Kamala Harris is the freshman Senator from California and is considered by many as a rising star in the Democratic party. She is an African-American woman who has been strong in standing up to Donald Trump. This has a lot of people declaring her as the favorite for the 2020 nomination. However, some aren’t on board.
Andrew Joyce of MIC wrote an article about how Harris has a “Bernieland” problem. Basically, the point of the article is that many progressives on the left aren’t ready to get behind Harris just yet. These battles between progressives and Harris’ defenders are still ongoing.
As I have said before, I truly believe this fighting isn’t a bad thing. We should be fighting about what direction the party should be going. This particular fight has made me realize some things I dislike about both sides of this argument. First, to the Kamala Harris’ defenders: If she is your candidate and you like her then that’s great and if you feel like you should defend her against criticism then you should, but you should know that these criticisms of Kamala Harris are legit and if she is to run for President then she needs to have answers.
The main criticism she receives from the left is in regards to her time as California Attorney General. She declined to prosecute now Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin’s bank during the crisis around home foreclosures. Her office received reports from prosecutors recommending that Harris should file a civil enforcement action against the bank and discussed evidence of “widespread misconduct.” Harris declined to take any legal action.
Kamala Harris was the only Democratic Senatorial candidate in 2016 to receive a donation from Mnuchin.
These criticisms are well-founded and gives the left every reason to be suspicious of her and her ties to big money and it does not make people racist or sexist for daring to bring this up about Senator Harris. If she is to run for President, the voters deserve answers about this.
Now to the Bernie wing of the party (myself included): Bernie Sanders’ campaign did a lot of great things, but it did struggle to make significant inroads with communities of color. That is a legit criticism and something that progressives need to do a better job of. Also, despite the criticism of Harris being fair and admittedly worrisome, I do not believe she should immediately be crossed off the list of good candidates. It will be hard to find a perfect candidate that you agree with 100% of the time.
Harris seems to be a pretty progressive person. She has indicated that she supports Medicare for All, Free College and a $15 Minimum Wage. As a progressive, that makes my ears perk up. She should absolutely have an answer to her critics and if the Mnuchin mistake makes you feel as if you can’t vote for her then you don’t have to, but let’s let this play out and hear what all the hypothetical candidates have to say.
But first, let’s focus on winning the House back in 2018.
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