Opinion: Did Biden Make the Right Call with Harris?
With Sen. Kamala Harris joining the Democratic ticket, it seems like the election of 2020 has become even more of an anomaly in modern or even US politics as a whole. Generally, the nominee chooses someone who balances him out, appealing to the base and even trying to gain more votes in a certain demographic. In 2008 Obama chose Joe Biden to balance out his ‘blackness’ (which would have bothered certain elements of the Democratic Party) and relatively progressive platform with a conservative white man from Delaware who worked with segregationists, and he was able to flip the GOP base Virginia. In 2012 Romney made the mistake of choosing Paul Ryan, Though Ryan was an outspoken young man from the important swing state of Wisconsin, Ryan proved to be just like Romney; he was a low-tax, free-market neoconservative who barely appealed to any other demographic except the nominal GOP base. Come 2016, we find Trump, who himself is an anomaly, a billionaire from liberal New York. With his only appeal standing in his populism which frightened the GOP establishment, he chose Mike Pence. Pence helped him calm the GOP leadership while squeezing every last vote from the Evangelicals who found Trump’s more unchristian lifestyle bearable with a nice white Christian man from the crucial Midwest. So did Joe Biden choose the right woman to join his ticket and win?
It’s a bit more complicated than yes or no. Right now Biden leads Trump in virtually every poll and several swing states, so all he had to do was choose someone who could balance him out and victory was guaranteed. Joe Biden does not have a good track record on racial or criminal justice reform, and he speaks to the establishment neoliberals who, like their neoconservative counterparts, lobby for Wall St. and tangential foreign wars. So, one would think, in order to unite the Democratic Party’s Sanders supporters, he would select a new progressive. Kamala Harris, though, does not check any of those boxes, and her nomination has many on the left worried. Kamala Harris’ record as a prosecutor left her with scrutiny from the Sanders wing and minimal African-American support during the primaries. Though Harris appears to be “the most liberal senator ever,” her activism can only be observed in her social staces. Her economics and foreign policy stances are to the right of many democrats.The Wall St. Journal headlined the day after her nomination that mega-donors and investors felt “relieved” after Joe’s pick was announced. Her foreign policy lies to the right of the progressives just like Joe Biden; she’s an avid supporter of AIPAC (the Israeli lobby), she’s been against talks with North Korea and Russia, and voted for sanctions against Iran and increases in the military budget.
Harris is generally alienating to progressives on foreign policy and the economy, it’s only her social views that align with the far-left yet alienate the American public. Harris supports abortion until 20 weeks, something the vast majority of Americans oppose.She also takes a much more liberal stance on illegal immigration than most of the public. So what does Biden have to gain from Harris? At face value, a lot; people of color have reliably voted Democrat while most of the Democrats’ efforts have been geared towards rural white people. The demand for a woman VP was followed by a demand for a colored woman due to the heightened racial tensions following the mass protests. Even though Kamala Harris isn’t that well-liked amongst Blacks, this is definitely a show of support to colored communities. The Democrats have done well in terms of the superficial identity of their candidate, but at the core of it, Kamala Harris does much more to hurt Biden than help.
First of all, Harris was supposed to energize the “democratic base” (people of color and coastal progressives). However, her establishment tendencies and unsavory record as prosecutor have left a sour taste in the mouths of colored communities and haven’t increased enthusiasm among Biden supporters. The enthusiasm gap is still quite wide, Trump supporters are still more enthusiastic about supporting their candidate than Biden supporters.
Secondly, she doesn’t unite the left. Her record on key progressive and left-wing populist issues have angered many Sanders supporters who may sit 2020 out again in protest of Biden’s choice.
Thirdly, she fails to bring in new rural voters. Rural voters in the midwest and northeast are crucial to any Biden or Trump victory, and they tend to be much more populist in terms of attitudes towards the corporations who have celebrated Harris’s election. The primaries forced Biden to move to the left on many issues, and picking Kamala Harris to be Vice Presidentwill ensure Biden’s move to the social left. But if 2016 has taught us anything, social issues tend to play second fiddle to economic issues, which most people still trust Trump on. If Biden were to really cut into Trump’s votes, the likes of a populist Elizabeth Warren could have broadened his base, while Harris only solidifies the centrist democrats in support of Biden. The VP must be different to increase voter turnout and reach out to new groups.
Lastly, in comparing Pence and Harris, the VP who stands firmest by their nominee usually is best. Pence has been able to tip-toe around Trump’s more controversial statements while vigorously defending him during the 2016 VP debate. On the other hand, Harris, implicitly called Biden a racist during the primaries and claimed to believe Tara Reade’s claims of rape. Harris will have to mellow out and be much more “cool” and “calm” on her rhetoric if she wants to learn from Sarah Palin’s mistakes or Hillary Clinton’s success. As October nears, Harris’s strengths will become clearer. Her strength as a woman of color (Black and South Asian), will surely add to the ticket as an immediate effect. As of now, Harris as VP nominee has lead me to release the following prediction: