The Democratic party rose last Monday morning to a somewhat bipolar sense of relief and “now what do we do?” After spending years (either in denial or just plain denying) Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, the latter’s decision to withdraw saved them from the further burden of denying the obvious about their man in the White House. Moreover, their brief “uncivil” war regarding Biden’s prospects against Trump has ended in a truce – they have so far at least lowered their defenses and rallied around our incumbent VP Kamala Harris.
Now there is a new controversy for the Democrats to contend over – who will get the nod as the party’s vice-presidential candidate.
One thing is certain, Ms. Harris’s connections and affinity for the more radical left-wing of her party will likely generate new concerns to argue about. This will only add to already existing issues for a budding campaign which as of this writing continues to lag its opposition even sans the drag of Joe Biden as the nominee.
At this early stage of the nomination process evidence is already emerging of a less than democratic approach being adhered to – Kamala Harris appears to be garnering momentum as the likely choice. Yet, the vice president’s nomination poses some rather inconvenient questions about the Democratic Party – who are they today – and who will they be tomorrow?
They will lean left – but how far?
When reality finally dawned on the Democratic Party and they realized the need for a candidate nowhere near the extreme left political persuasion of primary frontrunner, Senator Bernie Sanders, that was the first true indication that defeating Donald Trump was being taken seriously. Until then, it had just been more of the same far-left rhetoric we have grown accustomed to hearing from the loudest wing of the party.
Running a Socialist against Trump was finally seen as something just short of political suicide – for the party. Eventually reason prevailed –
they needed a candidate who could be at least perceived as close to a centrist as possible and thus some distance from the party’s more radical left wing. Looking for such a candidate left little room for maneuvering – Biden kept rising to the top of everyone’s very short list. Irrespective of his abysmal performance in the debate with Trump and despite mediocre showing in Iowa and New Hampshire, the party chose the route of least resistance – Biden was their candidate – again.
Yet, even though Harris (if the Democrats would admit it) is no more popular than Biden and the early polls show her trailing the former president, there will be no further search for a more suitable candidate to run against Trump.
In a party that has wedded itself to toxic left-wing ideologies about race (DEI comes to mind) it would be impossible to embark upon a process whereby a moderate and thus more electable candidate could be found – and there are several.
In other words, a political party which has embraced as one of its guiding principles diversity, equity, inclusion and intersectionality has adopted much of what puts America in peril today – the “catechism” of wokeness. Moreover, no party which looks to African-American women as one of its most loyal voter groups would even consider being disrespectful to a woman of color in that manner. That also would border on political suicide – and rightly so.
To note this is to appreciate and laud Vice President Harris because of her race and gender, contending for the most powerful office in the world. Furthermore, early polls mean virtually nothing at this juncture of the runup to the election. Voters have not had the opportunity yet to experience Harris as a presidential candidate. But that moment will come as they listen to her rather than the media’s filtered interpretation of her. And one more caveat is warranted – the Republican Party should take heed not to underestimate her. Vice President Harris’s candidacy brings a new spirit to the Democratic Party and a reason to relinquish its recent predilection for divisiveness.
Given the last four years of her vice presidency
two truths are known: She has not performed well with virtually any issue she was given the responsibility to solve, and her popularity ratings hovered somewhere just below Biden’s.
Here is primarily what she has going for her as the candidate of a party whose voters believe what the mainstream media have fed them for the last 8 years – that Trump is a threat to democracy in general and America in particular. She represents a viable alternative to the “Biden issues,” and thus will engender enthusiasm (even if it’s really just repressed desperation).
The essential issue with the Harris candidacy is that with her the Democratic Party will be represented by someone who politically is further left than anyone except for Barack Obama running for president (at least in the last 50 years). The difference between the two is that Obama (whose oratory was brilliant) could successfully pose as a “uniter,” while actually scoring political gains by doing the opposite.
Harris is not in the former president’s league in that regard.
She occasionally meets with success posing as a moderate, but is nonetheless closely tethered
to those elements in the party which advocate for policies that divide us along racial, social and economic lines.
No matter what the oddsmakers claim in Las Vegas about the coming election, given the political twists and turns already in 2024, only a fool would venture a prediction about November 5th.
But one thing is certain, unless the Democratic Party relinquishes its affinity for dangerous ideologies like DEI, it is hauling cargo that will spoil before it reaches its destination this fall.
