Kamala Harris Comes Out On Top By Attacking Joe Biden’s Record On Race

Democratic candidates from night 2 of the debate were so eager to stand out that at several points moderators had to beg “Candidates, please”. This set the stage for one of the most quotable quotes of the night and it wasn’t by either of the frontrunners. “America does not want to witness a food fight,” said California Senator Kamala Harris, as her colleagues struggled to talk over each other, “They want to know how they’re going to put food on their table.”

You could say there weren’t many stark differences among the Democratic candidates of night 1, but the ones from night 2 were a whole different story. From Gillibrand’s tone deafness defending Capitalism and its difference from greed, to Bernie Sander’s solid defense of raising taxes to the middle class. But none of these candidates shined as much as the US Senator from California, Kamala Harris.

@abcnewsWhen Harris began with “I would like to speak on the issue of race,” viewers knew shots would be fired. When she said to Biden “I do not believe you are a racist” you knew who they would be fired against. Harris, an African-American woman, then put Biden’s record on the spot when she outlined his opposition to the 1970’s busing programs.

It didn’t help his case that as recently as last week, he showed off his professional relationship with two segregationist senators decades ago… on this very issue! Harris described these remarks as “very hurtful”. Then she skillfully used a personal story to make one of the most memorable points in recent debate history: “And you know, there was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”

@thedhughleyshowBiden responded with pretty fair observations: that he got into politics while joining the civil rights movement, that he served under the first black president in US history, among other things. But the damage was done and Harris emerged as a candidate who could potentially match Trump’s command of onscreen debates, though it might be too soon to tell.

Joe Biden now embodies a counterweight to the progressive wave to took the Democratic Party. As an old-school Democrat, he represents the center. This explains why he spent most of the debate answering direct challenges, defending his record and using his tenure as Vice President to Barack Obama as a safe place. He’s not pro-Medicare for all, he voted for the Iraq war, he defends the middle class rather than the working class… and the list goes on and on. Though Biden is known for being eloquent, he seemed rather reserved last night, perhaps playing a different game than the rest of the candidates. 

While most of the people onstage struggled to make themselves more visible, Biden’s strategy could have been to make himself invisible and to come out with as many blows as possible. As frontrunner, he can afford that until the big fight, the real fight the fight against Donald Trump. By then, Biden better be ready. As for what we have seen there’s plenty of points on where he’s very much vulnerable.
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