Jakarta, IO – After Vice President Kamala Harris formally became the Democratic Party Candidate for the Presidency in the November election, to be determined in the Democratic Convention in Chicago on August 7, competition between her and the GOP Candidate, former President Donald Trump began; this would be a face-off between a 78-year-old convicted felon and 59-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris, who is a former Attorney General and Senator from California.
Several television hosts could not help characterizing the competition this way, since people could not forget the fact that Donald Trump is a felon with 34 guilty counts against him, for crimes which he was accused of committing. The trial took place in the Southern District of New York Court. Surely this does not count other accusations that he must face in different Courts, from Atlanta, Georgia, to Washington, DC, and possibly in Florida. Certainly, it will be interesting to see how all these will unfold if allowed to proceed.
After the selfless and statesmanlike decision of President Joe Biden to step aside from seeking re-election, and his endorsement of VP Kamala Harris to become the Democratic Party Candidate, Harris immediately started her campaign, realizing that there is only one hundred days left before voting day on November 4. Her first stop was Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she declared her readiness to carry the baton, to continue President Biden’s duty, defending the Constitution, uniting the people behind her to defeat Candidate Trump and retain the White House.
Soon afterward, all the media started working hard to report the dynamic of the competition between the candidates. Of course, they began by reporting on who might be the possible running mate of Kamala Harris. The person must presumably be a white male, to pair with Kamala Harris, a non-white female, whose mother is an Indian-American cancer specialist. Her father is a Jamaican-American and a retired Economics Professor at Stanford University: respectable parents, for sure. She married Doug Emhoff, a Jewish corporate lawyer and father of two young career women from a previous marriage. Possible candidates for Vice President include Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transport, who did so well in building new roads and bridges, as well as maintaining those badly in need of maintenance, or Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and possibly Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
The enthusiasm of support for Kamala Harris candidacy has been phenomenal. For about a week after the announcement of her candidacy, the funds pouring in for her campaign amounted to USD 240 million, 66 percent of which came from first-time donations, and 170,000 people registered as volunteer workers for her campaign. She also could use all the USD 200 million in campaign funds amassed by the Biden campaign. So, she will not be short of funding, for sure. And now, President Trump, who stated that he would debate Joe Biden at any time, suddenly said that he would wait till her candidacy become formal.
In one of her campaign rallies she already made a joke about this, saying, “And where is this readiness to debate any time now?” And President Trump said in one of his campaign rallies, “She is full of garbage.” That’s a typical Trump comment, I guess. And that is on top of such sexist comment from JD Vance, his running mate, who opined that Kamala Harris is not fit to be President, because of her childless status.
What a shame from both. So, stay focused, Kamala, you deserve to win the Presidency. With outpouring support from women, Hispanics, Afro-Americans, most colored people and young people, you will win. All the best, Madame Kamala Harris; even people from afar would welcome you to become the US President, just to stop Donald Trump from getting back into the office.
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A Kamala Harris foreign policy would continue the Biden years, yet with a bit different stress. In a statement after meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington DC, she clearly stated that she would continue to be a strong ally of Israel, while she also stressed her concern about the number of Palestinians – women, children and old people – killed by the continuous Israeli attacks on Gaza and the Rafah border crossing. The total number of dead Palestinians already has reached a staggering 90,000, out of a total population of 3 million. She said that she will not be silent on this.
That definitely is much more welcome development, both domestically by the young people who started to question President Biden’s silence on the matter, as well as abroad generally. With the latest report revealing 2.8 percent US GDP growth in the last quarter, continuing robust job creation and inflation under control, Kamala Harris could start her Administration with a strong momentum of stability, a good economy, and healthy hopes for the future.
J. Soedradjad Djiwandono Emeritus Professor of Economics, FEBUI, and Adjunct Professor of International Economics, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.