Kamala Harris: There is a reason

A friend of mine described Vice-president Kalamata Harris (D) as a “fence post turtle.” You don’t know how she got to where she is, but you do know that she didn’t get there on her own. You know she doesn’t belong there. You know she can’t do anything while she is there. And you know that in the end someone is going to have to help her down.

So, before beginning this discussion let’s make sure that we understand that being elected to a public office does not mean that someone is competent. There are corollaries – being elected to an office does not mean that you are competent to serve in the next office you seek. And serving in a public office does not mean you have become competent in the field required of the office. Your own observations and common sense will confirm these facts.*

But back to Ms. Harris. Ms. Harris has artfully avoided any interviews or press conferences since she became the Democrat nominee for President – a nomination that came without a single primary vote in her favor in either the 2020 primary (in which she withdrew before the Iowa caucus) or 2024 in which she did not enter a single state primary. The period of silence has continued through today – a period of nearly six weeks. You cannot count the CNN/Dana Bash half-hour koffee klatch last week with Ms. Harris and Gov. Tim Walz since it was all softballs, pauses for interlineations and failures to pursue follow-ups. It will be good for Ms. Harris’ campaign commercials but little else.

There is a reason.

Ms. Harris is notorious for her word salads which the White House staff solved, albeit temporarily, by removing her for anything requiring an unscripted response. Basically she was told to follow the teleprompter, smile, thank the audience and get off the stage. But they didn’t fix it. It popped up again during the session with Ms. Bash**:

“BASH: In 2019, I believe in a town hall you said — you were asked, “Would you commit to implementing a federal ban on fracking on your first day in office?” and you said, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking. So yes.” So it changed in — in that campaign?

“HARRIS: In 2020 I made very clear where I stand. We are in 2024, and I have not changed that position, nor will I going forward. I kept my word, and I will keep my word.

“BASH: What made you change that position at the time?

“HARRIS: Well, let’s be clear. My values have not changed. I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate. And to do that, we can do what we have accomplished thus far.”

It is remarkable how many times Ms. Harris prefaces a response with “Let’s be clear” before wandering off into a maze of conflicting thoughts – in this instance that while her position on fracking has changed that her values on fracking have not.

But there is a reason.

And along that line Ms. Harris continues to refer to policies that she has laid out although none exist. And she has allowed her staff to address – leak – her policy positions without her ever confirming that they are her positions.

And there is a reason.

And the reason is pretty simple. Ms. Harris doesn’t know her positions on the issues. During her entire professional and political life she has never had to address the specifics of an issue – never had to understand the context of an issue – never had to consider the ancillary impact of various positions and never had to engage in critical thinking. Ms. Harris is a product of everybody else’s hard work. Here is a little background.

Ms. Harris entered law school under what was known as the Legal Education Opportunity Program (LEOP) – a program for educationally, economically and physically disadvantaged youth and pointed primarily at minority students. Of those four criteria Ms. Harris only checked one – a minority student. She was not economically disadvantaged since both of her parents were professors at major colleges. She was not educationally disadvantaged since she could have been admitted to any of the colleges at which her parents taught but chose Howard University instead. She was not physically handicapped and even, despite her cackle and constant use of word salads. there is no evidence that she is mentally handicapped. The LEOP program was highlighted by its students easy access to tutoring services for every subject. And yet despite the availability of all of that assistance in research, writing, and organization Ms. Harris failed the California bar exam and had to retake it. (I could not find Ms. Harris’ class standing at law school but her extracurricular participation appeared to be more in the social activist lane than the academic.)

After law school, Ms. Harris, like many other graduates found work in the government – in this case the Oakland District Attorney’s Office. There is nothing remarkable about her service initially but it was here that she met and bedded the then California Speaker of the House Willy Brown (D-CA) – a married man. (Mr. Brown was considered to be the most powerful Democrat in California and, in most instances, his political wishes were your commands. Thereafter Ms. Harris’ career gained new trajectory and additional benefits including appointments to state boards and a car to drive. With Mr. Brown’s help she soon became the District Attorney, then the Attorney General and finally California’s junior Senator. As I noted earlier, election to public office does not necessarily provide proof of competence – particularly where political attachments and favors are concerned.

Along the way there is no evidence that Ms. Harris engaged in the formation of any policy, programs or even litigation skills. Ms. Harris remained a nobody echoing the campaign slogans of the rising progressives tide but contributing nothing to the justification or necessity for its socialist policies. There was still no evidence of critical thinking or objective insight into those policies. Ms. Harris simply carried on her student activist days – shouting slogans, carrying banners and shaking her fist at the sky.

Two years into her first term as a freshman Senator, Ms. Harris decided to run for the presidency. No one seems to know why since she had little support – as evidenced by her failure to rise above single digit support in the California polling and thereafter being the first to drop out of the race. Supposedly, the primary system is designed to test the ability of candidates to craft and defend solutions to current national and international problems. Ms. Harris had none. On the debate stages, she simply embraced the ideas of other progressive running. It was “me too” on this and “me too” and that even an occasional “what he said” response. It was embarrassing. She had no solutions, no programs, no insightful thoughts on anything. It was the first instance when she was left to her own devices to advance politically, and she failed miserably.

But never say die. When former Vice-president Joe Biden (D) finally secured the nomination after weeks of participating in primaries, debates, news conferences and interviews, he chose Ms. Harris as his running mate – not because of her accomplishments but solely because she was a “woman of color” and thus fulfilled a campaign promise that Mr. Biden had made. And Ms. Harris moved back into that career trajectory where someone else did the hard work and she got the office.

In her three and one-half years as Vice-President, Ms. Harris has contributed nothing towards the solution of the country’s most vexing problems – particularly illegal immigration and rising crime. Her lack of understanding of the problems coupled with her lack of solutions for them, indicated that Mr. Biden’s administration did not take the problems seriously. For instance, twenty million illegal aliens invaded America. More people than the United States committed to winning World War I and II combined – 1.2 Million in WWI and 16 million in WWII And yet there were no solutions, not even a visit to the border.

And so, Ms. Harris having served in the United States Senate for two years without an identifiable accomplishment, and three and one-half years as vice-president without an identifiable accomplishment, succeeded to the Democrat nomination without lifting a finger – without a single program, without a single commitment and without a single thought. And now she is poised to become the President of the United States if they can keep her from ever talking without a teleprompter and a script written by others.

Ms. Harris has a life time of succeeding without doing anything. It’s no wonder she cannot put together a cogent thought or a complete sentence.

What a waste.

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* You could be just as correct if you assumed that election to a public office was evidence of one’s inability to get or be promoted in a real job.

** These quotes are taken from the CNN website although I swear that when Ms. Bash asked the question, she offered Ms. Harris a choice of explanations – COVID, additional information, etc. but Ms. Harris stuck with her word salad.