Kamala Harris is no pushover

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Published: Thu 13 Aug 2020, 10:20 AM

Last updated: Thu 13 Aug 2020, 12:25 PM


She ticks all the boxes. She is whip smart, political savvy and does not suffer from foot in the mouth disease like Sarah Palin. Sartorially elegant and blunt to the point of rudeness (she once called Joe Biden a racist), she appeals to the non-wasp coloured segments of society and to women. Yes, if the duo win she gets to be one heartbeat away from the White House.
The immigrant dream personified.give me your wretched, give me your poor, and your huddled masses. He is 78, she is a spry 55, do the math.
Not so long ago Kamala Harris bid for the big carrot itself for the 2020 elections and there were no skeletons in her cupboard that rattle loud enough to evoke a scandal. The US alphabet soup agencies have already done that so it is unlikely there will be anything new to salivate over.
Unlike Sarah Palin, Harris does not have the personae that can be caricatured or mocked. Sarah suffered from a bit of a complex in Washington D.C. terms and her aw shucks 'I am a simple country girl from up north Alaska' innocence was turned into a tragi-comedy by the unforgiving, closed DC old boys club. With three years of being a Senator from California Harris has figured out what makes that bomb tick and she is going to be no pushover having had enough capital and capitol experience. So for her, two can play the game.
Biden has let go of the past where the two have often sparred and sparred harshly. With her on the ticket and with Trump likely to bait her and not come out tops, the odds do shift in favour of this duo. President Donald Trump had probably discounted her when she fell off the stage in the presidential run-up. This will certainly be more than a turn for the books and much as he will try to pooh pooh it, this candidate is going to ruin his sleep. Already on the ropes with his verbal indiscretions and far too often questionable statements on issues of import Mr Trump could well be the wind under her wings as he scoffs her and adds to her credibility with every barb. Harris has the added advantage of having been Attorney General and so knows her legal onions. Trump has shied away from her and she is not his tweet favourite or even tenth favourite. The Washington Post puts it in perspective: While Trump has unleashed brutal attacks on some of the other front-runners for Biden's running mate - most notably Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and former national security adviser Susan E. Rice - Harris is someone who has until now largely escaped his attention.
But from now he will have to hit and hit hard and it could easily all rebound.
He did not wait too long. Hours into the announcement he called her a tax raiser, a military budget cutter, and someone who failed in the primaries. Then he gave a backhanded compliment like one might patronise a loser.
The party likes her and in June, if you recall, she was seen as the best bet for the Democrats by the inner circle.
Look at it this way. She has a sharp spearhead in ending racism. Biden has truly put his money where his mouth by putting on the ticket a woman who will take racism by the scruff of its neck and choke it by law. In the post George Floyd era where black lives matter has now become a global slogan so do brown, yellow and white, the whole spectrum of minorities including women in the White House will be seen one day. Harris is in your face, says it like she sees it whether it is gun law, abortion, immigration, all of these to be reorganised including a scrutiny of police funding. As a compromise candidate for the left, the right and the conservative segments of the party line up she kind of stays acceptable.
Most importantly she has the caliber to help defeat the incumbent and that is at this moment the important element in her being the choice. Her public showings over the next few months and her frontal combative nature on issues she disagrees with Trump are sure to create a media feeding frenzy. -bikram@khaleejtimes.com 
 

By Bikram Vohra


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