Why We Need a Tough President Like Kamala Harris

[SidDithers]

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a27403789/kamala-harris-2020-william-barr-mueller-report/

Hillary Clinton had to temper her behavior to seem "likeable," but Senator Harris is unafraid to boldly speak the truth.

Let’s take a moment to admire Senator Kamala Harris.

Watching her interview with William Barr was delightful for many reasons. She asked him a series of polite, pointed questions, under which he admitted that he had not actually looked at evidence before offering his own opinion on the Mueller report, noting he’d merely skimmed it. But the highlight of Harris's questioning might have come when she asked him, “Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?”

After he stammered, she asked directly, “Yes or no?”

When he replied, “I’m trying to grapple with the word ‘suggest,’" Harris seemed to almost enjoy toying with him, asking: “Hinted?” “Inferred?”

When he claimed he had not reviewed the evidence, Harris said: “If in any U.S. attorney’s office around the country, the head of that office, when being asked to make a critical decision about, in this case, the person who holds the highest office in the land, and whether or not that person committed a crime, would you accept them recommending a charging decision to you if they had not reviewed the evidence?”

Cory Booker, sitting next to Harris, gazed at her with undisguised admiration and respect, and all I can say to that is, get yourself a male colleague who looks at you the way Booker looks at Harris.

Sid

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. She runs a close 2nd on my list.

Nor does she suffer fools lightly. Look at how she grilled Barr and Kavanaugh.

[Funtatlaguy]

6. She should take clips and make an ad from those

Suggest?
What about infer?
What about why are you such a lying piece of Republican shit? Mr attorney general asshole, sir.

[DownriverDem]

8. Biden/Harris

would be an excellent ticket. Harris would be the first woman VP. She would then be aligned to be President. Americans are way behind when it comes to women leaders.

[at140]

2. I am going for DC politics experience

So Biden, Warren & may be Klobuchar.
The new president has to hit the ground running and be able to win over some GOP senators. Being tough and angry will lead to no legislation passing. Trump has left behind lot of elephant dung to be cleaned up. A gridlock will solve nothing.

[DURHAM D]

3. Are you saying that Senator Harris is "angry"? nt

[at140]

5. No

But a tough candidate can't be tough by a big smile all the time. Biden is more familiar to Republicans and has more friends in the opposition party than Harris. That can make lot of difference on legislation going through.

[DownriverDem]

9. Yep

Biden/Harris would be a great ticket.

[LongtimeAZDem]

15. That brings up an intersting take: Biden/Harris - Good Cop, Bad Cop

[pangaia]

17. Harris/Biden

[LongtimeAZDem]

19. That would simply make no sense at all

[pangaia]

23. When you hear hoof beats, think of a zebra.

[patphil]

21. I don't believe there is anyone on the Democratic side that can win over GOP Senators

Compromise was tried by Obama and it failed spectacularly.
They won't work with a Democrat. That's the way it was, is, and will be.
The Democrats need to gain at least 5 seats in the Senate, along with the Presidency.
They have a very good chance at this since 22 Republicans are up for re-election.

Believe me, this is the only path that works.
The Republicans see compromise as weakness. They will exploit it for their ends.
We can only carry forward our Democratic agenda with both Houses and the Presidency.
Our mind set must be on taking both.

That said, I think Kamala Harris has excellent experience and will not have a bit of trouble managing the mine fields of beltway politics.

Patrick Phillips

[brewens]

27. We need a candidate that makes it clear we want government to do good things for us.

That's been what the people at the top have gotten for too long. Now the working class should expect the same.

[at140]

32. Govt already short of money

Yearly budget deficit exceeds Trillion $$$ under Trump. only place they can cut is military which has a budget $710 Billion, but even if it is cut in half, there still will be $650 Billion shortfall.

Do you want the govt to take national debt higher?
Note that the interest on national debt is now already about half of the military budget.

May be doubling taxes on all earning more than $100k could be the solution.

[at140]

30. For whatever reason Obama never became

Popular with Republicans. Biden has better chance of peeling away moderate Republicans.

[DesertRat]

4. It's exciting to see female candidates unafraid of powerful men

"It would be wonderful to watch a similarly unflinching, utterly competent Harris in a room with Vladimir Putin."

Amen to that!

[TreasonousBastard]

7. I watched that, and while I didn't catch Booker's admiring glance, I was impressed by...

her doing her job. No BS, no speechifying, just doing her job. And doing it well.

In interviews, she often seems a little giggly, but when it counts, she's all business. I think she'll do great on the debates.

Imagine, just imagine, a cabinet secretary or senior advisor being unprepared when talking to her.

[JaneQPublic]

10. She is one of my top-tier candidates

And thank you for posting info pro your candidate rather than against the other candidates.

[Kaleva]

11. Rec'd

[mcar]

12. K&R!

[yaesu]

13. which reminds me that HRC would have made an awesome president! nt

[djacq]

14. She's the ONE!

[Progressive2020]

16. She Is Tough

I like that about her, her prosecutor's mentality. I saw her interviewed once and she seemed a little fuzzy on details, but I think that as the campaign continues she will be able to hone her message.

I can definitely see a Biden/Harris campaign. That said, I am currently leaning towards supporting Warren, but it is still too early for me to make a decision. If Biden or Harris win the nomination, I will support them with everything I have got.

[pangaia]

18. Harris/Biden

[Progressive2020]

24. Vice President

Harris/Biden makes no sense, no offense meant. Biden was VP for eight years under Obama. He is of a pretty advanced age. He is running for president, not VP.

Biden/Harris makes much more sense. Biden might even just do one term and hand it off to Harris or whoever is his VP and let them run for the second term.

[pangaia]

26. Yes. I know. When you hear hoof beats, think of a zebra.

[Progressive2020]

33. What?

What does that phrase mean? I am not familiar with it.

[pangaia]

34. It us the title of a book by the sufi writer, Shems Friedlander.

His book is a series of sufi teaching stories, aimed at guiding one toward not being misled by the mere appearance of what one sees, but looking for the reality, the truth behind it.

[SunSeeker]

20. K & R

[LiberalLovinLug]

22. I think she'd be great.

But she also seems a bit of an opportunist. Or just a very smart politician if you want to look at it that way. In that she seems to be all things to all people. She co-sponsored the "socialist" Medicare-For-All bill with Bernie Sanders. But also takes money from Wall Street and never criticizes any of the Democratic establishment status quo.

I think some are wary of that kind of politician. Yes we all love and loved Obama as President. But there was also a feeling by some that he campaigned further to the left than he governed. That he seemed to be a left of center progressive, at one time insisting he would live or die as a one term President on the issue of a public option, but once in office seemed to shift quickly to the center/right. Without seemingly much of a personal struggle. Harris seems to be cut of the same cloth. But its too early to really know her completely. That's just an impression. Hey, even its unclear where she is on issues completely, I just compared her to Obama, and that is overall a good thing. Like I said, she'd make a terrific President. I'd certainly prefer her over Biden or any of the old guard.

[Progressive2020]

25. Yes

Harris does seem to triangulate a lot, is less sincere or dedicated to principles. So, she is an opportunist. Maybe a more positive term is pragmatic. I have no problem with pragmatic politicians, as long as they say and do the right things and champion the right kind of policies.

That said, I would vote for Harris if she got the nomination, but right now I am leaning towards Elizabeth Warren. Warren is principled and progressive, but she is also pretty tough and pragmatic.

Harris does not seem to have deep principles beyond getting elected and opposing the Republicans. Which is fine, but I would prefer a candidate who is more philosophical about their underlying principles. I am willing to give Harris a shot, though. Maybe she will evolve as we see more of her throughout the campaign and primaries.

[LiberalLovinLug]

31. Well said

I too would prefer Warren. She has been fighting the good fight for a long time now, and deserves it more IMO. Plus her positions are very clearly progressive. And as a former Rebublican, her political transformation is clearly evident and thus believable.

I though am also looking at electability. I think Sanders runs on a similar platform as Warren but has a much broader appeal. A lot of Independent support. Which could take us over the top, especially in the Rust Belt where he is popular for opposing the trade deals. So between the two, I'd support Sanders over Warren.

But if Sanders and Warren are out of the picture at some point, I'd look seriously at Harris. I think she'd be quite electable as well, not only with the AA minority, but also young people, women, and Democrats that like to see Democrats charged up and fighting. And as a former prosecutor, she is hard as nails as we can see. Not afraid to put her name on Sanders bill is admirable as well.

Biden scares me. Not him, but the thought of him winning the candidacy. He is wildly popular amongst Democrats I realize. And he's earned it. But that is only in Democratic circles. Its so easy to project that assumption on a extremely divided country that half see him as an old guard Democrat, part of the swamp. I think he's too old school to last against the new social media led onslaught he will deal with. Both from the right and the extreme left.

And I still maintain that Tulsi Gabbard is the dark horse in the race. I think we will see after the first debate. Democrats will have to decide if electability is more important than their personal preference. I believe Sanders would have won last time if he were the nominee. For a few reasons. the brainwashing of the deplorables by RW media against Hillary, Putin's shenanigans, the fake scandals churned out over and over. The MSM thinking they had to pound her with pointless email questions, while giving Trump hours of free airtime to say whatever he wanted, all in an effort to even the horse race, which they assumed was Hillary's to lose. Also she was just not a charismatic person on stage, and did not use the stage much, I assume because she assumed she didn't need to. Mistakes from her campaign assuming the Rust Belt was a slam dunk so they didn't have to bother campaigning there. On and on. And conversely, Sanders was running at just the time the populace wanted an "outsider" or someone seen as anti-establishment. Someone who promised to fight the swamp and change things.

And Sanders and Gabbard both have Independent appeal. Because, whether earned or not, they are seen as anti establishment contenders not afraid to criticize even the party they run under over some policies. Whether some here don't like that, that fact is that gains them a more broad appeal. Gabbard has a military background which helps her. I don't like her more hawkish foreign policies, but overall she is quite progressive. And she talks very well and has a great presence. So will Democratic voters understand the need to nominate someone who has appeal outside of the D base? To get those needed extra votes? Especially with even more interference and suppression this time? We will see.

[Kurt V.]

28. Actually, i would probably do a years worth of happy dances in 10 minutes if she were elected POTUS

for a guy with one lung (me) i'd pull it off somehow.

[Farmer-Rick]

29. Yes, yes, yes

We need a tough, strong liberal to clean up the shit the GOP and Putin's puppet are leaving all over our government.

We don't need a bipartisan, compromising, let sleeping dogs lie, work to help the status quo type of president.