Never before did race and gender play such a huge role as it does in the Biden/Harris duo
If someone suggested that skin color and gender alone would set the course of the future in the United States, would you label that person a racist and/or sexist? That’s the situation we -- the citizens of the United States -- face today. As days go by, more and more voter fraud and suspicious-smelling dirty vote counting are uncovered through testimony in various state legislatures and we move towards the quadrennial meeting (and voting) of the Electoral College, it’s become clear that the incoming Joe Biden/Kamala Harris administration represents the tragic consequences of identity politics. Much of the country made the 2020 election a referendum on the presidency of Donald Trump. 74-million-odd voters selected Trump for a second four-year term. Over 80 million (allegedly) opted for Joe Biden, though it can never truly be known how many of those (a frightfully small percentage) actually considered Biden such a great leader that he should take over the executive branch. Most Democrat voters wanted a change from Trump. Even an honest party commentator would admit it was so. Along with Biden comes Vice President-to-be Kamala Harris. The California senator ran for the Democrat nomination last year (2019, having left the race about a year ago this time) but didn’t get very far. At the time off her departure, few foresaw that she would occupy the second-in-line position at this juncture in history. How did she get here? Is it a heartwarming success story, or more like a tragic play chock full of spineless capitulations and backroom dealings? You decide. At any rate, it appears that Harris will be more than the usual casual sidekick vice president. Niall Stanage reported at The Hill, “[Former Bill Clinton vice president Al] Gore, during his vice presidency, was particularly identified with specific issues, including the environment and government reform. So far, the signs are that Harris will seek a more wide-ranging role. “A transition official noted that Biden had spoken of Harris as having the same status as he did with then-President Obama: the last person in the room for the big decisions. [Emphasis added] “’She is going to be that person for him. This is a partnership, this is a team,’ the transition official said. ‘She wants to model it very similarly to how [Biden] was a vice president to President Obama. They are working together, it’s a partnership, they are frequently in contact.’” She wants to model it on Biden? Harris wasn’t elected to the top office. She gets the one that the first vice president, John Adams, described as, “the most insignificant office that ever the Invention of man contrived or his Imagination conceived.” Vice presidents keep a seat warm, unless they’re demonstrated competent and relevant and add value… like Mike Pence. Aside from this, isn’t it beautiful? Biden and Harris are like the political version of “Love Story,” only this time the lovers were drawn together by pure swampy expediency and a quest for power. Anyone who viewed the first several Democrat primary debates would never guess Biden and Harris would someday get so close that the fate of the republic would hinge on their chummy friendship. Anyone soothed by the notion that Kamala Harris will be the “last one in the room” with the mentally faltering Joe Biden when some major decision is being contemplated? It could very well be the American history version of Jedi mind tricks: Kamala Harris: “You don’t need to see those documents, do you, Joe?” Joe Biden: “I don’t need to see these documents, do I Kamala?” Harris: “You can tell the Republicans to go pound sand now, can’t you Joe?” Biden: “I can tell the Republicans to go pound sand now, can’t I, Kamala?” Harris: “As the vice president, I can start the process for a 25th Amendment inquiry into your fitness for office. That’s something you want, isn’t it, Joe?” Biden: “As the vice president, you can request a 25th Amendment inquiry into my fitness. I want you to start it, don’t I Kamala?” It shouldn’t be forgotten that Harris only got the job because of what she is, not who she is. Bumbling Joe mumbled during his final primary debate (with only Bernie Sanders still left in the field) that he would pick a woman to be his vice president if he secured enough delegates to be the party nominee. The race and gender obsessed Democrats wouldn’t let a broken-down swamp bum like Grampa Joe get away with bringing on one of his fellow good ol’ boys from his senate days. No way! Biden probably wanted to choose Chris Dodd, but he felt he couldn’t unless the equally ancient Connecticut man would agree to a sex change, which is hard to do this late in life (well, maybe not, just ask Bruce “Call me Caitlyn” Jenner). Speculation swirled around Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar for a while, but when the nation erupted after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, it was revealed that milquetoast Amy had worked on the suspect cop’s excessive force cases before and didn’t act on them. Nope! It was also said Biden wanted to select Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren as his “last one in the room” but she is a nutcase. And her bogus claims to Native American ancestry would only focus additional attention where it wasn’t wanted -- on whiteness! So Grampa Joe -- or more likely, his handlers -- narrowed the search for a black or Hispanic woman only. Clearly the leftists wanted Georgia’s Stacey Abrams to be the one, and she openly campaigned for the appointment. There were a couple others, like Florida Rep. Val Demings and California Rep. Karen Bass (who is rumored to be a leading contender for Harris’s senate seat), but they were lowly members of Nancy Pelosi’s radical House contingent. It had to be someone more head-turning from the outset. That left Harris. Some prominent conservatives predicted Grampa Joe would offer the position to former Obama advisor Susan Rice instead, but bringing her into the picture would only make him look like an even bigger Big O copy-cat sycophant than he already was. As a result, Harris got the call. She’s only half black (her mother has Indian roots), but she could pass the skin color -- and gender -- test. Now Harris is primed to have a say in everything the federal government does. Ain’t it a wonderful success story? Identity politics and the issues that confront the new administration There’s a myriad of pressing matters on the nation’s doorstep. In the foreign policy realm, as detailed by Patrick J. Buchanan, the new presidential team will need to deal with an ever threatening and unpredictable Iran, whose leaders probably expect the weak-kneed Democrats to reverse the Trump policy of treating the oligarch terrorist-sponsoring Islamic nation as the rogue that it is. Then there’s China, which has become increasingly bold in the Pacific region, laying claim to islands currently under the control of Japan and the Philippines. On the domestic front, there’s the COVID-19 pandemic raging at full throttle. The vaccines developed under the order of the Trump administration are seemingly ready to go and should, as expected, provide relief from the spread of the virus. More urgently for the new regime is manipulating the population, roughly one-half of which voted for Trump and a more optimistic approach to living life. Democrats campaigned on “controlling the spread,” which can’t really be done without imposing a full-on lockdown of the economy. And even then, it wouldn’t work.
Democrats -- and especially Biden and Harris in particular -- should’ve been more measured in their promises to deal with the health crisis, because when they’re in charge, people are going to expect results, and quickly. It was announced last week that Biden’s planning to keep Dr. Anthony Fauci onboard as his coronavirus guru, a decision which delights the Kens and Karens of the universe but won’t please the rest of the people who don’t believe a word he says.
Will Democrats comfort themselves with diversity? Does filling positions with people due to ethnic background, religion and gender make a difference in terms of quality of decision-making?
What advice will Harris offer? The “honeymoon” period of every administration is getting shorter and shorter. Certainly Trump didn’t have much of one, thanks in large part to the outgoing Obama ruling elites doing everything within their power to sabotage the duly elected president. Biden won’t be granted much leeway to dither and delay. The notion of elevating a woman like Kamala to the vice presidency might’ve sounded good a half year ago when Biden was haphazardly searching for a running mate that met a very narrowly defined set of criteria. But when the chips are down and people want real leadership, a person’s skin color and gender don’t count for much.
Not only will Kamala apparently have her fingers in every Biden policy pie, as the constitutional leader of the senate, she will cast deciding votes if there’s ever a 50-50 tie. In other words, instead of being confined to acting as one of one hundred senators, Harris’s vote reigns supreme over fifty others’ if the upper chamber deadlocks on anything.
The media likes gushing over the “historic” nature of Kamala Harris being voted into the vice presidency. While it’s true she would be the first female veep -- and the first with noticeably darkened skin -- there really isn’t anything else that’s electrifying about a woman who first got into government service and then politics by being a “what” instead of a “who”. Her career began as Willie Brown’s consort and took off from there.
She has no principled beliefs (other than being a dedicated liberal) and her phony smile and cackling giggle is annoying. If it’s true that Biden and Harris spend a lot of time together, he must already be sick of her act. Perhaps he’s using the COVID-19 spike and his ankle injury as an excuse to isolate himself from her. But reality will catch up sooner or later!
Identity politics led to Kamala Harris. Where it leads from here is anybody’s guess.
House Republicans readying next leadership step after 2022 elections
With identity politics guiding the liver spotted, gnarled hands of Joe Biden and his new gal-pal Kamala Harris, it’s almost certain that the new administration -- if it comes to pass -- will fall in a spectacular crash rivaling the demise of the H.M.S. Titanic and the ill-fated German dirigible, Hindenburg. With redistricting taking place next year and Republicans in firm control of the process in most states, a Republican House majority after 2022 is a real possibility if not virtual foregone conclusion.
Who will take over as Speaker? Scott Wong reported at The Hill, “Five years ago, conservative bomb-throwers in the House Freedom Caucus blocked Rep. Kevin McCarthy from rising to the Speakership. Now, the California Republican is working to ensure he doesn’t suffer the same fate if Republicans take back the majority in 2022.
“McCarthy, the affable, back-slapping minority leader, has spent the past election cycle bringing Freedom Caucus members — once relegated to the fringes of the party — to the leadership table and into his inner circle.
“He helped former Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan (Ohio) win the top GOP spot on the Oversight and Reform Committee and later the powerful Judiciary Committee. He’s invited leaders from the Freedom Caucus and other factions to the GOP’s annual leadership retreats the past two years in Middleburg, Va., and St. Michaels, Md.”
Wong’s article details the relationships McCarthy’s fostered among his fellow House Republicans. There aren’t many signs that he’s lost control of his caucus, but then again, they haven’t had much to do the past couple years other than defend Trump against stupid Democrat conspiracies and to say “no” to Nancy Pelosi and her leftist minions.
It's a good sign that McCarthy appears to be working hard to bring the Freedom Caucus into the fold. The principled conservative members of the group hold a de facto veto over everything the party leader does, unless he or she runs to the Democrats to try and get a half a loaf compromise that pleases no one.
The next Republican Speaker will need to start from the conservative standpoint and build up from there. Otherwise, they’ll just repeat the same mistakes John Boehner and Paul Ryan did the last time the GOP was in the majority. The establishment will never lay down quietly.
Perhaps never before has identity politics played a bigger role in shaping American policy than it will under a potential Biden/Harris administration. Skin color and gender is the reason Kamala Harris might be one heartbeat away from the presidency. At some point, probably soon, Americans will come to grips with the reality. Anyone feel good about the prospect?
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