An Open Letter to Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party
Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain
There is every reason to be glad that Joe Biden finally acted responsibly by withdrawing his candidacy for a second term. But to call this overdue act ‘brave’ and ‘courageous’ is to rob those precious words of their proper meaning. It is certainly true that Trump repeatedly lies about his achievements and the failings of his opponents but the exaggerations and selective self-congratulations of the Democratic Party are only a degree less deceptive from the perspective of political communication. Biden, and now Kamala Harris, neither defend nor apologize for a foreign policy that has repudiated diplomacy in the Ukraine context and made no secret of their complicity in supporting Israel’s violent assault on the entire civilian population of Gaza that much of the rest of the world views as a transparent and severe instance of the crime of crimes, genocide.
Against this background, should not Democrats, and Americans generally are entitled to expect more before heeding unity pleas tied to urgent calls for yet more campaign donations? What Biden and Harris said in officially announcing the decision to withdraw and the endorsement of VP is worth reflecting upon.
Biden’s words:
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats—it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
This statement is pretty much boiler plate for such occasions, although it might have included some affirmation of Kamala Harris as having a bold independent, intelligent, compassionate voice that made her counsel to me so valuable during these past four years. Instead, Biden leaves the impression that Harris performed admirably in implementing his policy agenda. Now all Americans will have an opportunity to listen to what this unquestionably outstanding public servant has to say on her own behalf in seeking broad support in what is shaping up as one of the most vitally important presidential elections in the nations 248 years of existence.
In accepting Biden’s endorsement and committing herself to seeking the presidency.
Kamala Harris’s words are for my taste too much in the spirit of presenting herself to the voting public as Biden 2.0:
I am running to be President of the United States.
It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve alongside our Commander-in-Chief, my friend, President Joe Biden – one of the finest public servants we will ever know. And I am honored to have his support and endorsement.
And I am eager to run on the record of what Joe and I have accomplished together. We built our country back after our predecessor left it in shambles – making historic progress in upgrading our nation’s infrastructure, fighting climate change, and more. We are stronger today because we took action – together – to invest in America’s future.
The language is a gracious expression of her period serving as VP, but also again a presentation of the Biden presidency as compiling a record to be judged by its positive impacts on the lives of Americans, conveying an image of US foreign policy being so bipartisan that is not worth talking about, or more truthfully, that either its defense or critique would be divisive because the citizenry is split with regard to the Ukraine War and toward complicity with the Israeli perpetrators of criminal policies and practices in Gaza, positions pronounced unlawful a few days ago by a near-unanimous majority of the 15 judges who issued their decision on Israel’s occupation of Gaza.
It is possible that Kamala Harris, who admirably has acknowledged that she must earn the nomination not merely inherit it as a Biden final bequest, will give a forthright speech to the American people that exhibits a measure of independence, and abandons the incredible stance of Democratic Party nominees to be silent this year about the world out there beyond American borders. Surely, Biden’s frequent claims that America is in the best position of any country to provide global leadership, a view widely contested outside the West, deserve either reasoned affirmation or, more appropriately, prudent modification. Harris has a great opportunity to speak in her own voice, and not just channel the Biden record, but will she seize it? Looking back at her autobiography, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, I was encouraged by the pride she took in being part of an activist family of color dedicated to progressive causes while growing into adulthood, including opposition to the Vietnam War.
In closing, I should acknowledge that I had substantive reservations about supporting Biden/Harris, despite appreciating much of their domestic record, because of their foreign policy. It posed for me, to put it bluntly, a choice between a warmonger and a mentally unstable incipient fascist. I am wondering whether that is still my choice, or whether Harris or some other Democrat seeking to earn the nomination will soften my anxieties about the Democratic Party approach to the 2024 elections. I should also add that I was disappointed by the domestic failure of the Biden presidency to do more to protect the academic freedom of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses and elsewhere. and by the related refusal to take responsibility for protecting all its students, and not just Jewish students as beneficiaries of donor interferences with the integrity of America’s once proud centers of higher education. One result has been to lead such institutions to take punitive action against foreign, especially Muslim, students to dare express their pro-Palestinian sentiments.
As Americans are readying for a highly objectionable Netanyahu visit to Washington this week, it is a time to elevate the electoral dialogue not only at the presidential level but also in relation to the many important Congressional contests. This unfortunate display of perverse diplomacy will also test Harris’ composure in her role as Vice President, whether to exhibit politeness but refrain from an ideological embrace of a foreign leader with a scandalous record.
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