Opinion: Democrats should listen to Kamala Harris and follow her example - Rubin
Kamala Harris has had her troubles — as most vice presidents do — carving out a definitive role in the Biden administration and navigating petty (and often sexist) coverage. But with female voters more important than ever to Democrats, and two critical issues on which she has a powerful voice moving front and center, she has an opportunity to invigorate her party.
Lately, she has made the most of her opening in four ways:
1) She is putting the Supreme Court on the ballot as a threat to equality and democracy. Harris started her career as a prosecutor, and if ever the country needed a lawyer to dissect the right-wing Supreme Court justices’ sloppy reasoning and warped history, it is now. She ably stepped up the day the court reversed Roe v. Wade. “This is the first time in the history of our nation that a constitutional right has been taken from the people of America,” she said in Illinois. She immediately put the abortion decision in its proper context, characterizing it as an attack on the right to privacy. “Think about it as the right for each person to make intimate decisions about heart and home.”
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2) She is calling out Republicans for what they are: extremists. As she said at the annual meeting for the National Education Association in Chicago on Tuesday: These extremist so-called leaders fought against raising your pay … These extremist so-called leaders refuse to keep assault weapons off our streets and out of our classrooms and tried to silence your voice through your union …
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3) She is expressing contempt for Republicans’ ludicrous defense of easy access to semiautomatic weapons. In the same speech on Tuesday, she declared over applause that “teachers should not have to practice barricading a classroom. Teachers should not have to know how to treat a gunshot wound. And teachers should not be told that ‘Lives would have been saved if only you had a gun.’ ” In other words, Harris isn’t shy about pointing out when Republicans insult voters’ intelligence with catchphrases such as “all we need is a good guy with a gun.” (It sure didn’t help in the Uvalde, Tex., mass shooting.)
4) She is redirecting Democrats to productive action. In her Tuesday speech, Harris reiterated a promise that most Democrats have made on the campaign trail: “Congress needs to have the courage to act and renew the assault weapons ban.” For that to happen, voters must send more help so the administration can get this done... Her closer should be the mantra for Democrats: “Do not throw up our hands when it is a time to roll up our sleeves.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/06/kamala-harris-democrats-should-listen-and-follow-her-example
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