Biden goes with political correctness in picking Harris. But will it work?

When America starts casting ballots in the 2020 presidential election, they are likely to be voting for President Kamala Harris. Vice Presidents are traditionally viewed as POSSIBLE Presidents should the elected President be unable to complete the full term in office.  They are viewed as a bit of a spare tire in the unlikely event that it may be needed.

Not so this year.  I personally rate as good the possibility of California Senator Kamala Harris becoming the 47^th President of the United States sometime in the next four years.  In previous commentaries, I have rated the odds of Biden completing his first –and only term – at 50/50 or less.

There are three possibilities.  At his age – and with his medical history – he may not live out the next 4-plus years.  He is well into that age when anything can happen.

The second option is that he will become so physically or mentally impaired that he will have to resign from office.  And the third option is that he will decide to resign after three and one-half years to hand the office to Harris – giving her a leg up in the 2024 presidential election.

Most of the left-wing newsies and pundits are – as expected – praising Biden’s selection with the kind of praise that is usually associated with canonization.  Of course, this is the same kind of fawning glee that we saw on the left when Walter Mondale selected Geraldine Ferrero as his running mate.  That was supposed to be a game changer.  In a way it was.  Ronald Reagan won one of the most lopsided presidential victories in American history — carrying 49 of our 50 states and losing only Mondale’s home state of Minnesota.  The Democrat dream team even lost Ferraro’s home state of New York.

Whether Alaska Governor Sarah Palin brought down the presidential candidacy of Arizona Senator John McCain is debatable, but it can be said that she did not help it.

The left again got overwhelmed with gleeful anticipation – especially the ladies of the left – when Democrats nominated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as their presidential standard bearer.  Their dream of the first female President faded when she could not even beat Donald Trump – one of the most controversial and flawed candidates in the history of the presidency.

In a recent interview, Hillary Clinton laid out the three considerations involved in her selection of a running mate.  First, was the evergreen consideration that the person should be capable of becoming President.  The second was she could work with on a day-to-day basis.  And thirdly, someone who would help her win.

If you measure Harris by Hillary’s selection standards, she certainly has the right political resume to run for President – issues aside.  We can only assume that Biden sees Harris as someone with whom he can work closely.  In Biden’s case, the comity may be more the result of his being the puppet rather than that of puppeteer.

It is in the third category that Biden may have seriously misstepped.

In the new political correctness culture, Harris is a homogenized person-of-color – but she is not Black in the traditional sense, even though she is being touted as the first “Black” female vice presidential candidate by a number of Black pundits, such as CNN’s Van Jones.  No more than one-quarter of Harris’ roots can be traced to Africa.  Her dominant ancestry is Indian – and not the Native American variety.  Her father is Jamaican of mixed African and Caucasian ancestry.

Biden may see Harris as part of that monolithic Black population, there was evidence in the primaries that a lot of African Blacks were not of that frame-of-mind in judging Harris.  Couple that with Harris’ history of sending a lot of young Black males up the river, and she may not be an asset in drawing in those voters – especially Black males.

Ironically, Biden might have been better served with a more moderate candidate.  In the pursuit of the nomination, Biden kept moving further and further to the left.  The selection of Harris does not provide balance, but actually pushed the ticket even further to the left.

As a Senator, Harris can legitimately be examined as a presidential contender, but is she the sort of President the nation wants.  Biden may have played the political correctness person-of-color card,  but voters are more likely to vote on issues.  In that regard, Harris does not seem to add any votes that Biden would not have had.  She does not balance the ticket.

Vice Presidential running mates are often selected to bring in a battleground state.  Harris does not even do that.  She hails from California – a state that is securely in Biden’s column already.

You will recall how Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Peter Buttigieg warned that Democrats needed representation from middle America.  They had a  point.   But the Biden Harris ticket is an affront to those in fly-over America.  Biden and Harris are the personifications of the bi-coastal elitist establishment.

The thought that the presidency could ultimately fall into the hands of someone even further to the left than Biden is likely to energize middle America – Republicans, conservatives, and independents.  I personally believe that Harris will lose votes in the Black community – and among all those non-Black persons-of-color that Democrats like to see in monolithic terms.

The Democrats have more Achilles Heels than they have feet.  Harris will do nothing to influence those who see the future Supreme Court as an issue.  This issue takes on real significance since the next President will be charged with the task of replacing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Harris – despite her locking up a lot of Black males – cannot campaign as a law-and-order candidate ready and willing to confront the rising crime rates and the left-wing anti-police violence in Democrat-run cities.

While the folks in the progressive media are effusively celebrating the Harris pick, they are not noticing – or at least not reporting – that the polls show Harris with a slightly higher unfavorable rating than a favorable rating — and one-third of the respondents have no opinion or never heard of her.

Harris’ greatest appeal may be with Black Women and the ladies on the left – women who are already securely on the Biden bandwagon.   She is not so popular with middle America, suburban women and even some of those people-of-color who Biden sees as monolithically indentured to the Democratic Party.  Personally, I believe Harris helps Trump more than she helps Biden   But time will tell.

So, there ‘tis.