The rise continues
Being Kamala Harris must be tough these days. She’s been in politics in one form or another for many years. Now that she has reached the top of the ticket, everyone has advice. With respect to her vice-presidential running mate, everyone really does have an opinion. It’s going to be a tough choice for Harris, and while she should certainly listen to the voices around her, this is ultimately her choice. The final three according to Bloomberg are Mark Kelly, Josh Shapiro, and Tim Walz, but according to Politico, some Democrats in Washington are pushing one man: Mark Kelly. A poll of likely voters agrees.
Kelly makes up for the area on which Harris is being attacked: the border. According to Politico, Kelly has been pushing the Biden administration for a tougher stance on border security, and he aligns with some Democrats who have withheld their endorsements because of the border. One point people are missing is that President Biden never put Harris in charge of the border, as Republicans claim. He tasked her with “finding the root cause” of the migrations. Sure, if you could find the “root cause,” it would be an easily fixable issue. There are various reasons that people take off on foot, looking for a new or better life; however, there needs to be a plan to stop them from getting in. A bipartisan bill was fashioned that would have done much toward remedying the problems, but Trump called his cronies and got it quashed. As everyone predicted, Trump didn’t want this bill to pass because that was his signature campaign issue (not that he did a very good job with it himself).
Henry Cuellar (D-TX) commented that Mark Kelly “knows the border well.” Kelly and Shapiro are the top two picks by Dems on the Hill. While Kelly brings the border issue, Shapiro is touted for his executive experience. Kelly has even held a meeting with Mexico’s president, pushing him to secure and manage his own border as well. Interestingly, Associated Press reported that even as Republicans criticize Harris about the border, she is being endorsed by border mayors in Bisbee, Nogales, Somerton, and San Luis, Arizona. Somerton Mayor Gerardo Anaya said: “I trust her to meet the needs of border cities and towns without taking advantage of us for her own political gain, like her opponent.”
One thing you can say about Kamala is that people seem to have confidence that she will do the right thing. That’s an important part of being president, and the response to date has been incredible. We’ve seen Black women and men’s groups, a group for white women, and now, Newsweek said we have a new group: White Dudes for Harris. We’ll see how their group does on their Monday night Zoom call, which claims to have 75,000 participants registered to hear from Mark Hamill, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and “special guests.” Harris promised to unite the Democrats, but she seems to be uniting the country, and she has done so in a matter of days.
