With a Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ticket, the DNC shows at best that it hasn’t learned much (if anything) from 2016. Or, at worst, that the DNC just isn’t really that serious about defeating Donnie T.
At CitizenTex, we wrote in our July newsletter that the prediction markets were pricing in the odds of a Biden win at nearly 2-1. That over-confidence makes us uncomfortable. We don’t buy those odds, and we didn’t buy them in 2016 either.
Those prediction market odds have actually gotten slightly worse for Biden since the choice of Kamala Harris as VP yesterday, but are still largely in his favor.
To be clear: we are skeptical of Biden’s odds of beating Donnie regardless of who his VP is. But the choice of Harris doesn’t do him many favors. While we still would’ve been skeptical, choosing Stacey Abrams as VP would have helped him much more than Harris.
For one – Stacey Abrams is from Georgia, a southern state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic president in almost 30 years. Meanwhile Kamala Harris is from California, a state which is going blue nearly regardless of who’s on the ticket. So, no electoral help there.
Second – even excluding the details of Kamala Harris’s very problematic record as a cop (see: how she kept Steve Mnuchin out of jail), just the fact that the DNC would choose a cop in the midst of a rebirth of the Civil Rights Movement focused on over-policing is… incredibly tone deaf. But then again, the DNC has been taking a “hold my beer” approach to tone deafness lately.
Third – and perhaps most importantly – while Stacey Abrams isn’t really the most “progressive” candidate, she’s a FAR cry better than the (so-called) “moderate” empty suit-style politics Kamala Harris clings to.
Why does this matter? At the end of the day, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is objectively the wing with the most momentum and energy. And if the DNC was serious about defeating Donnie T, why would they consistently snub and avoid the most energetic part of their constituency? Especially if the stakes are “so high” as the DNC constantly goads.
In 2016, the DNC went with a statistically weak neoliberal-establishment candidate and added an even blander neoliberal-establishment candidate as VP. In 2020, the DNC is doubling down on this approach and hoping for a different outcome. What was Einstein’s definition of insanity again?
CitizenTex is a non-profit organization fighting for economic justice and freedom of opportunity for all citizens. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Editors Note: Occasionally, Onward Texas brings in contributors to help shape conversation, bring in alternative perspectives and elevate Progressive dialogue.This article was written by an Onward Texas contributor and all opinions and expressions are their own.
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