US Presidential: Biden and Harris promise to "rebuild" post-Trump America

"Ideal and reliable", "transparent and one-dimensional", Joe Biden enthroned Wednesday August 12 his new running mate Kamala Harris in an almost empty room due to pandemic. With a solemn tone, the White House candidate promised, along with the senator, to "rebuild" the United States if they defeat Donald Trump in November.  

"I had a choice, but I have no doubt that I chose the right person" for this election "vital for this country", said the former vice president of Barack Obama, 77, after the long selection process for his running mate. "I look forward to working with them all to rebuild the country," he added.  

Let's get to work, @KamalaHarris. pic.twitter.com/EjtUpgaieI

"A crying lack of leadership" 

With Kamala Harris, Joe Biden makes an already historic choice: this daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants is the first black and South Asian running mate of a large party. She would become the first female vice president of the United States if they won the November 3 election.  

Under the gaze of Kamala Harris, who listened to him sitting on a simple chair on the platform, Joe Biden then spoke of "little girls", especially "the little girls of color who so often feel forgotten and underestimated" .  

But "today, perhaps, they see themselves differently for the first time: with the makings of a president or a vice-president," he said.  

Then the ex-prosecutor spoke with an equally serious tone, in a speech interspersed with smiles when they spoke of their families and the memory of the candidate's son, Beau Biden, who died in 2015, whom she knew good. 

"The meanest, the most horrible, the most contemptuous" 

"America is in dire need of a leader. And yet we have a president who cares more about him than those who elected him," she said.  

"We are in the process of examining our conscience in the face of racism and widespread injustice," added the senator from California. 

Donald Trump's attacks on Kamala Harris were not long in coming Tuesday: "The meanest, the most horrible, the most contemptuous of the entire US Senate." "I think she's going to fail," he added on Wednesday. And the Trump team to pin down "Kamala the imposture", coming from the "radical left". In return, Joe Biden tackled the president, accustomed to "whining": "Does it surprise anyone that Donald Trump has a problem with a strong woman, or strong women in general?" A sign of the times, the candidates and their husbands arrived on stage masked.  

Management of the pandemic in question 

They denounced the president's management of the pandemic and the deep economic crisis hitting the United States. 

"Donald Trump is only trying to blow on the flames with his policies drawn from racist discourse, and cause divisions," continued Joe Biden.  

The new tandem leaves with an advantage: Joe Biden is ahead of Donald Trump, 74, by a comfortable margin in the average of national polls (+7.3 percentage points according to the average of the RealClearPolitics site) but also in several key states .  

The duo has in any case already electrified donors: the Democratic candidate announced Wednesday evening to have raised $ 26 million in 24 hours.  

Elected twice as attorney in San Francisco (2004-2011) and twice as attorney general of California (2011-2017), Kamala Harris is criticized by some progressives for having taken too hard positions at that time.  

Raised to act 

She was the first woman, but also the first black person, to head the judiciary in the country's most populous state. In January 2017, she was sworn in to the Senate in Washington, registering as the first woman to hail from South Asia and only the second black senator in American history. 

"I was raised to act. My mother knew she was raising two black girls who would be treated differently because of their appearance," said the senator.  

While he had promised in March to choose a woman for his running mate, Joe Biden faced increased pressure to choose a black candidate since the death of George Floyd at the end of May.  

Especially since the former vice-president owes his appointment in part to black voters who had offered him a resounding victory in South Carolina during the primary.  

Still, the candidate and his running mate experienced tense moments during the primary, when the latter attacked him on his past positions in the face of segregation. 

But the fact that he chose her rightly despite this clash has been hailed among Democrats, who see it as a good sign of his ability to lead. "I asked Kamala to (...) always tell me the truth," said Joe Biden.  

With AFP

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