The Affirmative Action Vice-President (In the Age of Obama?)

Could this be Biden’s biggest gaffe? In the age of Obama, with a megaphone in hand, he declares that sex and race will be the criteria by which he will choose his vice-president. Then, he does it. He chooses Kamela Harris, and African-American women from the state of California to be his running mate. Could he not have chosen her without making a show of the color of her skin?

John McCain did not say, “I’m going to pick a white woman to run alongside me.” During his primary, George McGovern did not say, “I’m going to pick an Italian-American woman…” They each made their picks after looking over the entire field. There is something unseemly about Joe’s technique, as though done by someone who wants before he does it, and then again after it is done.

 

To be fair, Joe did not outright say that he was going to pick an African-American; he simply said, “woman.” Then, the events of the time, like a tsunami, lifted and carried him helplessly to where a bevy of black women – Harris, Rice, Bass, Abrams, et al – waited. He had foolishly opened his mouth and left himself stranded. 

 

Imagine, Kamela Harris could have been chosen over the likes of Rahm Emmanuel, shining star of the Democratic House before President Obama picked him to be his Chief of Staff; or Andrew Cuomo, the New York governor who stared down COVID. Except, Joe disqualified such competition right out of the box. Cuomo and Emmanuel were, by their sex and by their ethnicity, ineligible for the ticket, as were thousands of other qualified Americans who just happened to be of the wrong color. Think how much more satisfying Harris’ pick would have been to people of color across this nation – to Harris, herself – had she been chosen from the bountiful field which is America’s to offer.

 

We might want to question the true character of Joe’s altruism as he made that fated proclamation. It came at a time when Bernie Sanders was giving him hell in the polls, right before they were about to enter the southern primaries where a wide swath of African-America was waiting to vote. I do not know Bernie, but I wonder that he might have been a bit more of a gentleman than to have made such a cynical gesture toward the African-American community.

 

Joe’s veiled offer to preserve the vice-presidential spot for a black woman is like the coach of a football team saying that only black athletes need try out for quarterback. That certainly makes it easier for the black athlete, but it does not make the team better. I wonder that even the black athlete, himself, might feel slighted, as though limiting the competition to other black athletes is the only way he has a chance of winning the job. 

 

Do you think Harris might feel a bit slighted that her actual competition was limited to other black women? I think she might (without saying so). We must admit that there is something amiss; something inherently unfair about how Harris became this “historic candidate” – the first black woman in American history to appear on a major party presidential ticket, (when only black women were truly eligible to compete).

 

We black folks cannot do this – complain about not getting a fair shake because of the color of our skin, and then celebrate achieving the second-highest post in the land by explicitly denying others – like Elizabeth Warren, arguably the brightest of all the Democratic primary challengers – a fair chance because of the color of their skin.

 

Look, while folks’ rights are not my priority. I marched, I engaged in sit-ins, I literally fought for the civil rights of my own people during the ’60s and ’70s. But, I do believe in all folks’ right to be treated fairly. 

 

This episode in American presidential history shall carry a taint about it. Young people, with their hopes and high ideals, are particularly sensitive to perceived wrongs, especially as they see themselves rise up against the racial inequities confounding America. Joe Biden’s uncalled-for chicanery adds to the confusion.