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Sen. Kamala Harris Seeks Presidency With A ‘Clear-Eyed’ Agenda of Nation’s Priorities
By Kevin C. Peterson
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris kicked-off her campaign for president Sunday — catapulting herself into the race for her party’s nomination against the presumed republican candidate Donald Trump in 2020.
Harris’ seemingly quixotic campaign adventure comes after having spent only two years in the senate, leading some pundits to comment that the dearth of her political experience may present a liability. Others contend that Harris’ timing is advantageous, noting that former president Barack Obama also ran for the White House in the midst of his first term in the senate. This allowed Obama to escape branding as a Washington insider; it’s a calculating pragmatic ploy that may also work for Harris.
From some political quarters, Harris has been called the next Obama. Like Obama she is of a mixed-race background. Her father is Jamaican-American; her mother, the daughter of a diplomat, is from India. She is also a lawyer with the solid bona fides of an activist, and possesses an expansive intelligence that cuts through the fog of trivialities. And Harris, a Howard University graduate, identifies as been being African American — a choice which has her poised as potentially the first black woman president.
