Kamala and Carmen
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It has been said that Republicans cannot defeat Democrats; only Democrats can. Undeniably the Democratic party has never displayed the group discipline of their rivals. Fealty to Donald Trump seems to prove that groupthink is a permanent marker for the GOP.
Could that ever be overcome? Could Democrats ever work for their common good?
Well, within one 24-hour period the answer seemed to be a resounding, “yes!” …only to be dashed on the rocks of, “here we go again.”
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It’s an overused term, but Joe Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as a running mate was electric. On hearing the news, most Democrats walked a little taller…and some seemed to go airborne. And in my mind, rightfully so. She checks a lot of boxes for the party and the nation…but most of all, she will prove to be (by far) the most personally engaging candidate on either ticket. She is an instrument of hope in the mode of Barack Obama.
The selection also negated any realistic static stemming from the ultra-far left concerning her actions as attorney general in California. What she represents in terms of gender, ethnicity and competence will easily trump (pun intended) any negative blowback.
You would be forgiven for concluding, “finally—the Democrats have figured this out.”
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But I also want to tell you about another outstanding woman of color, Carmen Best, who just hours before Harris’ announcement made one of her own—retiring as chief of Seattle’s Police Department. As you know, Seattle is progressive to a fault, and Best seemed a perfect choice for her job. A former chief described her as, “…always up, always positive, always direct…the kind of person who would tell you the truth.”
She took commitment to community seriously. She helped oversee the federally mandated program to attack the department’s racial and use-of-force record. When the Black Lives Matter protests began in the city, she made no secret of her sympathies for the cause. She was spotted in plain clothes at weekend prayer rallies supporting BLM.
But unfortunately, you cannot be progressive enough for the bag of mixed nuts otherwise known as Seattle City Council. It contains outright socialists (and also three white men, but we try not to talk about that). When the BLM protests began, the council members fell all over each other, tripping on their own outrage. They immediately voted unanimously to cut the police budget in half.
That lasted until some people with at least minimal levels of sanity talked to them. So, the council tried to talk tough and backtrack at the same time, hoping no one would notice. They dramatically announced slashing a whopping 100 positions from a department of over 1,400, trimming the total police budget by less than two percent.
But they made sure that within those moves was slashing Best’s salary by more than $100,000. They were effectively inviting her out the door. Earlier, when protestors surrounded Best’s house and disrupted both her family and the neighborhood, she asked the council to urge restraint among the protestors. The council—of course—declined. Fox News gleefully celebrated this as yet another example of the derangement and danger of the entire Democratic party.
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Thus, it was not a perfectly wonderful day for all women of color. You would be forgiven for concluding, “the Democrats will never figure it out.”
They sure haven’t in the city of Seattle.
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(p.s. If you've ever wondered how Jared the Wunderkind rose to his knighthood, see here.)
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