Rolling Stone: Kamala Harris' Moment

[TomCADem]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/kamala-harris-2020-election-interview-861340/

Sen. Kamala Harris listens to Yekutiel, the son of a Brooklyn-born lawyer and an Afghan Orthodox Jewish rabbi, as he tells his story about how his family reacted to his coming out.

“She held my hand, and we had a very powerful moment,” Yekutiel tells me later. “Like a lot of politicians, real emotional connection is what fuels her. Selfies and stump speeches, that’s not what gives them energy. What does is being in a broom closet with a small-business owner who is disowned by his father, and being able to look him in the eye and say, ‘I got you. I’m Kamala Harris, I’m running for president. I’m one of the most powerful women in politics, but I’m here for you.’ ” Since the first Democratic debate, something different is happening with Harris.

After months of a campaign that was stagnating in the polls, her performance on the Miami stage edged her into the top tier. For an electorate rightfully obsessed with defeating Donald Trump, Harris made herself look like the best person to stand opposite him — and she did so by weakening the front-runner, Joe Biden, in an unforgettable exchange about his opposition to school busing in the Seventies.

“And you know,” Harris said as the former vice president looked away from her, “there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day, and that little girl was me.” Biden’s head snapped toward her. The entire primary had changed.

[bigtree]

1. her first campaign (ironing board referenced in the article)

Link to tweet

"It’s an attitude that Harris has had since her earliest days of retail politics, when she ran for San Francisco DA in 2003. “I would campaign with my ironing board,” she says. “I would grab it out of my house — and a roll of duct tape, my posters, my literature, and my handouts. And I would put them all in my car and drive to a grocery store.”

Then Harris would get out, open up shop in front of the store, and begin selling her candidacy to whomever passed by. “The ironing board makes a great standing desk,” she says. “I’d tape my posters on one side, flap them over. And I would require people to talk to me as they walked in and out of the grocery store.” Require? “Oh, some would not. But I was not going to be denied — without really being too forceful. That’s how I campaigned.” We drive past bus stops in San Francisco’s Chinatown, street corners that Harris recognizes readily. “I would campaign at these bus stops starting at six in the morning until 8:00 at night,” she says."

[mcar]

2. Kick

[Andy823]

3. That was a great article

I hope people take the time to read it.

[cwydro]

4. Rec.

Wasn’t on board with her attack on Biden, but I like her a lot.