Kamala Harris Argues Racism, Sexism Jeopardize Her Electability

JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
33,981
3,318
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She never was electable and not because she is a woman or because of her race....

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris described electability as the “elephant in the room” of her campaign and pondered whether America is ready for a woman of color to be commander in chief.


“Essentially, is America ready for a woman and a woman of color to be president of the United States?” Harris said in an interview with Axios on HBO. “There is a lack of ability or a difficulty in imagining that someone whom we have never seen can do a job that has been done 45 times by someone who is not that person.”


The same conversation happened when Barack Obama ran for president, the California senator added.


Harris has been especially vocal about both racial justice and women’s rights during her 2020 campaign. During this month’s debate, she accused the debate moderators and fellow contenders for the Democratic nomination of failing to adequately prioritize the discussion of abortion rights. The former California attorney general also made headlines during the first Democratic debate in June when she called out former vice president Joe Biden for remarks he made praising two segregationist senators.


“It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and careers on the segregation of race in this country,” Harris said from the debate stage.


“It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing,” she continued. “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day. That little girl was me.”


Biden made the offending remarks several weeks earlier when he reminisced about bygone days when politics was characterized by a higher level of civility, citing his ability to get along with two segregationist senators despite their differences as an example.

“At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything,” Biden said. “But today you look at the other side and you’re the enemy.”


Harris is currently polling in fifth place behind former vice president Joe Biden, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Bernie Sanders, and South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg.
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,284
5,057
136
She could be right, or not. I haven't followed her enough to have a real opinion, most of what I know is hearsay.
 

woolfe9998

Lifer
Apr 8, 2013
16,188
14,090
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It's an electoral strategy where she tries to guilt white people into voting for her, because if they don't, maybe just maybe they're subconsciously racist.

She's full of shit, but then again, most rhetorical strategies in an election are premised on a foundation of shit.
 

Bitek

Lifer
Aug 2, 2001
10,647
5,220
136
SheShes single digit support in the Democratic primary... Which is heavily made up of poc women.

WTF. You're running a shitty campaign, take some responsibility. Whining won't fix it.
 
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pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
12,975
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Surely her fundamental problem is that her previous job (and her performance in it) means the left don't like or trust her? To the extent that's solely because of her even having that job that seems unfair to me (I mean, somebody has to do that job), but in fact her behaviour and performance in the role seems to justify the distrust.

Personally I'd regard her race and gender as being positives - the western leadership class urgently needs to embrace other perspectives, and all else being equal a different life-experience due to demographics is a plus. Unfortunately all else is pretty much never equal, as Kamala demonstrates.
 

Cogman

Lifer
Sep 19, 2000
10,277
125
106
Ok, for one, I thought she did super well in the first round of debates. Further, the way she conducted herself while asking barr questions during a senate hearing was amazing.

With that said, she's simply not my pick. The last debate was a trainwreck for her (WTF do you care about badgering warren to kick trump off twitter?). Further, she's simply done nothing to stand out, IMO, from the other candidates. Pretty much every single time she talked in the last debate it was about trying to turn the question into her championing a minority. "What is your healthcare plan" "I plan on making healthcare work for women!".

The reason she isn't polling well is she isn't really different from the other candidates. The fact that she is a POC has absolutely nothing to do with her popularity.
 

compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
27,113
925
126
This has less to do with racism / sexism, and more to do with whether or not she's a good candidate for the office she's seeking. Instead of beating the drums of racism and sexism, we haven't heard a plan. Impeach Trump is not a plan. What is she going to do for us? What is her message on Jobs, national security, health care, infrastructure, and a host of other kitchen table issues. There have been many black men and women who have been given stiff sentences, serving time in prison. They have families out there who vote. She is not popular among that sector of society. She's also not without some personal scandal in her past, although that probably doesn't much matter. Divisive, identity politics may have used to work, but they don't now.
 
Nov 25, 2013
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This has less to do with racism / sexism, and more to do with whether or not she's a good candidate for the office she's seeking. Instead of beating the drums of racism and sexism, we haven't heard a plan. Impeach Trump is not a plan. What is she going to do for us? What is her message on Jobs, national security, health care, infrastructure, and a host of other kitchen table issues. There have been many black men and women who have been given stiff sentences, serving time in prison. They have families out there who vote. She is not popular among that sector of society. She's also not without some personal scandal in her past, although that probably doesn't much matter. Divisive, identity politics may have used to work, but they don't now.

Just ask Trump how that works, eh?
 

dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
35,206
28,223
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This thread is about Kamala Harris, the candidate. Way to go off topic.
He is just pointing out that when you said those tactics don't work now what you really meant to say is that they work really well for Republicans but when a Democrat does it, it is a turn off.
 

compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
27,113
925
126
He is just pointing out that when you said those tactics don't work now what you really meant to say is that they work really well for Republicans but when a Democrat does it, it is a turn off.

I'm confident he is capable of answering for himself.
 
Mar 11, 2004
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I'm not entirely sure she's blaming everything on racism and sexism, but rather saying that those are still issues for potential candidates and that as such they are thing she has to overcome as well as the usual politics, but its not something anyone wants to talk about, despite it clearly still being a major thing. Its what galvanized right wingers because Obama got elected, and likewise there's a lot of people that didn't vote for Hilary simply because of her being a woman. If she didn't have to deal with that, it likely would have nullified all the shit that Turmp and the Republicans did. But no one wants to talk about that aspect. They always say it was other things. Now she might be ploying that too much, and it might be a calculated thing just to get the other candidates to talk about this stuff since she probably sees she doesn't have much chance, but she can at least try to get some conversation about it. But again, no one wants to talk about it. Hell, look at this thread where everyone is practically falling all over themselves to dismiss her even broaching that. Some of you are explicitly complaining about her even bringing that up. Actually its more than that. You're literally calling her dog shit and full of shit. Sorry, no, that applies to people like Turmp.

This thread shows she actually has a very valid point. Those are still very much issues, and people don't want to talk about them at all still. Even people who regularly post condemning racism and the like don't want people bringing up racism and sexism here. What does that tell you?