a day ago
It can get much more worse for California: the return of Kamala
Can you think of any political problem to which the words 'Kamala' and 'Harris' might sound like a solution? Me neither. It is with a sense of some foreboding, therefore, that we learn that the former vice-president may be plotting to become the next governor of troubled California.
And there we were thinking that it couldn't get any worse than Gavin Newsom. In recent weeks, the Golden State has looked more like a war zone than the home of Hollywood, beach bums and LGBTQ+ activism; National Guard troops and even Marines have battled the looters and vandals rampaging through Los Angeles.
Their grievance? Donald Trump's attempt to send undocumented migrants home. This progressive Mecca would obviously have no truck with that, so on went the balaclavas and out came the Molotov cocktails and, inevitably, the keffiyehs. Think Queers for Palestine meets the White Walkers.
One viral clip said it all. There was governor Newsom extolling the virtues of California as the liberal capital of the United States and one of the best places to live in the world, superimposed against footage of masked rioters lobbing rocks from bridges at police cars.
Even before the unrest, all was not well in the state of California. The home of America's most progressive policies – from vehicle emission crackdowns to marijuana legalisation and liberal criminal justice reform – has long been dogged by low-performing public schools, homelessness, housing shortages, soaring poverty and erratic water supplies.
January's wildfires, which caused hundreds of billions of dollars of economic damage, are barely in the rearview mirror; despite a heroic effort to blame climate change, they were undeniably made worse by the negligence and lack of preparation from the state.
But for the love of God, why Kamala Harris? Why now? If the adage about leaving every room better than you found it is true, you'd have thought she could do the world a favour simply by walking out the door and never coming back. Incredibly, the voters of California may disagree.
Her brand recognition in the state – she served as district attorney of San Francisco, state attorney general and senator, not to mention her stint as VP – would enable her to leapfrog a contested primary to become the instant frontrunner, despite her patchy record in those roles. From there, she would be within touching distance of winning.
In another display of her trademark myopia, however, her true ambitions may lie once again with the Oval Office, for which California could provide a springboard in 2028. Yup, even after her historic drubbing last year. She is unburdened, I suppose, by that humiliation.
Governor Newsom is himself tipped as a presidential contender. The way he has used the LA riots as a perch from which to launch tirade after tirade at Trump – in an interview with the New York Times podcast on Thursday, he called the president a 'stone cold liar' after he had dispatched troops to California without telling him – shows naked political positioning. He wants to be the man to take the fight to the Donald.
But Newsom's term is up in November next year. Little wonder Harris is giving it the eye. By the same token, little wonder that when she telephoned Newsom to offer her support this week, the call was sent straight to voicemail.
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