Kamala Harris and the Identity Problem

There are two people pushing for her vice presidential nomination — Kelly and Buttigieg.

And these are two different Democratic Parties. And there is also a third, and a fourth… Of course, the list of possible Democratic Party vice presidential candidates is not limited to Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly and Secretary of Transportation and openly gay Pete Buttigieg.

However, the fact that both candidates are discussing it is already noteworthy. According to electoral logic, Kelly or someone like Kelly should become the vice presidential candidate for Kamala Harris. Because Kamala herself is known for her ultra-left-liberal views. And she herself is an illustration of “inclusiveness” and “progressiveness”.

Not enough for BLM and the League of American Socialists, but enough for the core electorate of the Democrats. And if the goal is to reach a larger number of voters, both moderate Democrats and non-aligned (by the way, the largest category of voters in the United States), then we need to put in second place a white man who served in the military, did something heroic and represents a conservative or swing state. This is Mark Kelly from Arizona.

Politico sources report that Democratic congressmen strongly advise the collective Harris to take Kelly as her running mate. But here’s the problem. The name of another person is heard no less often – Pete Buttigieg, who took part in the 2020 Democratic primaries as a representative of the far left. He is also an impersonation of “inclusivity”. He received a position in the administration not because he is a good administrator or a smart person (his term as mayor of the town of South Bend was extremely unsuccessful), but because he is openly gay. And this is a completely different approach to the political process.

This is exactly the same raising of the stakes and a game of escalation as the choice of James David Vance as the Republican vice-presidential candidate. This is precisely an escalation, and not a PR stunt for a “generational change,” as the “talking heads” campaigning for Buttitgeb.

Just imagine: on one side, Trump and with him an even more Trump than Trump himself, only younger and with a “redneck” background. On the other, a black woman and an openly gay man. And both are pushing for such “inclusivity” that you can take out the saints.

This is not electoral politics, this is the politics of civil conflict. The very choice of Harris as Biden’s successor was a step toward escalation and the rejection of all unifying and compromising steps and calls. But now the image and identity of a potential president, Harris, is being formed.

Who will she become or want to become — the president of the entire United States or the leader of a war against the conservative half of America. Here, the choice of a vice-presidential candidate is very symbolic. And the fact that Pete Buttigge’s candidacy is even being discussed is already a sign that no one in the winning faction of the Democratic Party thinks outside the logic of war.