The reality on Harris is that she is the perfect liberal candidate for your average vote blue Democrat. For most of the electorate it’s all about aesthetics. Joe’s campaign was mostly aesthetics, Sweet Ol’ Grampa Joe here to bring tough love and common sense. Hers will be the same.
She’s a cop, facing down a criminal, she’s a girl boss (the KHive is buzzing), she’s a mother, she’s an ally, shes “youthful”, she’s the perfect surrogate for the corporate Dem platform. We arrived here due to a multitude of factors. Not the least the uncommitted vote in the primary and the low turnout for states that had them. The debate simply finished the equation that was already looking bad for Joe.
The mass movement to vote uncommitted was never going to manifest into a principled stance that would follow through to the election. The solidarity vote will dry up now that biden is out. People who voted uncommitted will feel unburdened, knowing now they can vote blue no matter who in November, regardless of the actual policy slate. They did their part, the time for critical thought is over. People who are apathetic will feel energized by change, and feel less inclined to doom scroll. Any dissenting opinion will be ignored, as the “adults in the room” already did their part getting Biden out, regardless of how valid the criticisms of Harris are. We’re back to our regularly scheduled program, where you better get in line or be the heel.
I think the typical “well meaning” democrat lib sees this as the light at the end of the tunnel. They will be able to put blinders on until November. Whatever momentum was gained for the left through principled action, organizing, and agitation will see these fair weather allies evaporate. Harris might have an equivalent stance on geopolitics to Joe, she might not, but the electorate will not entertain a second referendum on the matter. Been there, done that, this is the most important election of our lives sweety, time to vote.
I hate that anyone who makes less that one million dollars a year has a positive opinion of Joe Biden. Mass Incarceration, opposition to desegregation and what was left of the New Deal when he got into power, lifelong corporate bagman. Stalwart champion of Israel. Just sucks. Just what a fucking asshole. But years of decent press as Vice President, and a mostly friendly media as President, and pretending like he’s a champion of American Labor and it seems like everyone just forgets or ignores what this guy stood for his entire career to date.
The weirdest thing about Harris for me so far is a bunch of leftists on Twitter suddenly coming out as shooters for Kamala. Clearly some of these people are left libs, not meaningfully anticapitalist in any way, who call themselves leftists. But where it gets confusing is that some of these I’ve seen are from bigger accounts that are popular on actual left twitter. I’ve been seeing a lot of talk about her perfect left voting record or just about how they think she has the right stuff to beat Trump or otherwise uncritically praising her. As if she wasn’t just another neoliberal. Isn’t she literally the one who said, back in like 2019, that she was in favor of tax incentives given to small businesses that operate in underprivileged communities for at least two years or whatever the terrible quote was. Idk, maybe that was Warren or one of the others, I can’t remember now Even if it wasn’t her that quote sums up her politics, from what I’ve seen (I haven’t poured over her whole voting record or anything, just read a few articles). I mean it was just a debate!
If she was leading the charge for a return to, like, New Deal era Kennedy style plans for making America into a soft welfare state I could get why nominally leftist people would be excited for her. Sure, that welfare would be predicated upon global empire, but it would make many people’s lives here better, so I could at least see the logic. But she’s not even offering something like that.
The only positive thing I can say for Harris is that her public persona comes off as so dorky and strange that it makes her seem like a genuine person, which is a welcome change after Joe Biden’s soulless platitudes or the madness of Donald Trump or the faux profundity of Obama. But even then, I’d say something similar about George W. Bush so it’s not exactly a compliment.