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For the second time, US will be in the cusp of electing a potential women President in VP Harris, after Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful attempt in 2016.
The rise of Kamala Harris from VP to the Democratic Presidential nominee has not been without controversy.
Kamala Harris popularity as a Presidential candidate in 2019
Then Senator Harris was not very popular during the 2020 Democratic Primaries. Even in her own home state of California, her choice among Democratic voters were in single digit (7%).
Her withdrawal from the campaign was summed up by New York Times as:
Ms. Harris is the only 2020 Democrat who has fallen hard out of the top tier of candidates. She has proved to be an uneven campaigner who changes her message and tactics to little effect and has a staff torn into factions.
Are those tell-tale signs of her candidacy of ‘changing her message and tactics‘ and ‘staff torn into factions‘ a warming back in 2020?
Selection of Kamala Harris as VP
When Joe Biden said that he preferred his running mate to be a woman of colour, there was clear indication that his VP pick was definitely not based solely on merit, but the intersection of a woman (discrimination based on sex) and people of colour (discrimination based on race).
Would that be considered sexist or racist?
Identity with VP Harris Race
In 2016, the Associated Press (AP) posted an article titled ‘California’s Kamala Harris becomes first Indian-American US senator‘ (archived) (Nov 9, 2016). Almost 4 years later (July 31, 2019), another article the AP article was changed to ‘Biden picks Kamala Harris as running mate, first Black woman‘ (archived).
Can someone switch to their preferred race based on convenience?
VP Kamala Harris’ Rise to Democratic Presidential Nominee in 2024
Kamala’s rise to the Democratic Presidential nominee was rather unconventional because she won the Democratic nomination without winning a single primary vote.
Kamala was picked by the delegate, not by the voters. Was that process democratic?
VP Kamala Harris’ Word Salad
VP Harris have often been criticized for her incoherent talks when she appears for talk, which have been labelled as Word Salad.
The most famous one would be the ‘What can be, unburdened by what has been‘, which she has often been repeated in may venues.
VP Kamala, The Unvetted Candidate?
Considering all the above cases, is it possible that VP Harris has not been properly prepared through the democratic process?
She has avoided the press conferences, with appearances only in one-to-one interviews.
Even Vox ran an article ‘Is it time for Kamala Harris to do interviews and press conferences?‘ (Aug 21, 2024). In the same light, Axios also posted an article ‘The Harris-Walz media strategy: Hide from the press‘ (Sep 19, 2024).
Her lack of appearance in front of the press to take questions has not gone unnoticed with Fox News ‘101 days: Kamala Harris has yet to do formal press conference since emerging as Democratic nominee‘ (Oct 29, 2024).
Did the Democratic Party erred in not having VP Harris properly vetted by the process? With less than a week for the 2024 US Presidential election, one has to wait and watch – only time will tell.
