Why is Kamala Harris passed over in discussions about presidential possibilities?

[TygrBright]

102. Because the numbers and the history make white males more "electable". And they think we NEED that.

They think it's a crisis. Democracy in peril. Our last chance to save it.

Do we risk a competent, maybe even brilliant, experienced candidate whose "electability factor" is historically negatively impacted by her race and gender?

Or do we go with the most electable possible candidate to give ourselves the best possible shot at that 'last chance'.

That's the calculus being done in a LOT of powerful, mostly white, brains right now.

And they know we have an abundance of very qualified, very likeable, "most electable" (i.e. white and male) potential candidates on the bench.

Their calculus of history and experience is based in a genuine reality, but they have not yet re-run the numbers (or if they have, the results they're getting feed into their confirmation bias) to account for the changing demographics of People Who Would Rather Be Dropped in a Vat of Acid than vote for Trump.

Their calculus runs like this:

1. We know who will vote for Any Democratic Candidate no matter what, so they're in our numbers and we don't really have to do anything but keep them alive and get them to the polls.

2. We know who will look at Most Possible Republican Candidates and say "Even if the Democratic Candidate is still another white man, he's better than that weasel so I'll have to vote for him even while complaining bitterly about yet another white male candidate."

3. We know who might have Protest Voted against the Democrats for yet again ignoring all the qualified female and/or non-white candidates, but we think that the apocalyptic nature of the current stakes (i.e., vote Republican and your kids/grandkids have a good chance of dying young) will keep them in our column for one more election.

They run those numbers, and they still aren't quite enough to guarantee a win, so they look at the next groups:

4. We think we know who's genuinely "undecided" through distaste for "politics" and general supineness - so who are they and who will they vote for? Mostly white people and older people and they'll vote for someone "reassuring", i.e. a centrist-sounding white man.

Good if we can get those, but still probably not quite enough.

5. We think we know who would probably rather vote Republican but whose gag reflex is just a little too active to find voting for America's Wannabe First Authoritarian Tyrant (i.e., the likely Republican candidate) comfortable. We are most likely to be able to woo them with a white male candidate who sounds centrist. That might be just enough to save America from complete disaster.

So, there ya go.

That's why there's not more inclusion of Kamala Harris in discussions of Presidential possibilities. My guess is when push comes to shove, Pete Buttigieg won't make the cut either - though he might be added to the ticket as veeper.

Don't thank me, don't hate me. I don't like it any better than you do. But there's not a damn' thing I can do about it.

wearily,
Bright