“KAM SHE DO IT?” VP HARRIS ON THE HOME STRETCH

Written by Nayaba Arinde

Immediately after current President Joe Biden adhered to concerns about his health and cognition, pulled out of the race, and endorsed Harris, the campaign enjoyed an unprecedented upswing and Barack Obama 2008-type urban popularity and major grassroots momentum.

But just over six weeks later, despite all the media-hyped fervor, the race is statistically tied. 

It’s in the details. Harris’s policy-position switching, despite stating that her values are the same or not–from Medicaid for all to sympathetic leanings to immigration is catching voters’ attention. Republican challenger Donald Trump has switched up on issues, too,  such as supporting abortion. Pandering perhaps to female voters, Trump suddenly said last week that he is supporting free taxpayer-funded IVF treatments for women.

With no significant bump after the DNC in Chicago, the latest ABC poll has Harris at 52% and 46% for Trump—a tie, given the margin of error and undecideds.

The slated September 10th presidential debate may be the only opportunity for observers to hear Harris and Trump hash it out face-to-face.

Upset by the fourth-quarter candidate substitution in July, Trump groused that it was not fair for this late-stage switch. He slammed the move and berated Harris with a barrage of insults, questioning her mental and professional ability, racial identity, and competency.

The political theater with the former prosecutor versus the current 34-count felon was set.

These are about to be the most transformative two months. Will the bombastic Republican candidate be able to rally his counter-culture advocates to the polls? Or will the Democratic accidental candidate continue to inspire loyalists, impressionable undecideds, and a Black community that is being courted with minimal effort but often unrewarded great expectation?

Coming off a rousing DNC showing two weeks ago in Chicago, Harris finally sat down for a one-on-one interview with the media last week.

The consensus, though, is that she did not really answer any of the CNN questions.

She side-stepped the question about Trump’s determination that she “happened to turn Black.”

Deciding to dismiss her own identity politics, her short-shrift response was, “Same old, tired playbook. Next question, please.”

Eyebrows were raised on both sides.

Kamala Devi Harris, who says she was raised going to both the church and Hindu Temple, is the daughter of Jamaican-American Donald J. Harris, an economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, and the late Tamil Indian Shyamala Gopalan, a biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Library.

Seeking support from both, Harris is an Howard University alum and AKA soror.

Back to the CNN interview, reporter Dana Bash asked another none-answered question.

There is the issue of Harris’s seemingly fracking ban/support flip flop as frack-friendly swing state Pennsylvania significance looms close.

“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is [that] my values have not changed… the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time,” said Harris.

Back in September 2019, CNN hosted a climate crisis town hall; Harris said, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking and starting with what we can do on Day 1 around public lands.” 

On the issue of Gaza, Palestine, and Israel, Harris emphasized her support for the state of Israel and refused to advocate for the discontinuation of the flow of American weaponry, which opponents determine contributes to the genocide of Palestinians.

Harris stated, “What we must do to work toward a two-state solution, where Israel is secure and, in equal measure, the Palestinians have security and self-determination and dignity.”

While Trump decries Harris as the “border Czar,” continuously linking crime with the influx of migrants at the southern border, the Vice President maintains that she and the federal government have allocated millions and engaged affected communities in the region to find alternatives to crossing over into the U.S.

As a senator, Harris advocated for gun control laws, healthcare and taxation reform, and the DREAM Act – a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. 

Yet, Americans stay poised to hear Harris’s potential presidential policy suggestions; everyday people voice their concerns about issues like; un/underemployment, the lack of affordable housing, inflation, and everyday economics and people struggling to make ends meet, social justice issues, including crime, immigration and the fight to become documented and work, and the ongoing battle for Reparations.

People want answers. The General Election will take place on November 5, 2024, with early voting from October 26, 2024, to November 3, 2024.

New Jersey’s Division of Elections states, “Historic legislation established in-person early last year voting in New Jersey. This law makes our state even more voter-friendly and strengthens our democracy by expanding opportunities to exercise your right to vote. 

This new option allows registered voters to cast their ballot in person, using a voting machine, during the designated voting period before Election Day. You can now vote in person when it’s most convenient for your schedule.” 

Shirley Chisholm of Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, was the first Black woman to run for president. Harris is the second ‘Black’ woman and the first South Asian American to be nominated by the Democratic Party to run for president.

 Like Tahesha Way–former NJ Secretary of State, current Lieutenant Governor, and the late LG Sheila Oliver- Black and melanated woman elected to statewide office in the nation is not unprecedented. There is Attorney General Letitia James in New York, and Los Angeles has Mayor Karen Bass; the nation has many female mayors and governors. Many countries worldwide have women in high-powered positions, from Gabon to Ethiopia, India, Liberia, Jamaica, England, and Malawi. To name a few.

In the USA, in 2008, one-time  Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wase vice presidential candidate alongside Republican party nominee John McCain; nominated as th in 2016, Hillary Clinton was the Democratic presidential candidate, and now Kamala Harris is vying for the presidency in the 2024 general election. 

In 1989, President Gerald Ford answered a grade schooler’s question about a woman becoming president.

He said it would not happen “in the normal course of events,” but “Either the Republican or Democrat political party will nominate a man for president and a woman for vice president, and the woman and man will win. So we’ll end up with a president, a male, and a vice president, a female. And in that term of office of the president, the president will die, and the woman will become president under the law, our Constitution. Once that barrier is broken, men had better be careful from then on because they’ll have a hard time ever getting a nomination in the future. But that’s how it will happen, and I think it will probably come sometime in the next four or eight years.

“From the UK,   the feeling is that  Kamala Harris, as the Democratic candidate, puts her in a better position to win the November polls,” said London activist Odili Obi. Prior to Biden dropping out, the general view was that Donald Trump and the Republicans would win, especially after the ‘assassination’ attempt.

“The consensus, especially from the Black perspective, is positive for her, as well as women and the youths who would be encouraged to participate given the options currently on the table.”

“The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real — and so are the fundamentals of this race: this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” stated Michael Tyler, Harris’ campaign communications director

Co-organizer of Harlem Black Women for Kamala Harris, State Senator Cordell Cleare, said, “A group of Black women from Harlem came out in a show of strength for the presidential run of Vice President Kamala Harris. Every General Election is important, but 2024 is particularly historic as we have the first Black and South Asian nominee running to become the nation’s first female president. We gathered at the monument of our iconic Harriet Tubman, a magnificent fighter whose name is synonymous with power, resolve, and selfless dedication to the people. We, women of Harlem, want to demonstrate our commitment to supporting VP Kamala Harris as she mounts this consequential race.” 

With the call “Win with Black Women,” grassroots organizers are answering an organic call for massive grassroots organizing. They is once again benefiting from the Democratic Part blind loyalty of a Black community harnessing momentum to push their candidate in the campaign.

Forty-four thousand Black women joined an hours-long Sunday night Zoom call, raising over a million dollars. Joseph Biden endorsed Harris. Newsman Roland Martin organized a Zoom for Black men for Harris thereafter. Latinas X Kamala Harris, the very day Pr and White Dudes for Harris followed suit. It continues.

When the dust settles, and voters start looking at the issues, topics will include reproductive self-determination, housing, inflation, everyday economics, people struggling to make ends meet, social justice issues, including crime, immigration, America’s foreign policy, and involvement in conflicts abroad, and the ongoing fight for Reparations.

Biden posted, ”My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President, and it’s been the best decision I’ve made. I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”

There is a complete online kerfuffle with people debating Harris’ ethnic makeup and personal, racial identification and others digging into her history as the DA  of San Francisco and her role as Attorney General of California.

Will there be a General Election Youth Quake, similar to what Britain experienced in July, where a steady percentage of young people abandoned the two major parties – Conservative and Labour; and instead considered the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the Scottish National Party, Reform, and independent parties?

In the U.S., young voters said they are “focusing on policy, not personality politics. We are looking at the issues and solutions for economic problems, inflation, unemployment, criminal justice, gun violence, healthcare, and the lack of affordable housing and education.”

Even with the controversial Electoral College system of 538 selected electors casting a vote for President and Vice President, Democrats and Republicans are paying attention to the youth vote, with 8 million eligible first-time American voters. Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement reports that there are 40.8 million members of Gen Z–18-27 eligible to vote in the 2024 presidential election and down the ballot…[including] 8.8 million Latinos, 5.7 million Black youths, 1.7 million Asian-Americans, and 1.8 million multi-racial youth.”

With much fanfare, Harris picked veteran, teacher, coach, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her VP. 

“We are not going back,” says Harris continuously. The campaign blitzed nationwide, and multi-million dollar fundraising for the Black community ensued.

“Do something!” demanded Michelle Obama of the people at the DNC. They are.