Jakarta, IO – After we followed with admiration the dramatic stepping down of the President Biden from his candidacy to seek re-election, making a selfless sacrifice to suppress his ambition and pride as US President, all eyes were shifting, to watch how Vice President Kamala Harris would react to the new challenge, having been endorsed by President Biden as his successor, as the proposed Democratic Candidate in the upcoming national election.
Despite the short notice, VP Harris looked very poised and ready to receive the baton from the President she served well, as his loyal supporter. In her first statement, she stated that she was ready to take the leadership from President Biden, asking Americans to unite and work together with her to defeat President Trump and retain the Presidency, as well as democracy.
She immediately went to work to find a Candidate for vice president, from a shortlist that included Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. As already announced, former President Trump has chosen Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate. This must be interesting to watch: the pairing of an aging Donald Trump and a young Senator Vance on one side, and allyounger Kamala Harris and either Governor Shapiro or Governor Beshear, both still young in comparison to President Trump at 78 years of age, which means more than 20 years’ difference.
In addition, Donald Trump does not seem to enjoy debating women, as he is widely known as failing to see women at the same level as men, even to the accusation that he is “sexist” or even a “misogynist”. He prefers to debate President Biden, as he previously mentioned, especially after that last debate. Meanwhile, Senator J.D. Vance, who is now President Trump’s running-mate, is already making news for a comment denigrating Candidate Kamala Harris, in that she is childless. No comment here.
In any case, if Kamala Harris does win, she would be the first female President in the US, as well as the second non-white after Barack Obama. Ms. Harris’ father was a Jamaican-American, an academician from Stanford University, and her mom was an Indian-American, a cancer specialist – very prominent parents definitely. And she married Douglas Emhoff, a corporate lawyer, a man at the VP’s side in all public functions, as the “Second Gentleman”.
With support from President Biden and all former Presidents from the Democratic Party – Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, plus former First Ladies Michelle and Hillary, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and, of course, First Lady Dr Jill Biden, along with all Senators and Congressmen and -women, as well as Governors from the Democratic Party. Candidate Kamala Harris must have full confidence that she will be able to defeat Candidate Donald Trump and take the Presidency. As a keen observer of American politics, I wish Candidate Kamala Harris all the best to win the election and become first woman President of the USA. God bless you Candidate Kamala Harris.
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Back to President Biden: he eloquently said in his announcement about stepping down, completing his term of office for the coming 6 months, continuing and completing what he promised to do, like increasing economic growth and employment creation, maintaining stability, continuing support for Ukraine and creating a peaceful settlement in the Middle East. His biographer Evan Osnos, as well as historians like John Mechan and Doris Kerns, reminded us that President Biden’s statesmanship and self-sacrificing decision to step down was not the first in the US history. Before him, President Lyndon B. Johnson did the same in 1968, bowing out from seeking re-election after championing of legal acts as a basis for his “Great Society”, and before them, President Harry Truman did the same, after ordering an atomic attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a definitive blow that ended WW II with victory for the Allied Forces.
Indeed it imparts a good feeling to write about the sterling characters of these great leaders who indeed deserve our respect for their staunch beliefs in holding principles that yield benefits to people in general, by putting personal ambition behind and leaving it deep down. These are good qualities a national leader should have. God bless all these leaders of humanity.