Kamala Harris is known for her fierce facial expressions and history as a hardline prosecutor. The daughter of an Indian-born endocrinologist and a Jamaican-born economics professor, Harris is the first woman of colour to be on a major party’s presidential ticket.
But her tough stance on crime during her time as district attorney of San Francisco and attorney-general of California has made some voters balk at her pick as Joe Biden’s running mate.
Why was she chosen?
According to University of Sydney professor of political economy and sociology Sujatha Fernandes, the Democrats wanted to appeal to Republicans who didn’t want to vote for Trump. To do this, they picked two leaders, Biden and Harris, who have a law-and-order approach.
“They’re central Democrats and they’re conservatives … emerging in a moment where there’s massive social protest,” she told Crikey.
But there are shortcomings in this approach, Fernandes said. By nominating two people with similar stances, the Democrats have ignored the progressive left. They also haven’t appealed to young or Latinx voters.
Fernandes, a US-Australian dual citizen, still voted for Biden and Harris. Like many other women of colour, she supports the Democrats if only to get Trump out.
Is there a risk Harris will lose Black voters?
The Democrats consistently win the majority of the Black vote. Four years ago, 89% of Black voters supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Even so, University of Melbourne associate professor in American politics Tim Lynch told Crikey there’s a risk Harris’ record could come back to haunt her.
“I think there is a risk [the Democrats] have lost some Black voters [by selecting Harris],” said Lynch. “Prosecutors are often demonised in Black circles.”
During her time as district attorney, Harris’ tough-on-crime approach saw the rate of felony convictions rise from 50 to 76%. As attorney-general she sponsored truancy laws, penalising parents when kids don’t attend school (a law which disproportionately affected communities of colour). She also opposed a bill requiring her office to investigate shootings involving police officers, and has upheld convictions despite evidence of official misconduct.
But Harris has also pushed for criminal justice reform to reduce incarceration and introduced racial bias training in her office.
As a result, the 55 year old has been called a radical by conservatives and a conservative by progressives.
A future president?
Senior lecturer in politics and policy studies at Deakin University Zim Nwokora told Crikey that Harris has had her eye on the presidential position for a while.
“I see a shrewd politician who is trying to play a complicated game,” he said. “She has the ideological maneuverings of a political strategist, rather than someone committed to a grand vision of change.”
Nwokora added that Harris was well placed to assume the presidency after Biden if the Democrats are elected.
“She’s been drafted by a potential president and given this incredible platform to run on, instead of having to scrap for votes in the trenches,” he said.
“After four years maturing in the White House with Biden … she’ll be in an incredible position.”
Anyone who votes for KH will be as silly as the people who voted a second time for Obama. Cornell West has quite rightly characterised Obama as the “Black Mascot of Wall Street”.
People like Cornell have been around for along time, they don’t seek power and they have brains not aligned with their own aggrandizement and self interest.
Harris is a sort of dark version of Hilary.
This is what Cornell has to say about her:
“My dear sister Kamala Harris is not a radical—she’s a centrist and a moderate. I love the sister, she’s my AKA sister and everything, but at the same time, I recognize that when it comes to serious class struggles that are going on, the class war of the bosses against workers, she’s not always been on the side of the workers. Neither has Biden.
For those who don’t know what a centrist is they are people who don’t stand for anything other than their own self interest. For examples think of Nixon, Hawke, Keating, Howard, Clinton et al. If you don’t believe Nixon was a centrist think of all of the laws he passed on the EPA, consumer protection etc developed by Ralph Nader.
I think Cornell is being extremely charitable about her, but it’s not a ringing endorsement. His statements are a case of damning with feint praise. I think she is a self seeking bitch, but Cornell is more polite than I.
So in Cornell’s eyes she’s not worse than Biden, but Biden was the arse-hole of collosal proportions who doubled the incarceration rate of people in the US and doubled or in some cases trippled sentences for non-violent crimes.
Harris will be no different.
The idea that Harris will be able to replace Biden is a triumph of stupidity over logical thought. After four years of Biden, who will people vote for; a female version of Biden or a Christian Fascist who believes in the rapture?
Biden is in the pocket of the inverted totalitarian dictatorship of the corporate oligopoly. If single payer health care crossed his desk as president he would veto it. Why?
Answer this question and you will understand the problem.
Ithink that the only fair way to select a president is a universal lottery.The law of averages would give the chance of a good president.Anything would be better than the chancers who have been POTUS in the past and present.
Kamala Harris “a hardline prosecutor” with a “tough stance on crime” it says above. This takes euphemism well into the territory of deceit. Take a look at the details of her record in that job and it’s clear she was involved in dreadful abuses of her power. That’s not tough on crime, it’s perversion of justice. The only mitigation is that many US prosecutors pursue convictions (of the right sort of suspect) at any cost with total disregard for truth and justice. The system is set up to reward such conduct.
“As a result, the 55 year old has been called a radical by conservatives and a conservative by progressives.”
It sounds like a description of the kind of candidate that really ought to be able to capture the sensible centre.
Or perhaps such labels are automatically applied because of party affiliation regardless of facts or accuracy, in much the same way Clive Palmer produces ‘Labor Death Tax’ advertising. The information content is nil, except as an indication of the prejudices of those issuing the label.
I have no doubt that happens.
I’m making a point how moderates are disparaged by the left and right as though they’re people who can’t decide between what’s very obviously right and wrong.
Although she prosecuted drug users mercilessly, refused to release those convicted of cannabis possession after California decriminalised in 2016.
Yet in a throw away line from left field, in her wind-up of the debate with Pence, she suddenly blurted out that their administration would decriminalise federally.
No other major candidate has made in a presidential campaign.
She has since admitted to smoking it.
Go figure, as the kiddies say.