Democratic bidding war on race heats up — long may it continue

Kamala Harris’s attack on Joe Biden over his opposition to court-ordered school busing has intensified the march to the left by Democratic presidential candidates. The Washington Post frets:

[T]he emerging dynamics are. . .sparking concern among some in the party who fear that renewing painful debates over school busing risks turning off centrist voters whom Democrats hope to win next year. . . .

Al Sharpton wants a leading role in the “emerging dynamic.” He says of Biden:

I don’t rule out that he can redeem himself. But he’s going to have to do some clarifying.

If Biden takes the bait and tries to “redeem himself” with Al Sharpton, he’s going to have a much greater amount of “clarifying” to do, should he be the Democratic nominee.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, also got into the act. She expressed “surprise” that Biden, having gone through the pain of his son’s death, “didn’t hear [Harris’s] pain” over Biden’s remarks on race.

Biden didn’t hear Harris’s pain because it was fake and rehearsed. She wasn’t anguished by what Biden said about race, she was thrilled. It gave her the opportunity to jump start her campaign by ambushing him at the debate. Comparing Harris’s “pain” to that felt due to the loss of a son or daughter is obscene.

A more respectable union leader, Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Firefighters, had this to say about Harris’s performance:

This was strategically planned. This wasn’t an organic reaction. Like, “I’m offended and I’m organically emotionally reacting to this.” This was a contrived, rehearsed, premeditated ambush.

Exactly.

Biden’s racial woes are just beginning. The next time he appears on the debate stage, his opponents will be tripping over each other to be the first to harangue him about his support in the 1990s for the tough sentencing of criminals. (Too bad Cory Booker can’t say “I was that criminal”). Republicans won’t be able to pounce on Harris and other Democrats on this issue because they too oppose such sentencing. The GOP, led by President Trump, was as irresponsible as the Dems on criminal justice reform.

But as the Democratic bidding war on race intensifies, you can be sure that the Democratic field will give Trump new openings to exploit by taking additional positions that most Americans find objectionable and, in some cases, offensive. Expect reparations to be discussed at the next debate.

Biden won’t be able entirely to resist the bidding. Presumably, he will continue to defend his old anti-busing position, but he’ll have to “redeem” himself on other issues pressed by black activists.

Is it right for me to enjoy a once respectable Party’s descent into racial extremism? Probably not.

But I don’t see much hope that Democrats will come to their senses. Thus, it’s probably just as well that their presidential candidates are telling the public what they really think, and that the electorate gets to see what they have in mind for America.

If only Barack Obama had been so candid.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses