The big buzz on Tuesday August 11 is that Joe Biden finally announced his running mate for Vice President on the Democratic Party ticket.
So here we go, America: Meet Kamala Harris. Your likely next next President of the United States.
As I’d said, this was not only Joe Biden’s most likely choice, but the most unsatisfactory from a libertarian perspective, or even a “progressive” one. As we keep telling people, Kamala Harris is a cop who wants to be president. So the fact that both parts of the ticket are essentially statist means that far from going back to the status quo ante of the Obama years, we might get yet another incremental lean towards authoritarianism, even if it’s not the Trumpist overly racist variety.
On the other hand, four years of the Trump Organization mean that more white liberals and people “of color” are reconsidering the militarized police state and even gun control, so libertarians have that much going for us!
I think that Biden may have been thinking in terms of which candidate had the least downsides. Elizabeth Warren might have been more politically acceptable, but her agenda might have alienated moderates in the same way that Harris alienates progressives, not only that, her Senate replacement is not guaranteed to be a Democrat. Latter-day favorite Karen Bass was also a progressive, but like Bernie Sanders, she has an unfortunate habit of praising communists (and Scientology, same difference). Susan Rice had loads of qualifications but no political experience, and that’s the opposite of what you need for Vice President, since the VP has only two constitutional duties – breaking a Senate tie and replacing the President in emergency – and neither of these is a day-to-day responsibility. I’m sure Rice could be better used elsewhere.
I can also think of two areas where Biden’s choice is a positive. I’d mentioned that the main reason he might not choose Harris is that she ripped him fairly badly in at least one debate. But then again, it was George HW Bush who referred to Reagan’s agenda as “voodoo economics.” And if Reagan was savvy enough to pick Bush anyway, clearly Biden is just as pragmatic and willing to bury grudges. That’s a sharp contrast to the current resident, whose staff have had to censor intelligence reports to make sure the facts didn’t hurt his feelings.
Plus, the fact that Harris IS a hardass and no pushover is exactly what the political moment needs. Of course the Party of Trump is going to rag on her gender (and her race, to the extent that they can get away with it), but they were going to do that anyway. And yes, Clinton had to put up with a lot of that, and did about as well as could be expected, but as I kept telling people, some folks aren’t willing to assess how much of Hillary Clinton’s problem was her being a woman and how much of it was her being her. She didn’t maneuver and she didn’t counterpunch. But something tells me that if Kamala Harris ever had to debate Donald Trump and he tried stalking behind her back, she would shut that shit off RIGHT quick.
And again, I see all the “progressives” on Facebook, bitching and moaning and finally rationalizing their choice, or lack thereof. One guy said, “I don’t care if the Democratic nominee is the tuna salad in the back of my fridge, at least it’s not Trump.” Certainly the tuna salad would be less moldy and rotten.
I’m reminded of the last cycle when a Democrat partisan friend told me, “I’d rather vote for an empty pizza box than any Republican.” And I said, “I agree. Unfortunately the Democrats didn’t nominate an empty pizza box, they nominated Hillary Clinton.” Which is why I ended up voting for Gary Johnson, cause he was the closest thing we had to an empty pizza box. And that’s why this year, I’m going to vote for Biden, cause he’s closer to being an empty pizza box than even Gary Johnson was.
Of course the real question is how The Boy King is going to react to this, especially since MSDNC and the other networks are not covering his 6 pm COVID briefing conference for once. Because as we know, Trump needs the camera like a Boulder Highway ho needs crack, and he absolutely cannot stand to NOT be the center of attention. So what’s he going to do to upstage Sleepy Joe? Maybe invade Costa Rica to stop them from spreading coronavirus and/or radical leftism. Either that or announce that at his convention, his NEW running mate is going to be Kristi Noem or Nikki Haley.
(‘But Sir, haven’t I been a good boy?’ ‘Yeah, sure Mike, but I don’t need you anymore. I’m trading you in for a hotter model. Now go away.’ ‘Yes, Master.’)
Now, keep in mind, anything bad I say or will say about Biden and Harris has nothing to do with my choice. I have absolutely no faith that Joe Biden has a plan to reverse the spread of coronavirus, or to repair the economy that resident rump decimated. But the first day that Joe Biden is president will be the first day that Donald Trump is NOT president, and that by itself will do wonders for this country’s chances for recovery.
It’s just that there are some things to consider both in this election season and afterward. One, despite the Republican Party doing everything in its power to eliminate itself as a choice for rational people, they are also doing everything in their power to eliminate the choice of rational people in that oldthink bourgeois institution called the election. Two, half the reason they did as well as they did last time despite not having the levers of national government is that the “rational” alternative to Banana Republicanism doesn’t convince people that they actually know what this country needs or wants, and Democrats should know by now that you can’t keep playing “you HAVE to vote for the lesser evil” and not have somebody call your bluff.
In retrospect, it was actually great strategy for Joe Biden to sit back and let Trump hog the spotlight most of the year, because he did nothing but disgrace himself and make Biden look great simply by default. But now Biden and Harris have to be proactive. They have to take the spotlight from Trump and give people something to vote FOR.
Good luck with that. We’re all going to need it.