SO WHO IS KAMALA HARRIS EXACTLY?

Why Is She So Great?

She pulls no punches. As a former prosecutor, Harris has proven herself to be an absolute brawler in debates, all the while remaining likeable, charming and charismatic – a line that is depressingly much more difficult for women candidates to walk. It’s that star power that Biden, as a 77-year-old, needs from his much younger VP pick.

What’s more, the selection of Ms Harris is an historic one. As the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, the 55-year-old is the first Black and Asian woman to ever be on the presidential ticket of a major US political party. Given the rallying cry of the Black Lives Matter movement, and given African American women as a key pillar of the Democratic voting bloc, it’s representation at the top.

But look to policy too, and Ms Harris is quite the liberal voting progressively on things like healthcare (yeah, it’s not free in America) and gun rights (yeah, because I can openly carry a machine gun in some parts of America). That’s a foil to Biden’s more centrist, moderate tendencies, and if he is to serve one term if elected, his VP choice will be seen as the natural successor. Someone who believes healthcare to be a right and not a privilege is probably the sort of President we need.

Why Is She sometimes considered controversial?

The reason Ms Harris’s presidential campaign flopped is because she couldn’t really explain why she wanted to be president. Competitors that fared much better had a vision: Bernie Sanders wanted ‘revolution’. Elizabeth Warren wanted ‘big structural change’. Joe Biden wanted a return to the Obama years. But Harris? Well, it felt like she just fancied being in the Oval Office.

That very idea has lent credence to theories that she’s in it for glory and self-gain, as opposed to governing by an ideology Harris truly believes in. And, as a former prosecutor enforcing and advocating laws that disproportionately affect African American neighbourhoods, her record is patchy: she refused to pursue the death penalty against a man charged with murdering a police officer, but she’s also endorsed the actual death penalty in court. She also spoke of being a “progressive prosecutor”, one that should “speak up for those whose voices aren’t being heard” in her 2019 memoir The Truths We Hold, but at the same, Harris rolled out an anti-truancy scheme that slapped parents of school-shy kids with penalties. It’s not the sort of thing progressives like to hear.

What Happens Now?

Harris has got quite a job on her hands. Covid-19 has spiralled out of control in the US, and the economy, like every other major country, has been badly bruised. That’s a huge burning shit tip to inherit. It all depends on the extent to which Biden wants her help though. Traditionally, the Vice President is only as powerful as their President allows them to be. Al Gore, Bill Clinton’s second-in-command, was rumoured to be on a very short leash as Hillary Clinton took on a leading role in the White House. On the flipside, George W. Bush’s VP Dick Cheney wielded an enormous amount of power, especially in terms of foreign policy. If a President so wishes, their VP can be a professional ribbon cutter only; teas with C-list national figures, opening a new train station in the arse end of nowhere and the like.

Biden’s own relationship with his then-boss Barack Obama provides a big hint as to Harris’s future. The now President shared a close working relationship with everyone’s favourite Democrat president, often countering Obama’s youth and inexperience with decades of work in the Senate. What’s more, Politico reported that Biden was searching for a running mate that was ‘simpatico’ with his ideals when the hunt was underway. Harris very much fits those ideals, and one can assume she’ll be front and centre of the next White House.

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