Editorial: Candidate Kamala

As a Presidential contender, she is, in a way, an antithesis of what Republican candidate Donald Trump stands for

Accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidential election, United States Vice-President Kamala Harris has ticked the right boxes and sent out a message of unity and hope in the face of an increasingly polarising and racist campaign by the rival Republican camp. She is the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to represent a major party in the presidential race. If elected, she would be the country’s first woman president. In many ways, the rise of Kamala Harris is a celebration of the American dream; a multi-generational journey from diverse backgrounds finding fulfilment in the land of opportunities. Her ascendency in public life— from attorney to the Vice-President — is as much a compelling Indian story as it is an embodiment of American values. Much of her success as a civil rights advocate and a fiercely independent political voice can be attributed to her mother Shyamala Gopalan who as a teenager smashed the glass ceiling more than six decades ago, went to America to pursue a scientific career in cancer research, married a Jamaican immigrant and raised her two daughters as self-confident black women. The extraordinary life journey of Harris as a child of immigrant parents is both historic and inspiring and represents a cosmopolitan, interracial democracy that a majority of Americans celebrate today. Harris always expressed a sense of pride in her Indian roots. In her memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey”, she fondly recalls the profound impact her grandparents had on her worldview. Preferring to be portrayed as a Black American, she has maintained her connections with India through visits to Tamil Nadu where her mother’s family hails from.

As a contender for the president’s post, she is, in a way, an antithesis of what Republican candidate Donald Trump symbolises and stands for. Harris used the most consequential speech of her political career, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, to cast herself as an enduring symbol of America’s aspirational middle-class and an avenue to usher in the country away from the abrasive style of politics embraced by Donald Trump. She contrasted her hope for the future with Trump’s divisiveness based on the past. Yet she also extended an olive branch, saying this was a “chance to chart a new way forward. Not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans.” Clearly, it was a unifying speech. Undoubtedly, Harris has enthused the Democratic party, and energised its base, more deeply perhaps than at any time since Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. When President Joe Biden was the presumptive nominee, the Democrats were demoralised and diffident as the ageing and faltering incumbent posed no serious challenge to Trump. However, things have changed on the ground now. Opinion polls have been placing Harris slightly ahead in the race. Trump has every reason to feel jittery.

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