Here’s another fun one for you. The Independent published an interesting piece shortly after Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-CA) announcement that she is suspending her campaign. Journalist Frederick Joseph, who penned the piece, gave one of the most predictable arguments for why Harris’ campaign failed. 

The piece, titled “Opinion: ‘Kamala is a cop’ was the racist narrative which killed Harris’s campaign dead” claims that those bringing up Harris’ troubled history as California’s attorney general were motivated by — you guessed it — racism! Yes, the notion that a progressive would blame a left-leaning candidate’s failure on racism isn’t at all predictable, I know, but try not to be too shocked. 

Joseph’s argument begins by referring to people who said Harris is “not likeable” and “overconfident.” He refers to these comments as “subtle racism and microaggressions.” You know, because nobody has ever said these things about a white presidential candidate, ever. It looks like Mr. Joseph was not paying attention during the 2016 campaign. Then he brought up how the hard left loved her at first — before they all became a pack of virulent racists.  

“When her campaign began, many political pundits referred to her ‘Trump’s nightmare’; some even went as far as to call her the ‘next Obama’, or to compare her to Shirley Chisholm. She was a woman of color with moderate policies and all the makings of someone who could have broad appeal.”

There’s a problem with this statement: Harris is nowhere close to being moderate. In an interview, she stated that if she were to win the presidency, she would require states to run pro-life legislation by her Justice Department before voting it into law. 

In a conversation with The Washington Examiner, Harris also stated that she might be willing to send police to confiscate banned firearms. She explained how they performed a similar action during her stint as attorney general:

“They were on a list where they were precluded and prohibited from owning a gun because of a conviction that prohibited that ownership. Those lists were combined and then we sent law enforcement out to take those guns, because, listen, we have to deal with this on all levels, but we have to do this with a sense of urgency.”

These might seem like moderate policies to a far-leftist, but to the rest of America, this is downright terrifying. So no, Kamala Harris is not a moderate. The author then pointed out some of the criticism that came from the ADOS (American Descendents of Slaves) movement. “At one point, it even appeared that social media bots were maliciously spreading tweets claiming she wasn’t ‘black enough’ and questioning her ethnicity.” 

Sorry, Mr. Joseph, those were not bots — at least not most of them. The ADOS movement is rather controversial, but they did have a point. Harris is half Jamaican and half Indian. While this might pass as black for those on the hard left who want to use her to push their race-based agenda, it’s not for many black Americans who descended from slaves. 

In fact, Harris hadn’t really started playing up her “blackness” until she started running for president. And the fact that she spent most of her adult life living in Canada created the perception that she might not be as in tune with the black American experience as she would like us to think. Perhaps this is why most black voters favored former Vice President Joe Biden instead of Harris. Still no racism here. 

Joseph later points out how some blamed her inconsistent message for her failure to connect with voters. “Many theorized that that drop-off in numbers was due to a ‘confusing’ message being put out by Team Kamala,” he wrote. “She had been criticized by progressives for not supporting Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All bill and she had been condemned by moderates for not committing herself fully to being a ‘tough on crime’ Democrat. People seemed confused about where she stood.

Well, this is what happens when you break John Kerry’s record for flip flops during a presidential campaign. Harris couldn’t seem to maintain a solid position on, well, anything. 

She supported law enforcement working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a prosecutor. Now she’s against assisting ICE. She claimed that private insurance should be abolished in favor of a state-run system. Then, she said she was open to a free market solution. As attorney general, she often kept inmates eligible for parole in prison longer for the cheap labor. Now, she claims to support prison reform. These are only a few of the issues on which she’s changed positions and you can’t expect to secure a nomination when nobody knows where you stand, right? 

In another effort to inject racism where it doesn’t exist, Joseph lists some of the flaws of other candidates that should disqualify them, but haven’t yet because they’re not black or something. “Tulsi Gabbard has been chided as a Republican ‘plant’ for her consistent appearances on Fox News,” he wrote.

But she didn’t lock up thousands of people for nonviolent drug offenses and try to keep them imprisoned past their parole dates though, Mr. Joseph. 

“Pete Buttigieg has been called out for not properly addressing a history of police brutality against black people in South Bend,” he whined. 

Yes, but he didn’t lock up thousands of people for nonviolent drug offenses and try to keep them imprisoned past their parole dates though, Mr. Joseph. 

“Amy Klobuchar has a prosecutorial record that is arguably worse than Harris’ — and the list goes on,” he argued. 

Well, that might be true, but she eats her salad with a comb, so she has absolutely no chance of winning the nomination, Mr. Joseph. 

Lastly, concludes by noting that black women helped build this country, “but America made sure that it wouldn’t let one run it.” 

And this is the crux of the issue. People like Joseph seem to think that the American public should somehow incorporate a form of electoral affirmative action in their voting decisions. But the fact of the matter is that people aren’t going to vote based solely on skin color.

Harris made key mistakes that cost her the chance to vie for the highest office in the land. She disqualified herself from the presidency. The country that elected former President Barack Obama did not reject Kamala Harris because of her race. To borrow a quote from one of my favorite movies, A Knight’s Tale, “she has been weighed; she has been measured, and she has been found wanting.”

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

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