There’s a tendency among some Democrats to pick a black woman’s name to throw into the 2020 vice presidential hopper with zero consideration of qualifications for that office, other than being her being black, and personable. This is fueled by their enthusiasm to see a black woman on the presidential ticket, or holding a position of power in a Joe Biden administration, but black women are not interchangeable. Black women are a proven backbone of the Democratic Party, yet you do us a disservice if you think simply any black woman will do.
No one has done this with Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, even though all three ran for president. These senators, who are female, and white, are allowed to be unique, and recognized for who they are as people with different political agendas and qualifying experience. Yet somehow, we find ourselves in a “name a black woman” competition, with no attention to experience; I find this both insulting and objectionable.
While she was running for president, I watched Kamala Harris relegated to many people’s choice for Attorney General, no matter how many times it was pointed out that she wasn’t interested in the job when Barack Obama was president, that serving as AG would sideline any future plans to run again for president, and that it would be a step down from the powerful position of U.S. Senator. Nevertheless, people have persisted.
A vice president needs to be a person ready to step into the presidency on day one. Harris qualifies. She has both executive and administrative experience as the former attorney general of the nation’s most populous state. She has also worked tirelessly for down-ticket races across the country. There are other black women who fit the vp bill, however, in my opinion, Stacey Abrams, as much as I like the work she is doing with voter registration, is not one of them. I see her name being pushed forward as what looks like a “Kamala alternative,” for garnering the key black vote.
Many folks think Abrams has unfinished business in Georgia, and would like to see her either run for Senate, or repeat her 2018 run for governor. Though she served as the Democratic leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, Abrams has never won an election for any office higher than state representative.
Abrams has clearly stated her ambition.
There is nothing wrong with either ambition or pragmatism. What has to back it up is experience.
I’ve even heard people suggest, “Well, Biden said he’d put a black woman on the Supreme Court,“ and then throw out Abrams’ name—WTF? Yes, she has a law degree, and practiced as a tax attorney for a brief time, but SCOTUS? You insult the black women who would qualify. I also disagree with the choice of Harris for SCOTUS. I immediately think of Sherrilyn Ifill, the head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund as a name that should be on a shortlist, or perhaps Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina Anita Earls. A karmic pick on Biden’s part would be Anita Hill, who is now a professor at Brandeis University.
The ignorance exhibited around SCOTUS qualifications—and who would be a good black female pick—was challenged in this excellent Twitter thread.
Back to the veepstakes...
Another name being bandied around as a veep pick is that of Congresswoman Val Demings of Florida. She was phenomenal in the impeachment hearings.
Um … note to Rep. Coleman: Saying she’s ”articulate” is not the compliment you think it is.
Demings’ lauded performance in the hearings, in and of itself, doesn’t mean she should stand next in line to be POTUS. If you think the vile (and erroneous) memes equating Kamala Harris’ time as attorney general with being a cop were bad—Demings was a cop. She has only been in Congress since January 2017. Demings is not ready to step into the presidency. I look forward to her continued re-election and garnering tenure in the House, and perhaps one dayrunning for the Senate from Florida.
I’ve also seen the name of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms thrown into the black woman VP pool. Like Abrams and Demings, she is not prepared to take over on day one. Her previous service in Atlanta as a judge and city council member does not meet the qualifications for our presidency.
Of course, there is always the Michelle Obama name. Michelle for President, Michelle for SCOTUS, Michelle for veep. I’ve heard them all. Even the right-wing National Review has gotten into the act.
Help me Black Jesus!
Listen: I love and admire Michelle Obama. For me, and a lot of other people, she will always be the #ForeverFLOTUS. She has repeatedly and emphatically stated she is not interested in running for office, but people throw her name out there anyway. Love and admiration does not equal qualification; in Michelle’s case, nor does it indicate aspiration. She has talked about her lack of interest — frequently.
We know Kamala Harris has those aspirations. She ran. She’s also been elected over time to higher and higher office. Though I have been a staunch Harris supporter from day one, there is another black woman I’d consider — former United Nations Ambassador and National Security Adviser Susan Rice. Though Rice does not have the legislative background, nor the progressive credentials of Harris, she would certainly be able to step into the foreign policy arena and hit the ground running, and has a grasp of what we now face with the coronavirus.
Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice under President Barack Obama unloaded on President Donald Trump’s disastrous response to the unfurling coronavirus pandemic. In an on-air interview with CNN, Rice took issue with Trump’s claim that no one could have foreseen the crisis.
“We knew that this was a serious and impending risk,” she said. “That’s why, under the Obama administration, we set up, I set up — with Lisa Monaco in the White House, in the National Security Council, an office for global health security and biodefense. We staffed it with a senior person and made sure that they could report directly to the national security adviser and the homeland security adviser. Two years ago, that office was dismantled.”
She continued: “In the last week of the Obama administration, we had an exercise with the incoming leadership of the Trump administration. We sat down, for hours, side by side, and one of the key scenarios we ran with them was very much this one: What happens when you have a global pandemic of this sort?”
Perhaps those of you who keep name dropping black women for VP who are not as qualified as Harris should pay attention to some not-pundit black voices.
Some recent polling seems to confirm Harris as a popular pick.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris of California is the number one choice to be vice president for the largest number of voters, according to a recent survey.
A survey conducted by Emerson Polling in mid-February showed that 20 percent of respondents thought Harris would make the best vice president. Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who also ran for president, was a close second, with support from 18 percent of respondents. Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, came in third with 16 percent support, while former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who has said she'd like to be vice president, placed fourth with support from 8 percent of respondents.
More recently, WaPo ranked Harris and Klobuchar tied for first place.
I’m aware that other women’s names are in play, or being talked about—women who are not black. I’m not here to discuss them today.
I’m hoping that those of you who are open to considering black women, will accept that all the black women on your lists, are not equally qualified to be a vice president who could immediately become president, or for a seat on the Supreme Court.
All black Democratic women are not the same. Stop acting like we are.