Kamala Harris makes it official

Crazy idea, I know, but maybe we can start electing politicians and making policy changes to correct for that?

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Nobody said she didn’t. Geez.

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Has Harris ever made a point of highlighting her dance moves in any previous campaign for elected office? I don’t recall this from my time in CA. I’m not going to drag her for hopping on a bandwagon now, but this isn’t about ageism, either.

If Harris or her advisers had been smarter about this, she would have held the (very legit) dancing stuff in reserve, courted Ocasio-Cortez’s support on the basis of policy for primary season, and (if she got the endorsement) busted some moves with her then. That’s the right way to hop on a publicity bandwagon.

Others here have. You kept turning the discussion back to a non-existent age-vs-youth electoral competition rather than take the opportunity offered by others to discuss her policy positions.

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So, let’s hold her to account on that and accept that she is in campaign mode and as a professional will make every effort to show her best side and dancing just might be part of that.

Not really… what?

What are you responding to, with that comment?

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Talking about how people campaign is part of that. Again, MARKETING is the key democratic strategy since the Clintons.

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True. Her voting record in office is not bad, either, but she co-sponsored or initiated few bills to actually change the status quo. We need more of that, and now.

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I was responding to my understanding of your comment. That I am somehow in KH’s disciple.

100% positive rating from the League of Conservation Voters (compared to the average U.S. Senator score of 45%). She’s not necessarily the best we could do but she’s far from the worst.

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The tone in this thread very much echoes the threads on BBS on Clinton. Which again was about a professional woman who has made a successful career in spite of huge odds by sticking to the rules of the game.

Any professional politician will have to run a (marketing) campaign and any experienced politician will have skeletons in the closet–inevitably. Skeletons, which a hostile campaign can and will turn against them. But wanting to look good in itself shouldn’t really be a sin.

By dismissing experienced women, who have advanced within the system through the decades, straight out of hand before they have even opened their mouth is not a great sign for the future.

That is how you end up with a vicious monster, who is managing to destroy 50 years of Civil Rights Achievements at a lightning speed.

That’s like asking is O’Rourke has he ever posted skating videos prior to the 2018 election cycle. We are dealing with a new communication tool. To AOC and her peers it is a natural fit, they grew up with it.

But, that surely doesn’t mean that other candidates can’t and shouldn’t try to learn on the job and follow suite.

Then you completely misunderstood, and should have asked for clarification rather than just assuming.

I honestly don’t care about your defense of Harris; my reaction was to your hyperbolic phrasing and the needlessly snide tone you chose to employ.

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But that’s the thing. They’ve been changing the rules over the past few decades, against the well-being of the people. We need someone who’s going to lead the effort to change them back to a more equitable stance.

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So… what? No. That’s not even remotely right. White supremacy and the constant use of dog whistling by the right and sometimes by centrists candidates did that.

Marketing is a key component of the capitalist system - we need people in office who are willing to buck the norm and ignoring marketing for campaigning on issues that matter to the public. That’s precisely what Stacey Abrams did here in GA, and she (a black woman) came very close to winning. She was able to get out votes that Clinton and other democrats have not been able to because she went to where they were, talked to them, and was honest about what she wanted to accomplish as governor. She had a policy first campaign that didn’t rely on Bernays style public relations.

The democratic party is at least partly responsibly for backing away from strong support of civil rights legislation, women’s rights legislation, and labor centric legislation. These are the kinds of policies that will bring people to the table.

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Did you notice I didn’t specify the GOP? I’m trying to be inclusive.

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I know and I assumed so… It something that others might forget, though. There is a reason more and more people are identifying as independents instead of aligning with either party, and it’s because both parties are more alike than they seem with a superficial glance.

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One of Clinton’s core flaws in 2016 was that she refused to change the unjust establishment rules once she was at the top and refused to apologise for her complicity in perpetuating or in some cases exacerbating those rules. It’s particularly tragic because had she could have admitted her faults and mistakes and still have had a surplus of positives to offset it.

But she didn’t, and that is part of the reason she lost, leaving us with this vicious orange monster. One hopes Harris will take a lesson from Clinton’s errors.

It’s not about a new communication tool. Harris has held elected office throughout most of the Internet age and has had plenty of time to learn about its power as a campaign PR tool.

What it is about is trying to appeal to a wider and more youthful audience now that she’s running for a truly national audience, which I get. Her timing and focus (or that of her advisers) for the stunt was just too early and didn’t squeeze maximum value from it. This botched PR stunt isn’t the end of the world, and now that it’s out of the way she can move on to more substantive issues.

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Hell…

Florida Man 2020!

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That seems unlikely.

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Thaks for clarifying and apologies for quick response.

For a bit of context: I am on the other side of the ocean and as such a mere observer. I was also a mere observer in 2016 when the discussion was on Clinton. I know little about Harris but I knew a lot about Clinton. I happened to study in the US during the Clinton campaign and election and witnessed how Hillary Clinton’s efforts on healthcare were shredded and destroyed.

Unlike may others on the left I saw Clinton as an incredibly hard working and dedicated politician who had made a huge and genuine effort to tackle one of the US’ wicked problems and was treated appallingly for her troubles.

So, to me the out of hand dismissal and ad hominem attacks on Clinton from the left were puzzling (they felt coordinated and out of context with her history).

Now, the tone of comments on Harris sound very similar (and similarly coordinated)–and that is scary. There is an out of hand dismissal, which is not healthy in a democracy. Demanding standards that are inhuman (which was the reason for my snide):

Specifically, I was responding to this comment. No one in any position of power will not make mistakes. People will make huge mistakes. I doubt that Harris or Clinton have made mistakes knowingly. The question I am interested in is what they do with them.

I want to know what Harris thinks needs to be done with the criminal justice system, how is she planning to do that. I am expecting her to know and own what’s wrong with the system, I am expecting her to find and support the right advisors and with them to find solutions.

But I find it alarming that she is dismissed out of hand, on the basis of a marketing move.

So, we in the rest of the world are stuck with your president and the disastrous international consequences that go with him and he arose out of the ad hominem attacks on Clinton.

I would just hope that all of you, over there, who have say in the outcome, could raise the level of discourse, so that these decisions are not based on how much Hillary’s coat costs or whether Harris can really dance.

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