Kamala Harris, in withdrawing from the Presidential primary, exhibited a gracelessness that I hope dogs her ever and anon for whatever political career she may have left. She accused the American public of racism:

You know, essentially, is America ready for a woman and a woman of color to be president of the United States?

As Fox commentator Greg Gutfeld noted, “America as a population is willing to get behind everybody and everybody. They had a two-term black president. Hillary got … the popular vote.” He then called her a “jerk.”

I concur, and her failure as a candidate is entirely on Harris, not on a purportedly racist public (hold that thought) that she could not leverage her intersectional advantages into a front-runner position. She had a leg up on the other candidates out of the gate, but she couldn’t close the deal. In fact, she couldn’t even get past the first couple rounds of negotiations.

And, who, exactly, is this “America” that isn’t ready for a WOC president? We’re not in the general election season, we’re in the primaries. Primaries dominated by the the progressive left wing of the Party, given that nearly every candidate has been essentially forced to endorse the Green New Deal, some form of socialized medicine, and a laundry basket of redistributed giveaways. So, if there’s racism, and unreadiness for President WOC, it’s within the Left’s core constituency. A core constituency that’s angry that the upcoming debate may be “all-white.”

Yeah, these are the ‘racists’ who aren’t ready for President WOC.

In telling us that she should be the nominee (and President) because she’s a WOC, not because she’s the most qualified for the job, her finger-pointing at a “racist” public for her failure encapsulates what’s so utterly wrong with the Left’s politics today. It’s based on superficialities and externalizing blame. ‘You deserve X because you check off these categories.’ ‘You are in a tough place because of other people.’ The natural next step from both those assertions is the pander: telling voters that ‘I will punish others in order to provide benefit to you.’

It’s no surprise, then, that Harris’s flounce echoes Clinton’s “it wasn’t my fault” loss to Trump. It’s a long, long way from the days of Harry Truman’s “the buck stops here” Democratic Party. It’s a carry-over from Obama’s years as the finger-pointer-in-chief, and it echoes David Mamet’s “abdication of responsibility” description of socialism and its resurgence on the Left.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

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