Kamala Harris and Tim Walz ran a historic campaign. Kamala Harris’s demeanor, wisdom, civility, and enthusiasm were unmatched. She truly taught us how we can work towards our common goals by respecting each other, which is America’s absolute unity and greatness. From that perspective, she was the best candidate ever for the Democratic Party and she did an extraordinary job in every action and every word she uttered. As Democrats, the party of the people, we were fortunate to have her represent us as a unifying candidate, with humility and grace. Despite all these qualities, though, one must understand that she was beset with “Extraordinary Circumstances,” that had economic and political impacts, which include the Russia / Ukraine war, and the Israeli / Palestinian wars, and their far-reaching ramifications. The Israeli / Palestinian war has so far consumed a total of approximately 43,061 Palestinians, most of whom were innocent civilians -including 134-1246 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, over 224 humanitarian aid workers and 179 employees of UNRWA. Israel has also sustained 1,706 casualties. It is understood that Hamas, the military wing of the Palestinians, started the war, and the American government took sides with Israel. As Kamala Harris was the vice president of the United States, she was seen as a culprit. Also, the American Government has given an unqualified support for the state of Israel. However, the American government also tried its best to convince the Israeli government to avoid bombing civilian areas, but Netanyahu, the right-wing prime minister of Israel, adamantly refused to cooperate. Many countries of the world have condemned the Israeli aggression that has caused avoidable civilian casualties. In addition, students at many American universities, who were historically supporters of the democratic party, did not give Kamala Harris the level of support she expected. That was a heavy price for Kamala to pay. What is more surprising in this election is that the Arab and Muslim communities perceived Trump as a relatively better choice for the Palestinian cause. To the contrary, however, it was during Trump’s tenure, in 2017, he proposed that the city of Jerusalem became the capital city of Israel rather than Tel Aviv, and America was the only country that gave it a recognition. Trump has also been calling Mexicans rapists, drug dealers, murderers etc., and Puerto Rico a “Floating Island of garbage.” And yet, an unprecedented number of men from those two countries voted for Trump, which is hard to explain. Also Kamala Harris campaigned 107 days only . In view of such Extraordinary Circumstances, the number of votes difference within the swing states were within reach.
Now, it is a great opportunity for Trump to bring lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, as well as between the Russians and Ukrainians. Because that is what great world leaders do. He should pursue a comprehensive peace plan, that involves rational world leaders. Such action could also offer Trump an opportunity for a Nobel Peace Prize. If Trump wants to maintain American greatness and global leadership, he should follow a foreign policy of focusing on the interests, wants and aspirations of the third world people rather than inviting self- inflicting damage by supporting and defending dictators, despots and fascists, who are brutally ruling their constituents, especially those within some African countries. Some African countries’ leaders are politically shifting to the most undemocratic and fascistic governments of Russia and China out of ignorance. Russia and China are now manifesting anti peoples stand within their own countries and within third world countries’ internal affairs, for the purpose of economic exploitation. The good thing is that young people, especially within East African countries, fully understand the sneaky, exploitative economic approach of Russia and China. They are like leaches, subtly sucking away the wealth and blood of the African people. China is heavily indebting some African countries for eventual colonization. To systematically resist and expel them, the struggle continues.
Kamala Harris ran an amazing campaign that encouraged us how to love one another with compassion, decency, honesty, integrity and consensus building. She is indeed a decent human being, who inspired, motived and fired up millions of Americans by giving them hope and inspiration. Kamala is a proven defender of justice and democracy for all. She is liked by all people across the aisle, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, alike. Therefore, she should stay vigilant by the sidelines to make sure that justice and democracy are in practice by the Trump administration. Unfortunately, what we are now witnessing from the kind of cabinet Trump is assembling does not give us much hope. We are crying for the country, because most of them are extremist zealots, who promote an atmosphere of political polarization rather than an attitude of moderation and consensus building. Most of them do not have the right resumes for the Jobs they are assigned to. They are only his loyalists, and it seems like mere payback for loyalty. Unlike her adversary, Kamala Harris has shown us political maturity, with civility, in her unqualified cooperation on the transfer of government power. He has also indicated that he will cut budgets for vital community services, like education and health services, which is chaotic and discouraging.
The Republican Party is now in control of virtually the whole government, from the presidency to the Senate and the Congress, which is a risky and dangerous proposition. By controlling the whole government means shouldering everything that goes wrong with governing the country domestically and globally. The American people also have moral responsibility to make sure that we have a people’s government that takes care of everybody without any race, class or gender discrimination. After all, loyalty to Trump should not be above the constitution. The Democratic Party will have an opportunity to take back both the Senate and the Congress in 2026, if the Republicans fail to deliver. In such situation, Kamala Harris will be needed as an opposition party leader, because she has the best resume and charisma for defending the rights and privileges of all people, in unison. Kamala has commendably demonstrated that she can embrace and unify the country.
Most American people have great faith and trust in her – except for some white women, who surprisingly did not support her in the election. But she is not the only one that they have betrayed. They also did it with Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Nikki Hally. These women put their own egos above the interest of the country. America’s superior value systems, ideas and ideals are unmatched, and are an envy of the whole world. Unless we carefully protect and defend those values however, we can easily lose them, which in turn, will amount to the loss of our global leadership status. In the international arena, Trump has historically demonstrated a much less friendly attitude towards the European Union, NATO and the UN, which is a worrisome phenomenon. Especially during such volatile times in world politics, America would not be able to survive without the support and alliance of the above-named important institutions. It is a matter of surrendering to Putin. One wonders where the spirit of American nationalism is.
During his campaign, Trump submitted a financial budget policy plan that does not benefit the public, but instead proposes a tax cut for himself and for his own billionaires’ friends. In the present America economic structure, the income disparity between that of the middle class and the millionaires and billionaires is highly pronounced. Unless an immediate remedy is found, most average Americans will suffer tremendously. The most feasible remedy would be to introduce a more progressive tax system, for the middle-income earners to be able to survive and subsist. A great percentage of American families are now living on two or three menial jobs to marginally get by. Even worse, Trump has indicated that he will privatize Social Security and Medicare, which robs the working people of their hard-earned money. The sanctity of these programs is imperative.
American greatness was achieved by hard work and ingenuity of the rank and file, in conjunction with superior ideas and ideals. Trump has the moral and legal obligation to pay more attention to the well-being of those who are the backbone of American greatness than a handful of billionaires. Individual peoples’ votes and voices are what matters, not individual billionaires’ money. We should not allow them to corrupt the system to control us. Power is with us, the American people, but unless we participate in the voting process, we will remain vulnerable.
One thing worth mentioning is that it is not because of gender gap that she did not win the election. She clearly demonstrated that she is the most unifying figure, and her messages resonated very well with all people. She is one of the most outstanding candidates who could clearly stand out above everybody else, to optimally represent us in the future. There were some minor shortcomings in the campaign, which are already identified and can be corrected for optimality, in the future. Hence, Kamal should stay as a viable opposition leader and eventually as an official candidate for the Democratic Party’s Presidential election, in the year 2028.
Berhe Desta
Seattle, USA
