Kamala Harris: She Ain’t Back!
Kamala Harris: She Ain’t Back!
Kamala Harris was likely one of the most controversial and polarizing picks Biden’s team was considering, and this blunder may cost him the presidency in his third attempt to run.
Don’t get me wrong; Harris’s accomplishments cannot be ignored. She is an ambitious woman who has risen through the ranks of politics.
Biden’s team likely thought that due to her oratory experience as a prominent prosecutor that she would be able to make up for his lack of charisma and mental acuity.
However, Harris brings baggage to the position that is well known, including rumors of an inappropriate in-office romance and taking punitive measures against constituents for petty crimes.
In her time as attorney general, her office was accused of corruption, over-policing, and discrimination. She prosecuted parents for their child’s truancy, saying she would spend some of her political capital to do so, and that as a prosecutor that she has a huge stick as an allegory for her power and authority to punish.
One student, Shayla Peoples, suffered from sickle cell anemia. She missed school due to pain and treatments and had to fight with the school system for a plan that allowed her to continue school without jail time or a $2,500 fine.
Despite her claim to fight child sex trafficking while attorney general, she was found to have avoided prosecuting child abuse committed by priests while working with lawyers who were paid to defend them in San Francisco.
Democrats didn’t support Harris’ candidacy for political and practical reasons because she failed to prove she could grow her base. When interviewed, she began to flip flop and agree to anything, therefore solidifying to voters that she seemed unauthentic and lacked political conviction.
Although she wowed the Democratic base at the Kavanaugh hearings (one moment of her questioning him is one of NPR’s most viral videos ever), Kamala came off as disingenuous and lacking political foundation. Her positions seemed to blow with the wind, and her campaign tanked once she spoke out against private health insurance. She’s not progressive enough to ignite the far left(she initially opposed decriminalizing marijuana), and she isn’t moderate enough to attract independents (stalled in supporting Medicare for all).
She struggled to finance her campaign and maintain morale within her campaign, as was documented extensively in the New York Times. Her campaign failed to create any leadership or organization, laid workers off with little communication, and failed to establish any order”one staffer’s complaint about the campaign: No discipline. No plan. No strategy.
In a Quinnipiac poll done a month before she ended her campaign, her support was 5% among Black voters. In her home state of California, her support went from 19%, thanks to a stellar debate performance attacking Joe Biden, to 8% in a matter of a few months. Based on these low poll numbers in her home state, it was suggested that she bow out of the race to save her reputation from embarrassment.
The chief failing of Kamala Harris’ selection is that she refuses to associate herself with the African Americans. This is why Joe Biden refused to say that he would select an African American female to be his running mate; Harris doesn’t appear to view herself that way anymore.
Although April Ryan and others defended her Blackness, Harris did not during her campaign. At a CNN townhall, anchor Jake Tapper referred to as an African American. When asked, You’re an African-American woman, but you are also Indian American. How do you describe yourself? She responded that she describes her self as a proud American. When asked how she felt about the possibility of being the first Black female President, her response included that she would be the first woman of color.
She felt that in order to be President, she would be more successful as a woman of color than as an African American, and did so to the chagrin of Black voters. It is no wonder they failed to support her, in addition to her legacy in California for going along with three-strikes laws and increased policing of Black men.
In light of his recently racially charged comments, including you ain’t black if you don’t vote for him and his remarks asserting that Blacks all think alike, Joe was at risk of losing Black voter enthusiasm. The Joe Biden camp knew that the Democratic Party base, or the voter bloc they owe for his candidacy, demanded a Black female vice president.
This pick was meant to pacify Black and female voters while appeasing the Democratic establishment, time will tell that it was a mistake. Why would Joe Biden choose a former top cop who refused to associate with African Americans during the Democratic Primary, rather than someone who had stronger rapport with Black voters? Window dressing.
Autry Pruitt is the CEO of New Journey, a political action committee dedicated to changing minds and exposing the lies of the Democratic Party.
