This is a quick post . Joe Biden's choice for VP is winning some "praise" , but her record as a While , chief among them was her decision to brand herself a “progressive prosecutor.” She was not, at least not by today’s standards. her mischaracterization of who she was and what she did from 2004-2015, when she was San Francisco’s district attorney and then California’s attorney general. (1)>>In truth, Harris’s record reveals that she is a centrist on criminal justice. Had she run on that record or reckoned with it—including acknowledging the harm her status-quo policies inflicted— there are a number of reasons her candidacy was not successful. Biden's choice mirror's what Sen John McCain did when picking Sarah Palin .The choice of Harris says a lot about representation for women of color — but it also lays down a marker for the Democratic Party about avoiding 2016’s blunder with Black voters.Hillary Clinton’s narrow loss to Trump wouldn’t have happened without her underperformance with Black voters in swing state cities like Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Detroit. It's SADLY a POLITICAL GIMMICK to win women voters , (2)>>BUT ALWAYS IT'S THE WRONG WOMAN as a VP. While most Harris-supporting liberals wouldn’t go this far, there is deep suspicion among some Democrats that opposition to Harris is motivated by similarly less-than-noble motives — namely, that it’s part of a project of poisoning the well for any potential challengers of a Bernie Sanders or Sanders-like candidacy in 2020. At the same time, with Biden planning to serve as a “transition candidate” [ one term President] for a new wave of younger and more racially diverse Democratic politicians, she’s also likely to face a degree of attention and scrutiny that few vice presidents ever have. The task for Biden come January would be to maintain a healthy partnership with his vice president—without worrying that she’ll outshine him. In truth, there is much about Harris’s long record as a public prosecutor in California — the vast bulk of her career — that is up for legitimate criticism by any prospective 2020 Democratic voters. So REMEMBER WHEN Sen. Kamala Harris had 'no remorse' for attacking Joe Biden in the first Democratic debate over his position on busing, she revealed when being interviewed to serve as his vice president. 'She laughed and said, "that politics." She had no remorse,' said former Sen. Chris Dodd, a member of Biden's vice presidential search committee. The senator from California set herself apart from her Democratic rivals during the first debates by confronting Biden directly about his comments on working with segregationist senators early in his political career, as well as his opposition to federally mandated busing to integrate schools. The only conservatives voting for Biden are fringe Never Trumpers and they will vote for Biden no matter who he selects as VP. (3)>>Justin Amash in that sense is his biggest competition. Independents despite claiming to be independent tend to fall into the range of the moderate voting bloc. For them it really just depends on how much they know and how anti-establishment or libertarian they lean. Sometimes Sen. Harris seems unsure of herself, awkward when she is interacting with the public or in public settings. She doesn't really instill confidence, or come across as a charismatic candidate. Biden has been careful on the question of whether he’ll seek a second term as president. But if he does forgo reelection, his vice president could establish another VP milestone by launching a presidential campaign in the middle of the first term, while still performing whatever duties Biden deputizes to her—something modern vice presidents have never done. Given Biden's age, maybe someone else?
NOTES AND COMMENTS:
(1)>>In truth, Harris’s record reveals that she is a centrist on criminal justice. In 2015, when called upon by the Legislative Black Caucus to support bills that would have mandated that all police officers wear body worn cameras and that the Attorney General’s office investigate lethal officer-involved shootings, she declined. She championed a law that went after the parents of chronically truant children, laughed when asked if marijuana should be legal, and supported a system that locks up people who are too poor to post exorbitant money bail. These policies were part and parcel of a system of mass incarceration that has deeply harmed poor people and communities of color. Harris was dogged throughout her campaign by questions about her troubling acts and, perhaps more importantly, failures to act—declining to take bold stances that would have angered law enforcement officials. Rather than admit the obvious, she doubled down, insisting that she had always been a reformer of a broken system. The truth is that Harris embraced progressive criminal justice policies only when it was safe to do so, including from her seat in the U.S. Senate, after they had become popular. Harris is famous for repeating the advice, “Don’t let people tell them who you are. You tell them who you are.” Harris, a 52-year-old former prosecutor and San Francisco district attorney who went on to become California’s attorney general, was a star of the Senate intelligence committee hearing into President Trump’s ties to Russia, grilling US Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Harris has also opposed 18 of Trump’s 22 administration nominees.Plus, in 2013, former President Obama had to apologize after telling a group that, in addition to being “brilliant,” “dedicated” and “tough,” Harris “also happens to be, by far, the best-looking attorney general in the country.” (2)>>BUT ALWAYS IT'S THE WRONG WOMAN as a VP. People who want Sen. Kamala Harris or another Black woman to be former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate often claim that a Black woman will substantially boost enthusiasm among Black voters. Supporters of Sen. Elizabeth Warren for vice presidential nominee say that she will help Biden solidify support with younger voters and people who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primaries. Others say Harris or Warren or other candidates will doom Biden with voting bloc X or fail to help him with group Z. (3)>>Justin Amash in that sense is his biggest competition. Amash, a 39-year-old libertarian elected in 2010, faced two primary challenges and Trump's lash on Twitter after saying the president committed impeachable offenses May 18. He also said Attorney General William Barr had “deliberately misrepresented” special counsel Robert Mueller’s report into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and allegations the president sought to obstruct the investigation.Trump has called Amash "a total lightweight" and "a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents hands!” on social media.
