Harris possesses a formidable intellect, is very well spoken and, using complex but comprehensible and complete sentences on rarely hears in politics today, and is not prone to gaffes, and have proved herself an indefatigable campaigner. She was regarded well enough as the California State Attorney general to win one of the state’s Senaate seats, and has earned a national profile in that position.
On the other hand, she doesn’t seem to bring any political advantages to the ticket. She’s from California, but Biden or any other Democratic nominee needn’t worry about that state’s 55 electoral votes. She’s a woman, but Biden already has the support of a majority of women voters an Harris isn’t likely to attract any distaff supporters of President Donald Trump. By current Democratic standards she’s considered a moderate, but she’s sill far left of the average Republican and won’t be seen as a moderating influence on the ticket. She might even wind up dispiriting some far-left Democratic voters who consider Biden insufficiently Democrat.
Given the current state of Democratic politics, Harris’ reputation as a tough-on-crime attorney general will probably alienate much of the party, and it won’t win over any Trump supporters. He will find it hard to attack her as part of a nefarious plot to stop enforcing the law entirely, but he’ll try anyway.
Harris is black, too — actually part Indian and part Jamaican, which qualifies as black by current rules — but in this race that won’t make much difference. Like any other Democrat Biden can count on at least 90 percent of the black vote, and while there are still a lot of racists in America they were all going to vote for Trump anyway.
Perhaps the 77-year-old Biden thought her the most qualified President of the United States should he be unable to serve a full first team. We don’t share that assessment, but we can’t think of anyone on the current political scene who is up to the job.
— Bud Norman
The Central Standard Times 