The First Democratic Debate

June 28, 2019:  Until last week I was banking on a Biden/Harris ticket. I thought, while Biden is not electric, everyone is comfortable with “Uncle Joe” and would have no reason to vote against him. He could collect all the long-time Democrats plus everyone who was turned off by Trump, which should be enough to win. As president, he would set things back on the proper course and leave room for others to innovate. I was worried that a woman, or a black, or a socialist or a gay would give enough people a (bad) reason to vote against the Democrat and Trump could luck through again.
My fear in the debates was that a minor candidate would attack Biden, hurting the Democrats’ ultimate cause. When Harris attacked him, I thought she had lowered herself and risked bringing the party down – as well as hurt her chances for the vice-presidency. The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized she knew exactly what she was doing. Her attacks were premeditated – on immigration, race, education – hardly coming “in the run of play,” as they say in soccer. She doesn’t want to be vice-president. She wants to be president.
This brashness is a little disconcerting, but she has displayed this characteristic from the moment she was elected. And this brashness, I now believe, is the best antidote to a Trump campaign. She will stand up, she will fight, she will not, unlike Biden, become flustered. She gave the most ringing speech of the debate – clearly a dress rehearsal for her campaign. She is physically attractive – which, unfortunately, counts. And my hunch is that a black woman – especially a light-complected black (a la Obama) – is less threatening to certain Southern/bigoted voters than a black man. We did okay with Obama, they might think, and this will make up for my not voting for Hillary.
If you attack the king, the saying goes, you’d better kill him. That’s what Kamala Harris did last night.