Tuesday August 6, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 2 pm]
Political analysis by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
After a fast turn of events at the top of USA politics in the past two weeks, today Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her vice-presidential candidate.
The election is coming up fast on November 5.
In the remaining 92 days the Democrats will have the challenge of introducing a politician for VP who until now has not been a household name across the and certainly not beyond American borders.
Indeed, Americans are still getting to know Harris; even though she’s been VP that’s a relatively quiet role at the White House in a political system that funnels significant power to the president.
It was only July 21 when President Joe Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election for a second term in the top job. Concerns were mostly about how age had impacted his performance on the job and how as is especially the American way they needed vigor and punch at the top of the presidential ticket.
When Biden stepped aside he earmarked his decision to have picked Kamala Harris as his running mate in 2020 as the best decision he had made as president, as in looking to the future of how the Democratic Party would fare down the road. His legacy may yet include having facilitated opening the doors for the first female president of the United States.
Keeping the ‘older white guy’ image on the 2024 ticket for the White House seems important to Harris and the Democrats, acknowledging in their political strategy that a multi-racial female presidential candidate may not be the top choice for voters who are ‘independent’ or ‘in the margins’ as the Americans say.
Beating Trump:
The Democrats wholly believe they need to beat Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in order to continue steering the US in the direction that Biden has set… more help for a broader range of households and communities.
Walz is described as plain-spoken and progressive with rural roots and liberal policies. His mid-western roots will stand an interesting contrast to Republican mid-western vice-presidential candidate JD Vance who has still to really know who he is. To the cameras he is bringing the ‘older white guy’ image that perhaps the Democrats fear they are losing with Biden not on the ticket.
Walz brings to the cameras a still relatively young family image. His wife Gwen seems comfortable in front of the camera, as do their two children Hope and Gus now in their late teens or early 20s.
Vance and his wife Usha have three young children; Usha seems the more articulate but both seem easily swayed and are now bound at the hip to the Trump campaign and destiny.
Canada factor:
Here in Canada, the Liberal minority government under Justin Trudeau’s leadership is likely relieved at the re-energized shot that the Democrats have under a Harris-Walz ticket. Dealing with Trump again in the White House would come with economic challenges that Canada hardly needs at this time.
Trudeau seeks to win again for the Liberals in Canada in the October 20, 2025 federal election. He is very likely wanting to keep things in Canada in a ‘steady as she goes’ mode of operation until the world learns who will be running the world’s most powerful country that sits just below of our southern border.
Years ago, Kamala Harris attended high school in Montreal. Pundits see that as a thread-bare start for some common ground with the Canadian way.
Politics of ‘the other’:
American politics is still heavily impacted by issues around race and gender and people are seen first or entirely by those labels; call it ‘politics of the other’. In this matter-of-fact brawlish manner of politics, the non-white female representation of Harris is seen to be balanced off by the mid-western easy-going but tough older white male image that Walz brings to the ticket.
The other two guys:
Pundits say that Harris needed to pick a VP running mate as “someone she is comfortable with”. She would probably would have found a more compatible mindset and intellect in Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro but she obviously wanted to steer clear of the Israel-Palestine issues that might be brought up around Shapiro.
Harris was also widely reported as considering Arizona Governor Mark Kelly also for his older white guy gun owner image but while an esteemed astronaut the stretch to include military aspect in her campaign was possibly beyond Harris’ comfort zone.
Kelly is married to former congresswoman Gabby Giffords who about 12 years ago suffered a gunshot wound to the head while doing her political work. Since then the couple has been promoting gun control legislation.
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke has been writing political analysis for decades, through a socioeconomic lens — coveirng stuff that matters to households, business and communities. She founded the online daily news portal IslandSocialTrends.ca in 2020.
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Inspiration from US political shuffle bleeds over into Canada (August 1, 2024)
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