Front Burner - Kamala Harris is Joe Biden’s V.P. pick

Episode Date: August 12, 2020

On Tuesday, Joe Biden named California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, making history by choosing the first woman of colour to compete on a major party's presidential ticket. Today on Front Burner, Washington Post political reporter Eugene Scott on what Harris brings to the Democratic Party’s ticket, and what it might mean for Biden’s chances against U.S President Donald Trump come November.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. After a lot of anticipation and speculation, Joe Biden has finally chosen a running mate. Senator Kamala Harris will be Joe Biden's vice presidential running mate. It is a moment in history. It is a moment that everybody is going to remember whether or not Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, that ticket wins or not. Kamala Harris is the first woman of color to compete on a major party's presidential ticket, and she's only the fourth woman in American history

to be chosen for one. Today, what Senator Harris brings to the ticket and what that means for Biden's chances this November against US President Donald Trump. According to this email, I can read you a little bit from it. It says, folks, you make a lot of important decisions as president, but the first one is who you selected

to be your vice president. I've decided that Kamala Harris is the best person to help me take this fight to Donald Trump. I was a little surprised that he picked her. I've been watching her for a long time, and I would have thought he would have gone a different way. Joining me is Eugene Scott, a political reporter for The Washington Post who focuses on identity politics. I'm Michelle Shepard. This is FrontBurner. Hi, Eugene. I really appreciate you making time on a crazy day when you're filing there.

I should say that we're recording this conversation just hours after the big reveal. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. Glad to be here. Okay, let's start with what the initial reaction to the announcement has been. Senator Kamala Harris has been one of the favorites for VP. So this wasn't much of a surprise, right? I don't think it was a big surprise at all. I think very early in the campaign for the White House, there have been people who expressed support for Harris as a VP, perhaps more so than even the top of the Democratic ticket. And so to see that actually come to fruition isn't a huge shock. But the reality also is that it appeared that the Biden team was not certain that this was the direction that they wanted to go as recently as this past weekend

when people were still being interviewed on Saturday. And so there was definitely some fear, I think, among some Harris supporters that she ultimately would not be chosen to be Biden's number two. And, you know, I actually can't remember in recent memory anyway, a VP race being so closely watched. And in Canada here, we watch American politics very closely too. Can you remind us what the stakes are of this announcement? I think it's really important to note that while Joe Biden has been the presumptive nominee for a while, many people believed that he was going to be the nominee. And so the second question that was perhaps most important to a lot of people, or perhaps at least more important,

was who would be his number two? And if voters had to go with Biden or stick with Biden, someone who was not the first choice for a lot of voters, Could they get more excited about this ticket if someone was chosen to join him who was more popular with the rest of the Democratic base? And so what that meant was that people were asking about the number two very early on. If you think back, you may remember that there was some floating of the idea, even before Biden announced that he was running for president, that maybe he would announce with like Stacey Abrams as his vice presidential candidate. And so very early on, people were like, okay, if it's Biden, you know, fine, I can live with that. But the real question is, who is going to be the number two?

And so much about American politics and politics in general is really about the candidate's personal story. And as you said, the VP is so important in this election. Can you tell me just briefly who Kamala Harris is and what life experiences she brings? You know, I think Senator Harris's narrative well positions her for this moment in our country's history regarding so many of the conversations that are being had about racism, about gender and sexism, and about immigration and nationality and what it means to be an American. First of all, let me just say I love my country. I love my country. And this is a moment in time that I feel a sense of responsibility to stand up and fight for the best of who we are.

And when I look at this moment in time, I know that the American people deserve to have somebody who is going to see them, who will hear them, who will care about them. Senator Harris was born in Oakland, California, and she was born in Oakland to two immigrant parents. Her father is from Jamaica. Her mother is from India. They both came to the Bay Area to be affiliated with academia. Her father was an economics professor at Stanford. And her mother was a cancer researcher at the University of California at Berkeley. They came here in pursuit of more than just knowledge. Like so many others, they came in pursuit of a dream.

We were raised by a community with a deep belief in the promise of our country and a deep understanding of the parts of that promise that still remain unfulfilled. of the parts of that promise that still remain unfulfilled. And so the history of not just Harris potentially being the first woman vice president, but also the first Black woman and the first Asian person, period, to be on a major party ticket has been of great interest to a lot of people who have been looking for more diversity in the halls of power in Washington, D.C. And what about her professional history? We know she was the district attorney in San Francisco, Attorney General of California, and then became only the second Black woman ever elected to the

Senate. With that background, what does she bring to the ticket? I think what she brings to the ticket in this moment right now where there are so many conversations about policing, reforming and even defunding the police. Someone who has a history of perhaps taking law and order seriously enough to push back on the narrative that the Trump campaign is already painting Harris with. Kamala Harris ran for president by rushing to the radical left, embracing Bernie's plan for socialized medicine, calling for trillions in new taxes. This idea that she's this radical leftist who, you know, has no support for rules and order and systems, her track record clearly says otherwise. I mean, she's been very involved in trying to make sure that people who break the law, for better or worse, have to pay for that. And what that has meant for her often has been sending people to jail and to prisons. And so this idea that she wants to

obliterate the system is just not one supported by facts. Senator Harris says she's proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she'll be a prosecutor president, but I'm deeply concerned about this record. She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana. As the elected Attorney General of California, I did the work of significantly reforming the criminal justice system

of a state of 40 million people, which became a national model for the work that needs to be done. And I am proud of that work. As you mentioned, though, the Trump campaign is already working on their narrative, just mere minutes really after she had been announced. And in a press conference earlier today, Trump called Senator Harris a liar. I thought she was the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the U.S. Senate. She's also known, from what I understand, as being

just about the most liberal person in the U.S. Senate. His campaign tweeted that her appointment filled the, quote, extreme agenda of radicals on the left and kind of coined this phrase phony Kamala. He is handing over the reins to Kamala while they jointly embrace the radical left. Slow Joe and phony Kamala. Perfect together. Wrong for America. Do you think that will play out? How much impact do you think that will have? Well, I think one of the reasons Harris looked attractive to the Biden campaign is that she ran

for president already and already knows what it's like to be attacked by the Trump campaign. Everything I saw the president's team say about the senator today is a regurgitation of what he's already said. And so what the Harris and Biden team are already known to do is just to push back the same way that they always have been pushing back. Harris is popular with some progressives, but very few progressives that were backing Sanders or backing Warren will consider Harris a radical leftist. And I think what the Biden campaign is going to try to do is communicate that she is not a radical or even close to it as the Trump campaign wants to portray her as being and instead make the argument that Trump's ideas for America's future are actually far more radical than what Biden and

Harris hope to campaign on. Let's just go back for a moment to when she did run for president. As you mentioned, she knows what's in store for her now. But let's revisit what happened that first presidential debate, where she had that blistering and personal rebuke on Biden. And I think some people surmise that perhaps he wouldn't choose her as a running mate because of that. Can you just remind us what happened in that debate? Sure. In a debate, I believe it was in June 2019, which seems like a lifetime ago in national politics. Senator Harris appeared on stage to tell a bit about her personal story. She was bused as a young girl to schools to help desegregate schools.

As many of your listeners know, schools in America were segregated based on race for decades before a ruling from the Supreme Court changed that. It's personal, and it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools. And she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me. And she expressed what she considered to be a hurtful policy that was supported by the former vice president that she wanted to give him an opportunity to back away from or to explain whether or not he still supported it. To mischaracterize my position across the board, I did not praise racists. That is not true, number one. Number two, if we want to have this campaign litigated on who supports civil rights and whether I did or not, I'm happy to do that.

I was a public defender. I didn't become a prosecutor. Harris probably did best in the polls and had the most interest and the most eyes on her nationally after that debate performance. I was noting in one of the pieces that you wrote for The Washington Post that there had been a photo that was taken in July of Biden's notes at a news conference. And you could read the phrase, do not hold grudges. How did that play out? And how do you think knowing that the two of them will overcome this previous division? Well, I think what they both have communicated very clearly is that they are committed and united with their goal and desire to defeat Donald Trump in the Republican Party. Biden and Harris had a relationship prior to running for president.

Kamala Harris, just like Joe Biden's son, his late son, was an attorney general. And so she became acquainted with the Biden family that way. And I think what may be lost or forgotten, should I say, in a lot of these conversations about whether or not they could get past that moment is that they actually align very well on so many other policy issues, which I think is in part why she was chosen. And so I think what they will do moving forward is to communicate to voters how much they have in common and how it is in the best interest of American voters to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization.

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That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. There's so much context around this upcoming election and perhaps more to come in the next couple months. But if we could just briefly look at two of the most pressing, you know, one we've already touched on, which is the issue of race in America and cries now to defund police and obviously the ongoing protests there. How do you think she'll be able to address these concerns while campaigning?

Well, I think one of the ways she will do that is by continuing to speak out against police violence. To those who ask, well, did you miss a moment? Well, no, this is part of a movement. There's a movement at play here. And that movement did not just start a few weeks ago. That movement started before Emmett Till. was gunned down in her own apartment. And Harris has been vocal as well about the rise in killings of Black transgender women. And so she's very aligned with many of the concerns and issues of the Black Lives Matter movement when it comes to policing.

I'm right now in the United States Senate, looking across the street from my office at the United States Supreme Court, a big, beautiful marble building, which has inscribed on it, equal justice under law. We still have not achieved that ideal in America. And we've got to fight to get there. That's why people are protesting. We do know that there's often a double standard for women in politics. But many people, including yourself, have been noting that there's a different level for women in politics. But many people, including yourself, have been noting that there's a different level for Black women who are often accused of being too aggressive in politics. How have you seen that play out? And where do you anticipate that may go during

campaigning? Well, there's been some concern from top aides of Biden that Harris was too aggressive or too ambitious. And there was some fear among some supporters that that view was more widespread within the vice president's team, to the point that perhaps Harris would not ultimately be selected. But we see that's not what happened. The reality is that Black women have to advocate for themselves more aggressively than perhaps many white men, in part because they often aren't even considered for opportunities. This is something Stacey Abrams spoke about often in terms of expressing her desire to be considered for the VP ticket, because there was a real awareness that had she not, she perhaps would not have been. And so I think what Harris will vocalize repeatedly is that perhaps everything that she has achieved professionally came about because she went for it, not always because people came seeking her.

It is such a powerful and strong voice, the voice of black women, and it needs to be heard. And so what I want to do with everything I've got is encourage ownership of that power, because it is real and it can and does determine the outcome. Like we don't have time to sit back and wait for somebody else to give us the lead. We take the lead. One of the other huge issues that we haven't talked about yet is this election on the backdrop of the pandemic, which really raises two huge issues in terms of health care and the economy. What do you think Senator Harris brings to this in terms of her strengths or perhaps her weaknesses? Well, I think what Harris could possibly be attacked on is her position that hasn't been consistently clear on Medicaid for all, and that primarily being an attack from the left,

people who believe that a pandemic is an obvious time to support Medicaid for all. And so I think there will be quite a bit of interest in seeing where Harris currently stands on this issue, given that there's been some times that she ended her campaign before this global pandemic. So I think there will be quite a bit of interest in that. In terms of the economy, there's not been, you know, much attention to where she stands on a plan to get more people working and to improve their economic condition besides her support for more generous stimulus packages. But these are questions that I would expect her to face in the coming days. So while November is around the corner, we know in politics a lot can happen

between now and then. Eugene, what are you going to be watching for? I think one of the things I'm looking to pay attention to most right now, quite frankly, are the debates. These are moments that a lot of voters who perhaps may not have been engaged in the election up until this point will start turning to, to figure out where it is that the various candidates stand. And, you know, I think this is going to be a tight race in many states. And I think Biden is looking for moments to try to win over some of those Trump supporters that have been key to his success, or if Trump is going to be able to offer something that will keep the remaining people who are in his base close to him. He's been bleeding support a bit in ways

and in states that could ultimately harm him. And so really interested in seeing if there will be any moments that will give us some idea of where the top candidates for our leading parties want to take this country. Thanks so much, Eugene. We'll just leave it there for today and see what happens in the next few months. But really appreciate you joining me. Thank you very much for having me. That's all for today. I'm Michelle Shepard. Thanks for listening to FrontBurner, and see you tomorrow. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.