THE BUTCHER BLOCK

Kamala Harris filleted Joe Biden like a fish. But her staff was too busy celebrating to notice a couple of things. What she did amounted to stolen honor. Vietnam veterans are all too familiar with that. For example, Senator Blumenthal  tried to talk about how his war experiences in Vietnam influenced him. The problem was that although Blumenthal was in the service, he never came close to serving in Vietnam. Those of us who actually are Vietnam combat veterans were not amused. Well Kamala Harris was a black girl, but she went to school in Berkeley which had been integrated since before she was born. Her parents were very affluent, her mother was a breast cancer scientist and her father was a Stanford Economics professor. Her problem is not with how white folks view this; it is with how this is viewed by the real little black girls who actually were bussed to white schools in places like Alabama. They are very unlikely to be impressed.

She also forgot that while many of us like fresh meat, we don’t necessarily want to see the animal slaughtered. At some point, you start hating the butcher. Joe Biden is a jerk who did actually hang around with racist Democrats. But after lecturing everyone  else on the stage to avoid a food fight, it was Harris who promptly started throwing garbage.  You do not lift yourself up by putting someone else down. All of the Democratic candidates would be wise to remember that.

Harris forgot that accusing Trump of racism, with no evidence, is fine but skewering a fellow Democrat is not fine. Doesn’t Harris understand that if she starts really pointing out who was and was not a racist, she is going to be pointing at mostly Democrats? Democrats want people to feel that Republicans are the real racists and their whole narrative collapses if people start reporting the actual facts.

It may surprise people to learn that it likely to be African Americans who are the loudest voices defending Joe Biden, for exactly that reason. Bill Clintons mentor was a racist. Al Gore’s father was a racist. The last thing, and I do mean the last thing, the Democratic party can afford is an honest historical account of this.

Perhaps the most interested comment was by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, the highest ranking African American in congress.

“But I think the sentiment is something that we all know in the legislative body – that you work with people you don’t agree with.”

I would word that quite differently. I would simply point out that much of the legislation passed to give entitlements to African Americans was designed by racist Southern Senators. Perhaps it is time to ask an important question. Did they really denounce racism, or did they merely design another way to keep the minorities they despised in their place? That is exactly what LBJ said was the intent during a conversation on Air Force One.

Either way, this little one act play by Kamala Harris is more likely to end her chances at winning the DNC nomination than it is to elevate her to position “A.”

TDM