- cross-posted to:
- politics@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- politics@beehaw.org
The former president and first lady threw their weight behind the presumptive Democratic nominee
Barack and Michelle Obama have endorsed Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination for president, sharing the news in a joint phone call.
A video released by the campaign suggests the former president and first lady called Harris on Thursday while the vice president was in Houston, where she addressed the American Federation of Teachers and received a briefing on recovery efforts following Hurricane Beryl.
“We called to say, Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” Barack Obama is heard telling Harris in a 55-second video of the call.
“This is going to be historic,” Michelle Obama tells Harris.
No idea.
The party never presented any real chance to compare options. That’s the problem. We could’ve had a dozen debates with anyone polling over 0.1%. Like the Republicans. But that never happened.
If we had, maybe it’d be clear she’s the best choice.
You know these things about Harris and yet can’t supply us with a single potential alternative? Now I am aware you’re likely no expert. Though to have a fair opinion one must be able to account at least somewhat for both sides of the equation.
Please stop dismissing Harris if you can’t make even the smallest argument for why someone else may be better. It’s potentially damaging and right now, as much as I wish we could debate about it for hours, we need to stop fascism first.
edit: By the way, thank you for admitting you don’t know. That alone is something we should all respect.
Who dismissed Harris?
Is Fascism the one where leaders are chosen by an elite few, without the input of the public?
Edit: Thank you. I do try to be a honest as I can. Even when I know my ideas are very… Uncommon I guess.
You should read the essay “Ur-fascism” by Umberto Eco. It’s an 8 or 9 page PDF, and it does a really good job explaining fascism (including it’s seemingly inability to be defined - which to them is a feature).
This should be a PDF of it so you don’t even need to Google. Everyone should read this
https://sites.evergreen.edu/politicalshakespeares/wp-content/uploads/sites/226/2015/12/Eco-urfascism.pdf
If you’ve ever heard of the 14 defining features of fascism, they come from this essay. And he does an excellent job explaining them all and relating them to his life growing up in fascist Italy.
Fascism exists to first justify and in the endgame solidify the tyrannical desire of the elite. Choosing to displace our fears and concerns by undermining, even indirectly, the person we ultimately must support, we do damage to that cause. So while we are not a true Democracy, we have in our laps a chance to stop a slide into something worse.
I feel strongly that despite the many differences we all have, and the discourse those differences often bring, we should seek to put them aside for now. Not forever. Just for now, to work for a better country and a government that exists more for us all. It is optimistic, though I know deep down that those of us not worshipping Trump want for a better life and outnumber the brainwashed and poorly educated red masses by a magnitude. We just have to come together.
Harris is not the country’s leader yet. She is likely to be selected as the candidate by the Democratic party, but ultimately the party is a private organization that can do basically whatever it wants to select that candidate. That’s not fascism. That’s freedom of association. In the end, nobody has to vote for the Democrats nor the Republicans. Anybody can be on the ballot with enough popular support, no party needed.
Parties hold primaries because, ultimately, they need votes to win an election and primaries help gauge the people who will be voting. At the time of the primaries, the voters still overwhelmingly selected Biden. But in the time since, polls show large majorities of those voters support both Biden’s departure and Harris as the replacement. So this is still likely the right move if the party is trying to appeal to the public.
All of that is entirely true.
And ultimately entirely undemocratic.
And that’s the biggest problem I have with the party at the moment.
The Republicans, who are sooo shitty in most every other respect, held an actual primary process. While they’re exactly the same kind private company the Democrats are, and could’ve simply gone with Trump.
All for debate, but maybe don’t go around devaluing the term fascism for fake internet points?
You mean all those points I’m losing with every comment?
Just because you’re bad at it doesn’t mean you’re not doing it.
I wasn’t commenting on your assessment of what I was doing, just your assessment for the reason I was doing it.
You’re not obliged to respond if you don’t have anything meaningful or interesting to add to this discussion.
Well. Yah. That’s kind of a universal principal.
People aren’t even obliged if they do have something meaningful or interesting to say.
It’s their right to keep it to themselves, if they wish.