I didn\u2019t think Biden needed to drop out. I still believe that he was fine; he\u2019s been making verbal gaffes his entire career, has been open about dealing with a stutter, and has admitted to having an extremely unfortunate off night in a debate against someone extremely difficult to debate because of the \u201cGish gallop\u201d technique that Trump habitually uses of overwhelming his opponent with a torrent of bullshit so that it\u2019s incredibly difficult to counter because there\u2019s simply so much that\u2019s false. I\u2019m pretty convinced that Biden is the victim of a coordinated media campaign pushing the \u201che\u2019s too old\u201d narrative (while notably ignoring all the cognitive red flags that Trump displays in addition to the impending fascist dictatorship he promises), because the major media outlets are owned and controlled by a small group of wealthy white men who saw their positions of power threatened by the policies that Biden has implemented and planned to continue implementing.<\/p>\n
That said:<\/p>\n
I hope that Biden\u2019s endorsement is heeded, that the initial endorsements from other big party names are also heeded, and that Harris gets the nomination. She hasn\u2019t been quite as visible, and has certainly had her share of detractors, but she\u2019s been the other half of the Biden\/Harris administration for the past three and a half years, and it would be foolish to believe her voice hasn\u2019t been part of it all. I\u2019ve seen lots of people floating Buttigieg for VP, and I have no immediate issue with that (and do like the optics of putting up a ticket of a woman of color and a gay man).<\/p>\n
I believe that Harris can win. But more importantly, I believe that we need to believe that Harris can win, and we need to do so vocally, because the more people say \u201cshe can\u2019t win\u201d, the more less informed people will see that and assume that it\u2019s true because people who they see as more informed (which they must be, because they\u2019re saying something) are saying so, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.<\/p>\n
I think she\u2019s a good candidate. I think she\u2019d be good in office. I\u2019d love to see her voted in, rather than (as one theory espoused) gaining the office because Biden can\u2019t fulfill a term. And there\u2019s simply no question that she\u2019d be better than the alternative.
\nAnd this doesn\u2019t mean don\u2019t talk about those areas where she could be better. Yes, to many, her policing and prosecutorial background is a strike against her (though it\u2019s worth noting that given that the opponent is a career criminal, maybe her experience, even if you\u2019re not fond of it, might actually come in handy). Part of our job is to make our concerns known in the hopes of influencing those we elect. Many of Biden\u2019s positions have grown and evolved over time, in large part because of the pressure he got from those in the party and those of his constituents who were further to the left than he started.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m not saying don\u2019t voice concerns. I\u2019m saying along with your concerns, recognize that she (or, really, should she not get the nomination, whoever does, as virtually anyone<\/em> the Dems nominate will be a better choice than Trump) is the best option, and the only option that doesn\u2019t contribute to installing a fascist dictatorship, and give her your support. (Or, if you really can\u2019t stomach that, at least don\u2019t pop off with saying she \u201ccan\u2019t\u201d win; she absolutely can. If the left was half as good at supporting their candidates, even with flaws, as the right is, instead of tearing them down for not being paragons of perfection, we\u2019d be in far better shape now than we are.)<\/p>\n Also, keep in mind that many of the people who were against Biden will also be against Harris, some for similar reasons (assuming she\u2019ll continue the direction Biden was going), some for reasons specific to her (chiefly, of course, that she\u2019s a woman of color). So when you start seeing all the anti-Harris links pop up, think long and hard about who is posting them, what the sources are, and why maybe you shouldn\u2019t take them at face value. Because this is still going to be a battle.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s a battle we can win.<\/p>\n Harris can win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I didn\u2019t think Biden needed to drop out. But I believe that Harris can win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2042],"tags":[5933,492,3840],"class_list":["post-51314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-2024-election","tag-joe-biden","tag-kamala-harris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51315,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51314\/revisions\/51315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}