You Know Kamala Harris Is Qualified Because Her Critics So Often Go Full Racist

Enough with the ‘DEI’ attacks

Quite a few liberals online have expressed concerns about Vice President Kamala Harris possibly serving as the Democratic nominee in place of President Joe Biden, who’s told you he’s not going. Some of those concerns are less a robust support for Biden’s personal fitness and more about the perceived racism and sexism Harris would face. This raises some concerns of my own: If you seriously doubt that a woman, especially one of color, could win the presidency on her own, then why did you advocate so strongly for a woman of color VP? It’s not like Harris was Barack Obama’s running mate. There was always a reasonable chance that Harris might not just replace Biden as president but have to run for re-election in less than ideal circumstances.

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That was one reason why people freaked out when John McCain picked Sarah Palin, and he was only 72 — a veritable bobby-soxer by today’s political standards. Of course, Palin was a blithering idiot. Kamala Harris is not. She effectively prosecuted the case against Donald Trump Saturday at the 2024 Essence Festival of Culture (watch above).

HARRIS: We are looking at an election that will take place in 122 days where, on one side, you have the former president, who is running to become president again, who has openly talked about his admiration of dictators and his intention to be a dictator on day one, who has openly talked about his intention to weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies, who has talked about being proud of taking from the women of America a most fundamental right to make decisions about your own body. 

And then, last week, understand — sadly, the press has not been covering it as much as they should in proportion to the seriousness of what just happened — when the United States Supreme Court essentially told this individual who has been convicted of 34 felonies that he will be immune from essentially the activity he has told us he is prepared to engage in if he gets back into the White House. 

Understand what we all know.  In 122 days, we each have the power to decide what kind of country we want to live in.

That was a remarkable display of coherence and extemporaneous thinking. No, “all of them, Katie” or “Who am I? Why am I here?” moments. Now, it’s not as if MAGA ignored Harris as a non-entity because she was just the VP. Nikki Haley actively campaigned against her, arguing that Biden wouldn’t survive a second term and was possibly dead already.

The Right has already targeted Harris with racist, sexist attacks. The New York Post wrote that “America may soon be subjected to the country’s first DEI president.”

“DEI” has become its own right-wing racial slur, and this argument is undeniably racist and sexist. Harris was perfectly qualified to serve as vice president and eventually president. She’d won two statewide elections in California, as senator and attorney general. She was also the San Francisco district attorney, the first woman to hold that position. She’s hardly a lightweight. You’ll note that J.D. Vance is currently auditioning for Trump’s Disney villain henchman and he’s served less of his first term in the Senate than Harris did when she became vice president. His previous experience is writing a book that white liberals gushed over.

Conservatives insist that diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts can only ensure less qualified candidates. That of course presumes white male superiority, but I do believe that Biden didn’t do Harris any favors when he announced that he was restricting his VP search to women. Headlines read “Biden vows to select a woman as his running mate,” as if this was some big ask. I suppose it was his way of declaring “look how inclusive I am!” although Hillary Clinton never overtly stated that she was balancing her ticket with a white man from the vital Dull American demographic. It was simply understood.

Whenever white men make a big scene about selecting a woman or a person of color for a key position, it feels like they’re preparing America for an unconventional choice, so when a woman or a person of color joins them on stage, no one will ask for a sandwich or place a drink order. Considering the demographics of the party’s base, I expect more of an explanation when the attorney general’s an older white guy receiving a Supreme Court consolation prize.

Rep. Jim Clyburn revealed after the 2020 election that he’d encouraged Biden to pick a Black woman — once again, another guy not doing Harris any favors.

“Joe and I talked about it several times when he was trying to make his decision,” Clyburn told CNN’s Dana Bash. “He had said it would be a woman. And I don’t mind saying now, I said to him in private that I thought that a lot of the results would turn on whether that woman (would) be a Black woman.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar was on the VP shortlist, but she hadn’t performed well with minorities during the primary. Harris critics claim that the brief window of racial reckoning after George Floyd’s murder sealed her fate, and Klobuchar herself suggested that Biden pick a Black woman.

“America must seize on the moment, and I truly believe — as I actually told the VP last night when I called him — that I think this is a moment to put a woman of color on that ticket,” she said in June 2020. “And there are so many incredibly qualified women ... If you want to heal this nation right now, my party yes, but our nation, this is a hell of a way to do it.”

The white lady from Minnesota didn’t do Harris any favors, either. Klobuchar removing herself from consideration only reinforced the bad narrative that Harris was a diversity pick. “I let her win” is generous when playing cards with a small child but not ideal when discussing the number two slot in the executive branch.

Klobuchar publicly falling on her sword was especially problematic because it effectively limited the search to Harris alone. Sure, Stacey Abrams wanted the job and is amazing, but she hadn’t won a statewide race. Although the random reality TV star can sometimes face plant into the presidency, most vice presidential nominees over the past 60 years have been governors, senators, or high-ranking House members. (Paul Ryan was chair of House Budget Committee when a 65-year-old Mitt Romney picked him in 2012.) Harris was the only Black woman in the Senate, and no Black woman has served as governor. Harris managed to become the “first” and “only” multiple times, but that’s not the only reason she was a fine choice for VP.

I disagree with Democrats who insist that Harris’s best chance of becoming president is through the back door — Biden winning re-election and then stepping down during his second term. That’s exactly what Haley claimed was Democrats’ secret plan to install Harris, and it’s disappointing that even her self-proclaimed supporters don’t believe she can get elected on her own. Besides, as the past week has indicated, Biden is not likely to surrender power voluntarily. No president would. It’s the Jock Ewing principle.

Yes, Hillary Clinton lost in 2016, but Trump needed Russian interference and Stormy Daniels’ silence to narrowly beat her in the Rust Belt. If Biden picked Harris for “diversity” but Democrats don’t really think that a Black woman can win Michigan, then they should have just gone with Klobuchar, who’s from the Midwest. But I think Harris is a better politician and candidate than perhaps even the Biden administration believes. Harris is young, dynamic, and has proven an excellent voice on the issues most important in this election, particular reproductive freedom. It’s great that she also reflects the country’s cultural diversity but she’s more than just a showpiece and a promise kept. She’s earned the job she has and is capable of much more.

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