If Kamala Harris were to become president — formerly a very long shot; now quite within the realm of possibility — she would be the first president I’ve ever actually met.
It was 2016, and the then-California attorney general was running for the United States Senate, and she agreed to meet with our editorial board to discuss the race.
For some reason, probably her busy schedule, four or five of us from the board gathered with her in some otherwise empty Century City conference room for an hour or so.
I had not prior to her Senate run followed her political career particularly closely. But I certainly recall having issues with her personnel and management skills after hearing of her promoting her former driver and personal assistant Larry Wallace to head the law enforcement division of the California Department of Justice, where he oversaw her security detail, which had a weird reputation of pulling into cities in the state before the AG arrived and declaring to the local cops that there was a new sheriff in town: them.
She was a bit prickly and defensive, but she certainly was a sophisticated person on an ambitious career trajectory, and she certainly was smart. Then one weird aberration in the meeting left us all shaking our heads. After she touted the program she launched as San Francisco district attorney aimed at reducing truancy in the schools by going after parents of absent students, board member Kevin Modesti said, conversationally — “Oh, that’s so interesting. By about what percentage did that make truancy go down?”
Startlingly, Harris said she had no idea. She’d have to get back to us on that. Really, madam attorney general? I mean, she probably could have just said, “About 8%,” and we would have nodded and moved on. It was an amazing lapse. It seemed an incredibly surface-level politician mistake. We endorsed her opponent, Loretta Sanchez, for Senate. Harris won.
I was honestly surprised when Joe Biden picked her as his vice-presidential running mate. But they won.
She has not precisely covered herself in glory as vice president. Though that’s a tough job with few opportunities to do much besides show up and give speeches.
Given all that, am I going to vote for Kamala Harris for president in November?
You bet your bottom dollar I am.
Compared with the freakish alternatives, Harris is a normie. I like normies. I like mainstream American views on domestic and foreign policy. I, along with the vast majority of Americans, believe in a woman’s right to choose on abortion. I side with the freedom-loving people of Ukraine over the czar wannabe in the Kremlin. I want a president who sides with hardworking immigrants to our country who — like her Indian and Jamaican parents — come here to better themselves and their adopted country. I like the fact that our potentially future president is a native Californian, though the GOP ticket will run against that fact for all they’re worth. See, I like California. I really liked it when Sen. Kamala Harris took down then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in the confirmation hearings when she tried to suss out his attitude toward reproductive rights: “Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?” she asked.
Kavanaugh waited for several seconds before responding, “I’m happy to answer a more specific question.” “Male versus female,” Harris replied. Finally, Kavanaugh told Harris, “I’m not thinking of any right now, senator.”
Because there aren’t any.
Harris has injected incredible new vigor into our dismal politics. I hope she wins this race.
Larry Wilson is on the Southern California News Group editorial board. lwilson@scng.com.