Slouching Towards Oblivion

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

She's Got Points

Kamala Harris, announcing her candidacy for POTUS.



Hometown crowd, but that's a right big bunch of folks.

I'd normally ignore this because I tend not to get going with anybody who comes out almost 2 years ahead of the election. So that loses her a coupla points.

But she hit on most of the points she needed to hit for me.

I want her to get better at bringing the thunder. Presentation is important in public speaking, and as superficial as it seems, if you can't get a neutral crowd whipped up a little, then you might as well be lecturing a bunch of drowsy pre-schoolers right after lunch.

Chris Cillizza recaps it:

1. "We were raised in a community where we were taught to see a world, beyond just ourselves. To be conscious and compassionate about the struggles of all people."

2. "My whole life, I've only had one client: the people."

3. "Fighting for the people meant fighting on behalf of survivors of sexual assault -- a fight not just against predators but a fight against silence and stigma."

4. "I'll tell you, sitting across the table from the big banks, I witnessed the arrogance of power. Wealthy bankers accusing innocent homeowners of fault, as if Wall Street's mess was of the people's making."


5. "On the subject of transnational gangs, let's be perfectly clear: The President's medieval vanity project is not going to stop them."

6. "To be sure we've won and we've lost, but we've never stopped fighting."

7. "We are here knowing that we are at an inflection point in the history of our world. We are at an inflection point in the history of our nation."

8. "America, we are better than this."

9. "When we have leaders who lie and bully and attack a free press and undermine our democratic institutions, that's not our America."

10. "People in power are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other. But that is not our story."

11. "When we lift up the women of our country, we lift up the children of our country. We lift up the families of our country. And the whole of society benefits."

12. "Let's speak the truth that too many unarmed black men and women are killed in America. Too many black and brown Americans are locked up. From mass incarceration to cash bail to policing, our criminal justice system needs drastic repair. Let's speak that truth."

13. "We have foreign powers infecting the White House like malware."

14. "In the face of powerful forces trying to sow hate and division among us, the truth is that as Americans we have much more in common than what separates us."

15. "When women fought for suffrage, those in power said they were dividing the sexes and disturbing the peace."

16. "When abolitionists spoke out and civil rights workers marched, their oppressors said they were dividing the races and violating the word of God."

17. "I stand before you today, clear-eyed about the fight ahead and what has to be done -- with faith in God, with fidelity to country and with the fighting spirit I got from my mother."

18. "An America where our daughters, where our sisters, where our mothers and grandmothers are respected where they live and where they work."

19. "I will tell you this: I am not perfect. Lord knows, I am not perfect. But I will always speak with decency and moral clarity and treat all people with dignity and respect. I will lead with integrity. And I will speak the truth."

20. "As Robert Kennedy many years ago said, 'Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.' "

21. "These are not ordinary times. And this will not be an ordinary election."


For me, every candidate needs to demonstrate they understand that there has to be more than just an implied question for everyone who wants to continue with policies that make it better for a few while fucking it all up for the rest of us - I want them to issue a direct challenge to the Daddy State:

Why does it seem like you refuse to hear it when the entire world is crying?


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