Kalmes: Top 10 Reasons to Vote for Kamala Harris for President

Last week I listed the top 10 reasons to vote against Donald Trump. Here is the accompanying argument list For promotion of Vice President Kamala Harris to the presidency. Again, drum rolland countdown to No. 1:

10. She has a good resume for this job.

Harris has experience and a solid record of public service at all levels of government for two decades: locally as a prosecutor and district attorney in San Francisco; the State as California Attorney General; and federal, as a US senator and vice president. In California, she won the fight against transnational criminals, for-profit colleges, home foreclosures, and polluting corporations. Nationally, she has been a champion for reproductive rights and policies that actually help the working class, not just pay lip service. a la Trump.

Overall, Harris has more experience in government, including in national security (as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and as vice president), than Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama and Trump had when they took office. into office.

9. She is a consensus-oriented pragmatist.

Forget Trump’s blather about Harris being a Marxist; he is an extremist—a “fascist,” as his former chief of staff, John F. Kelly, put it. warns. Harris is “a strong, dedicated public servant … committed to bringing people together,” said former Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan. last weekjoining more than 30 former party colleagues in denouncing Trump.

Harris’ shift to the left five years ago during her short-lived presidential campaign, including on health care, the environment and policing, was pandering to party liberals; she wasn’t true to herself, hence her poor performance. But she has learned lessons from her retribution and her service as vice president to a compromise-seeking President Biden. As Democratic Party Elder James Carville marked The New York Times reported Wednesday that Harris’ support stretches from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Democratic left to Dick and Liz Cheney on the right, making her coalition “the broadest we’ve seen in modern political history.” .

8. She will choose civil servants for her administration.

The fact that Harris (or any other president) would assemble a competent cabinet and appointees from his sub-cabinets should not be remarkable. But this is true when the alternative is a Trump administration without the supposed “adults in the room” who worked for him before. Like Trump recently warnedwhen it comes to choosing advisors: “I know the game a little better now.” Its purpose, as stated in Project 2025is to gut the nonpartisan civil service and fill the jobs with sycophants loyal to him rather than the Constitution.

7. She will allow Trump’s trials to unfold.

Harris will not treat the Justice Department as his personal law firm, as Trump did and will do again to make good on his threats “retribution”. With the help of lackeys (see above), he dropped criminal cases against himself and initiated new ones against his enemies. He said Right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt said Tuesday he would fire special prosecutor Jack Smith “within two seconds.”

More than 40 former Justice Department officials of both parties approved Harris, saying she would respect the independence of the department’s prosecutors, as has every president except Trump since Watergate. Justice and justice will be served because the charges brought against Trump on January 6th and the possession of classified documents are deserved. They are not, as Trump lies, the result of Democrats “weaponizing” the government.

6. She could become a better manager of financial and economic matters.

Neither Harris nor Trump have plans to address the unsustainable growth of the federal debt; both would add to it. However, according to Harris, the tax and spending policy program will cost about half as much as Trump’s program. non-partisan analysisand ensure higher returns on public investment. And in the Wall Street Journal surveyMost economists predicted that inflation, interest rates and deficits would be much higher under Trump.

While he and many voters blame Biden and Harris for the inflation of recent years, rising prices were inevitable given post-pandemic demand. But inflation fell and inflation-adjusted wages rose to pre-pandemic level. In addition, Harris will respect the independence of the Federal Reserve; as president Trump didn’t do it.

5. It will build on Biden’s climate change initiatives.

Not only does Trump not acknowledge the existential threat, he ridicules it and vows to reverse the landmark Biden-Harris investment in clean energy. Instead, he “drilled, baby, drilled.” (Again, contrary to Trump’s lies, US energy production under Biden world records.) Harris calls for continuing a hybrid approach, supporting existing fossil fuel projects but emphasizing clean energy subsidies.

4. It will signal to the world that the United States remains committed to democracy and its multilateral alliances.

Harris will maintain U.S. leadership in NATO and other global institutions, respect existing international agreements, including on climate change, and support Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression. More than Biden, she has signaled that she will oppose Israel’s right-wing government. None of this will be true for a re-elected Trump. Foreign allies are terrified that he will return to power; By simply choosing Harris, Americans would reassure the free world.

3. She will choose diverse and popular candidates for the federal courts.

Harris will continue Biden’s practice of selecting respected, mainstream judicial nominees who are diverse in background, gender and race. She is likely to choose relative moderates over Trump’s right-wing ideologues, especially if the Senate, as predicted, has a Republican majority ready for any excuse to block her choice. Far-right Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, 76, and Samuel A. Alito Jr., 74, are expected to delay their retirement rather than allow it to choose their successors. But this is preferable to Trump choosing younger clones who will serve for decades.

2. She has character.

Harris is not a compulsive liar, does not show a penchant for personal power and self-aggrandizement, and is not affected by scandals. Unlike Trump, she will be “a president for all Americans” and “put country before party and herself,” she said at the Democratic National Convention.

1. She’s not Trump.

Enough said.

@jackiekcalmes