US Presidential: "In many ways, Kamala Harris is a historic choice"

Text by: Anne Corpet Follow

7 min

End of the suspense in the Democratic camp. Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that he had nominated black Senator from California, Kamala Harris, as his running mate. A historic choice since it is the first time that a woman of color has been designated on a presidential ticket, explains Célia Belin, guest researcher at the Brookings Institution and author of the book "Democrats in America, the hour of choices facing Donald Trump ”.

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RFI: Kamala Harris is above all a historic choice? 

Célia Belin:  Yes, Kamala Harris is above all a historic choice. This is only the third woman who has been chosen to run a running mate on a presidential ticket, and perhaps she will become the first female vice president in U.S. history. She is also the first black American woman and the first woman of Asian descent, since her mother is an Indian immigrant and her father is Jamaican. So in many ways, Kamala Harris is a historic choice that will make history no matter what her fate. 

It is also a reasonable choice, is it the choice of experience ?

There were many names that had been circulating before Kamala Harris was chosen and some of them that were particularly inspiring. But we see that Joe Biden made the choice of experience. In fact, Kamala Harris was Attorney General of the State of California, has also been a senator, for six years now, from California. He is therefore someone who is of national stature and who is ready to govern in case something happens, so truly someone who can replace Joe Biden from day one. He is also someone who can co-govern with him, since we know he will give powers to his vice-president, whom he intends to work with, a bit like he did it with Barack Obama in 2008 when he was his choice of running mate.

Joe Biden has said it repeatedly, he wanted someone he got along with, someone who shared his political options. Maybe that's why Joe Biden didn't choose a progressive activist like Elizabeth Warren , but someone like Kamala Harris who was closer to his ideas, more moderate, maybe a little smoother, and which better matched what he wanted to do with his presidency. 

However, Donald Trump reacted to the announcement of the appointment of Kamala Harris by calling her " radical " and saying that she was " the most liberal elected in Congress " ...

Since the anti-racist demonstrations of Black Lives Matter , Donald Trump has chosen to characterize all Democrats as inveterate progressive radicals, a radical left that would be dangerous for America and would be the only bulwark of law and order against this radical left. So he says of Joe Biden that he's the socialist and radical left, and now he says of Kamala Harris. It does not correspond to reality.

In fact, Joe Biden is rather at the center of the party. He chose Kamala Harris who herself is relatively moderate. She is not part of this progressive wave embodied by Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, because her economist and social options are more central to the Democratic Party. 

Moreover to the left of this Democratic Party, and in particular within this Black Lives Matter movement, Kamala Harris, at least so far, has not aroused tremendous enthusiasm. What do they blame him for ?

During her primary campaign , she came under scrutiny by the activist base of Black Lives Matter and other progressive left-wing parties. They criticized her for her stint as Attorney General of the State of California where she has a mixed record, in particular on the reform of criminal justice with of course, advances in the fight against police violence, but also hesitation to both on the death penalty, but also on prosecuting police officers who are accused of police violence or racist crimes. So, for all these reasons, the progressive base has been very critical of Kamala Harris. 

But it seems to me that there, facing Donald Trump, with a candidacy that is historic for the first black woman on a presidential ticket, these will be arguments powerful enough to partly forget these criticisms which will probably come back if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win in 2021. But for the moment, these criticisms are forgotten in favor of a truly national union and a union of the whole of the left against Donald Trump.

By the way, in recent weeks, Kamala Harris has really stood out since the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the fight against both lynching and she wanted to pass legislation in the Senate in this direction. She distinguished herself through very vigorous speeches, which reinforces her image as a strong woman. She has also been at the forefront of this anti-racist mobilization in recent months. So Kamala Harris may be forgetting her past hesitations which also came from being the first black female attorney general in U.S. history, which may explain some of her hesitation at the time. . But today, I think she will be able to carry their fight in the event of victory of Joe Biden. 

She will also bring to Joe Biden an energy that is a little lacking in the Democratic candidate's campaign ...

We know that Kamala Harris is very charismatic. She is also very funny, she has a lot of repartee. We can easily imagine Kamala Harris facing Mike Pence really dominating a debate. She has demonstrated this during previous debates. She is also very cheerful, she laughs very easily, sometimes at her own jokes. She always dances in meetings. She is an endearing personality, she really enjoys cooking. She puts forward her husband, Douglas Emhoff, who would be the first second Jewish "gentleman" in the history of the United States.

She puts forward this multiplicity of ethnic origins, religious origins of her family very frequently. It also portrays the joy she has in running a political campaign. So, he's really someone who brings energy to Joe Biden's candidacy.

► To read: Joe Biden chooses Senator Kamala Harris as running mate

. @ JoeBiden can unify the American people because he's spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he'll build an America that lives up to our ideals.

I'm honored to join him as our party's nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.

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• USA Elections 2020
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