to Biden’s success in the Democratic primary, lifting him to
victory in South Carolina after series of stinging losses. But the political
landscape changed after Floyd was killed in Minneapolis in May, touching off
months of mass anti-racism protests that intensified pressure on Biden to to
select a Black running mate.
“For a
little girl who grew up poor, Black and female in the South to be considered
during this process has been an incredible honor,” said the Florida
congresswoman Val Demings, who was one of six Black women considered for the
role. “I feel so blessed. To see a Black woman nominated for the first time
reaffirms my faith that in America, there is a place for every person to
succeed no matter who they are or where they come from.”
Harris’ own
presidential campaign began on a high note in January 2019, as she announced
her candidacy on Martin Luther King Day and paid tribute to Shirley Chisholm,
the first Black woman to seek the nomination of a major party.
She
officially kicked off her campaign with an Oakland rally attended by more than
20,000 people. The one-term senator was considered an early frontrunner for the
nomination, and her polling numbers surged after a contentious exchange with
Biden at the first Democratic debate.
Harris
pushed Biden on his past opposition to mandated busing to racially integrate schools.
“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to
integrate her public schools and she was bussed to school every day. That
little girl was me,” Harris told Biden.
Biden
appeared taken aback by the confrontation, but the two Democrats indicated they
had made amends after Harris suspended her campaign in December. Harris
endorsed Biden’s presidential bid in March.
The Trump
campaign immediately seized on their debate exchange to cast Harris as
hypocrite, while assailing her – in the same sentence – as both a
tough-on-crime prosecutor and a far-left radical.
“Not long
ago, Kamala Harris called Joe Biden a racist and asked for an apology she never
received,” said Katrina Pierson, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign and one
of his most high-profile Black surrogates. “Clearly, Phony Kamala will abandon
her own morals, as well as try to bury her record as a prosecutor, in order to
appease the anti-police extremists controlling the Democrat party.”
Though
Harris has long been viewed as a likely contender for the nomination, some
advisers and allies of the former vice-president harbored reservations. In the
weeks before she was selected, reports surfaced that the former senator Chris
Dodd of Connecticut, part of Biden’s vice-presidential vetting panel, had told
donors she demonstrated “no remorse” for her attacks on Biden while on a debate
stage. Others anonymously accused her of having too much “ambition” and a
personality that can “rub people the wrong way”.
For many
Democratic women, the backlash was further evidence of the importance of
selecting a candidate who demonstrated the vital role of Black women within the
party.
Civil
rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton escorts Kamala Harris, D-Calif., center, past
media and well wishers as they arrive for a lunch meeting at Sylvia’s
Restaurant in the Harlem neighborhood of New York in February 2019.
“Senator
Harris is a fearless champion for justice,” said Adrianne Shropshire, executive
director of BlackPac. “She understands the urgency of the moment and will work
to restore competent, moral leadership to Washington.”
Harris was
elected to the Senate in 2016, becoming only the second black woman ever to
serve in the chamber. A fierce critic of the president, Harris drew national
attention for her prosecutorial-style inquisitions during Senate committee
hearings with Trump administration officials. In one memorable exchange, a
flustered Jeff Sessions, then the attorney general, told her: “I’m not able to
be rushed this fast – it makes me nervous.”
Biden was
unusually candid about the selection process, an affair traditionally shrouded
in secrecy and intrigue. Having spent eight years serving as vice-president to
the nation’s first Black president, Biden recalled the experience fondly and
presented their working relationship as a model for what he was looking for in
a running mate.
During Zoom
meetings with donors and supporters, he would often expand on his search,
emphasizing that he wanted someone “simpatico” with his personality and his
world view as well as someone who was ready to govern on day one.
Only two
women have previously been nominated for the vice presidency of a major
political party and neither was successful: Sarah Palin, the governor of
Alaska, in 2008, and the congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.
Angela
Davis, the philosopher and activist who became a prominent figure in the Black
Power movement, was twice nominated as the vice-presidential candidate of the
Communist party in the 1980s.
“Today is a
spark of hope and a watershed moment for Black women and women of color,” said
Aimee Allison, Founder of She the People, an organization dedicated to
mobilizing women of color. “This is one step in a much larger fight for
representation towards the multi-racial Democracy women of color have dreamed
of, fought for and bled for, for generations. We need Black, Latina,
Indigenous, and Asian American women leading at every level of American
politics.”
In choosing Kamala Harris, Biden may have found
the anti-Trump
Biden’s VP pick ‘makes America look more like America’
– and now Harris is better placed than anyone to be the first female president
David Smith
in Washington
@smithinamerica
Wed 12 Aug
2020 00.29 BSTLast modified on Wed 12 Aug 2020 01.41 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/11/joe-biden-kamala-harris-vp-running-mate-analysis
Joe Biden
may have just chosen the anti-Trump as his running mate – and, if he wins, as
his successor.
The
selection of California senator Kamala Harris for the Democrats’
vice-presidential nomination puts a woman of colour on a major party ticket for
the first time in America’s 244-year-old history.
It also
comes loaded with symbolism in an era that has seen the election of a president
roared on by white supremacists, the dawn of the #MeToo movement and a mass
uprising for the cause of Black Lives Matter. Tuesday shows how the picture is
changing.
“It makes
it look more like America,” Eugene Robinson, a newspaper columnist, told the MSNBC
network. “It makes it more like the America that we are becoming than the other
party which looks more like the America we once were, or the America that many
think we once were.”
Just when
it seemed the contrast between these national visions could not be more vivid,
it became even more so. The moment of racial reckoning became even more acute.
And given
Biden’s age – he will be 78 years old on inauguration day – and his lack of clear
commitment to serving a second term, Harris is now better placed than anyone to
be America’s first female president, a glass ceiling that Hillary Clinton did
not manage to shatter in 2016.
That is why
this vice-presidential pick is way more important than usual. John Adams, the
first person to hold the job, called it “the most insignificant office that
ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived”. John Nance
Garner famously said it “is not worth a bucket of warm spit”. Walter Mondale
said: “The office is handmade for ridicule and for dismissal. In the nature of
it, you always look like a supplicant, a beggar, a person on a string.”
Clinton’s
choice in 2016, Tim Kaine, was no game changer. She has said her three
considerations for choosing a running mate were someone ready to take over as
president; a governing partner she was comfortable with; someone who could help
her win the election.
With
hindsight, she may have got those priorities in the wrong order. After four
years of Donald Trump and his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic at a cost
of tens of thousands of lives, Democrats understand that winning is everything.
That will have figured prominently in Biden’s thinking, despite his insistence
on finding someone with whom he is “simpatico”.
As a
candidate, Harris’s strengths are formidable and her weaknesses are relatively
slight. Her legal career means she is well placed to prosecute the case against
Mike Pence in the vice-presidential debate in October and against Trump’s
administration in general.
She has
demonstrated this skill during congressional hearings, notably grilling the
president’s highly controversial supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and
even in debates against Biden himself. Trump cited both incidents at a White
House briefing on Tuesday, branding Harris as “nasty”, echoing the “nasty
woman” phrase he used about Clinton in 2016. But he has, so far, failed to come
up with a disparaging nickname for her.
Her career
as a former prosecutor also goes some way to neutralising Trump’s “law and
order” campaign theme, which seeks to portray Biden and Democrats as soft on
crime. And despite hailing from “coastal elite” California, Harris is less
vulnerable than a choice such as the progressive senator Elizabeth Warren would
have been to the Republican critique that Biden is a Trojan horse for the
radical left.
Biden
performed strongly among African American voters during the Democratic primary
but continues to make gaffes, saying in May: “If you have a problem figuring out
whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Democrats
will be hoping that Harris’s historic candidacy dampens such concerns. Like
Barack Obama, she is mixed race (her father from Jamaica, her mother from
India), spent part of her childhood abroad (in Canada), protested against
apartheid in South Africa and became a lawyer and then a Democratic senator.
She has
seen the world through eyes that no white man can. In her memoir, The Truths We
Hold: An American Journey, Harris describes how her mother became conditioned
to discrimination at airport customs because of her accent and skin colour. So
when Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is white, first went through
customs together, her muscle memory kicked in, she writes.
“I was
preparing myself in the usual way, making sure we had everything just right and
in order. Meanwhile, Doug was as relaxed as ever. It frustrated me that he was
so casual. He was genuinely perplexed, innocently wondering, ‘What’s the
problem?’ We had been raised in different realities. It was eye-opening for us
both.”
Harris’s
selection offers a measure of redemption for Democrats who, after holding the
most diverse primary race in history, still went for the septuagenarian white
guy. The defeat of Harris and others was a bitter blow for many in a party that
has declared Black women to be its “backbone”.
Now, as
Trump leans into white identity politics, Democrats believe that Harris will
maximise the turnout of female and African American voters, not least in
critical swing states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where a dip
in Black turnout last time cost Clinton dearly.
But this
will be a stress test for Democratic party unity. Harris can be seen as being
to the left of Biden, but that is not saying very much. Progressives have
worried about her career as California’s attorney general, including her
support of an initiative that threatened the parents of repeatedly truant
schoolchildren with prison sentences.
So far,
however, the Democrats have done a better job than in 2016 of putting their
differences to one side, such is the existential threat posed by Trump. They
will know that in voting for Biden-Harris in 2020, they may well be voting for
Harris in 2024.
“The
Democrats now have a presidential ticket that reflects the American people
better than the GOP ticket and every presidential ticket in US history,”
tweeted the historian and author Ibram X Kendi. “It’s not everything. It’s not
the crushing of racism + sexism. It’s not the freeing of Black womanhood. But
it can be the start.”
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