Kamala Harris is the only Democratic presidential candidate that can go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump and win. Here’s why ...she’s lean, she’s mean, she’s a fightin’ machine.
I thought it was going to be Joe Biden, but although Vice President Biden is a national icon and an American political stalwart, a man worthy of every respect, he may be too old and too ravaged by life and politics to be a viable competitor in 2020. He appears to be a little off his game. Maybe I’m wrong, but it appears to me the “torch” he refers to needs to be passed on again, cautiously, not only to a younger generation ...but to a strong, competent woman.
Harris is sharp, she carries a sharp stick as well as a “big stick”, and although she can “speak softly”, she can use her big sharp stick to chase The Donald back to New York City where he belongs.
Trump needs a worthy competitor and Harris is it. She loves the television cameras, and the cameras love her. They’re good to her. She’s a better actor than Trump. She can do a better “mean face” and better reactive expression faces than Trump that will send chills up your spine. She’s quicker and smarter than Trump. She thinks on her feet whereas all the other candidates seem flat-footed, pasty-faced and easily knocked back on their heels by Trump when he starts to call names and come on strong. They don’t know how to strike back or what to do or say other than to throw a hissy fit because of some presumed political correctness and forced civility they seem to hold sacred. But all’s fair in love and war, and this is war ...if you intend to win. Harris knows this, she’s not frightened by Trumps ‘big bad wolf’ antics and bravado, she revels in it and enjoys counterpunching.
She’s a fighter and she’s done it all her life. She was born for this fight.
Born in Oakland, California the 54-year old Harris is currently a United States Senator from that State. A lawyer by trade, she has served as District Attorney in San Francisco and Attorney General for the State of California. Harris is a mixed-race American (Jamaican-Indian) and has a personal, intuitive and working understanding of many of the basic, human problems that separate Americans ...unlike Donald Trump who uses his perspective to actively promote the separation and division of Americans to his best political advantage.
Harris is known as a tough prosecutor, tough as nails, and seems to have a sincere interest in ‘liberty and justice for all’. She pursued a career in law enforcement because she wanted to be “at the table where decisions are made.”
Her politics and policies are sound but substantively no different from any of the other candidates. From immigration and border control, to health care and tax reform, to crime and punishment, Harris has proven to be a solid citizen and sound thinker.
It’s her presentation that is different. More passionate, more believable. She’s better prepared and a better actor. She’s more camera and television savvy, and she knows how to use it. She must want the presidency more than any of the others, even more than Donald Trump, and she knows how to get there ...stay in front of the cameras, go easy but firm on the other Democratic candidates, and take Trump’s head off at every chance.
Picture in your mind any of the other candidates going toe-to-toe with other world leaders like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong un, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Chins’s Xi Jinping, Japan’s Shinzo Abe ...and also with our traditional Western allies like Germany’s Angela Merkel, France’s Emmanuel Macron, England’s Theresa May or Boris Johnson. I can picture Kamala Harris working well and fitting in among all of these people, and she can be compared with other women in leadership positions like Madeleine Albright, Margaret Thatcher, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
I’m not necessarily trying to “sell” Kamala Harris. Personally, I like Joe Biden. He’s more establishment, more traditional, maybe more likable (everyone likes Joe), more experienced at politics and leadership at the presidential level, and he would serve as a good president and be a great symbol for America. But maybe it is time to pass the torch to the next generation of leaders. Joe has earned his place in American history and he will remain appreciated, remembered for his service ...and involved.
But Kamala Harris has the energy, wit, spunk, smarts, spirit, passion, and the chutzpah to take on Trump and win. She’s a strong, competent woman.
So, unless something or someone comes along to upset the current balance of the 2020 election or the mix of candidates like an impeachment, resignation or a tragic bathtub accident, or someone like Oprah Winfrey or Michelle Obama enters the race ...or some world crisis event like an invasion from aliens from outer space, Kamala Harris is, to me, the current front runner.
She’s Donald Trump’s worst nightmare ...and she’ll be Vladimir Putin’s worst nightmare too.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
