Commentary: Harris, The Obvious But Historic Choice

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Commentary: Harris, The Obvious But Historic Choice

By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com

A sunrise can be inspiring, but it’s also predictable, even inevitable.

The same goes for the selection of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, to serve as the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential candidate.

Harris is a historic pick for the post. She is the first woman of color in America’s history to run on a national ticket for a majority party. She is just the second Black person to do so – and only the fourth woman.

Her selection elevates this campaign above the mundanities of personality and pettiness and lifts it into a discussion, once again, of how far America has come.

How near or far we are from fulfilling the fundamental American promise – that this would be a nation where human beings could pursue their fondest dreams, freed from the shackles of bigotry, oppression and injustice.

Stirring as the symbolism of Harris’s selection might be, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

She just made the most sense – and the Democrats’ standard-bearer, former Vice President Joe Biden, saw that.

The other candidates faced obstacles too great to overcome.

Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice may have a great personal rapport with Biden, but she’s never held an elective office. An experienced politician like Biden never was going to risk the highest-stakes election in at least a generation on a candidate who’s never faced the voters.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, might have helped Biden with his party’s restive left-wing, but at a huge cost. Massachusetts has a Republican governor, Charlie Baker. If a Biden-Warren ticket were to win, then Baker would be able to appoint a Republican to replace her. That alone could determine which party controls the Senate – and thus the process of confirming Supreme Court justices and judges.

Stacey Abrams may cause Democratic activists’ hearts to pound, but she’s untested at the national level. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may preside over an essential swing state, but she has no foreign-policy experience.

So it went with every other contender.

Gradually, inevitably, the choice always came back to Harris.

President Donald Trump and his acolytes on the far right now try to make hay out of the fact that Harris landed a telling blow on Biden during a primary debate. The fact that she wasn’t “nice” to the former vice president when the two were squaring off against each other ought to disqualify her, the Trump crew crows.

What this really shows is that Biden and Harris are both adults and professionals. They’re willing to endure slights to serve the greater good. They don’t have to agree with each other – or anyone else, for that matter – on everything to find ways to work together.

Thus, the Democrats have set up a powerful contrast with the “my-way-or-the-highway, if-you’re-not-with-me-100-percent-you’re-my-mortal-enemy” Trump-led Republican Party.

The president’s base may enjoy living in a nation in which unremitting hostility to neighbors and fellow citizens is the norm.

The rest of us, I suspect, don’t like it nearly so much.

Biden’s willingness to forgive and move on may prove appealing to the millions of Americans who want a president who isn’t angry all the time.

Now that the rosters have been set for the fall election, conventional wisdom has begun to harden. The fossilizing beliefs are that Trump will pound Biden in the presidential debates and Harris will eviscerate Vice President Mike Pence.

I’m not so sure on either count.

Biden’s force field always has been his geniality. I can see him doing his version of Ronald Reagan’s “there you go again” and shaking his head while Trump thunders and yelps on the debate stage – and treating the Donald like a toddler who needs a nap.

And, while Harris is a formidable prosecutorial presence, Pence always has been a more elusive target than people realize. He can shrug his shoulders and slip a punch with the best of them. Four years ago, when Trump was reeling in his debates with Hillary Clinton, Pence stopped the bleeding and saved the day during the vice-presidential debate.

There are more than two months of sunrises between now and Election Day.

All of them will be predictable, even inevitable.

Some may be historic.

FOOTNOTE: John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

The City-County Observer posted this article without bias, editing or opinion.

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9 COMMENTS

  2. reg marxist tator………the demoncrats keep marxist tator in the dark and feed it shit like mushrooms same mentality……………………krull journalist our ass………….a real black American running to change things……………………..Kim Klalic speaks the truth about demoncrat/marxist leadership in big cities in this case baltimore…………………..so sad marxist like krull and tator continues their anti American bullshit…………………………………https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/meet-the-remarkable-black-republican-kim-klacik-running-kweisi-mfume-for-congress-from-baltimore/

  3. I just sent KIM KLACIK a check along with MAGA………… …….GOD BLESS AMERICA from todays demoncrat/marxist………………………………………

    • The son-of-a-bit-ch filed bankruptcy 6 times, has now bankrupt the country, so He might as well bankrupt your ass also.

      Send another check fool.

      But make it out in Rubles.

      The Orange Lard Ass will be able to get it cashed faster.

      Power To The Kasaks!….

  4. “She is just the second Black person to do so – and only the fourth woman.”

    What are you smoking? She’s not Black. No more than Obama is Black. Bother Harrisxand Obama are biracial.

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