Harris a Beau, not bold, option for ticket

As it turns out, media and political pundits were using the wrong criteria when assessing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s likely choice for vice president on his 2020 ticket. The focus was on governing experience, law enforcement ties, voter appeal and progressive leanings, when the real question was: Did she know Beau? And of the top choices — Calif. Senator Kamala Harris, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, our own Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Florida Congresswoman Val Demings and California Congresswoman Karen Bass — only Harris could put a great big X in that box.

The Six Degrees of Beau Biden connection was a big part of the Biden-Harris ticket rollout this week on a quiet stage in Wilmington, Del. It was their first joint appearance, not counting their tense exchange during Democratic primary debates, when Harris criticized Biden for having worked with segregationist senators in the 1970s and ’80s.

Here, the tone was markedly different.

“Ever since I received Joe’s call, I’ve been thinking about the first Biden I really came to know — Joe’s son, Beau,” Harris said. Both she and Beau Biden were attorneys general in California and Delaware.

“In the midst of the Great Recession, Beau and I spoke on the phone practically every day, sometimes multiple times a day, working together to win back billions of dollars for homeowners from the biggest banks in the nation that were foreclosing on people’s homes,” Harris said.

Biden noted in his speech that Beau had long “respected Kamala and her work.”

“That mattered a lot to me as I made this decision,” Biden said.

Any job-seeker passed over for a friend of the boss can surely feel the pain of the VP candidate alsorans.

“My campaigns have always been family affairs,” Biden said. “Here’s the best part: Kamala, you’ve been an honorary Biden for quite some time.”

Biden’s admiration for his son Beau is no secret, and choosing someone Beau respected makes sense, from an emotional standpoint. And it’s nice that she’s an “honorary Biden.”

But should emotion and familiarity play a role in choosing a running mate in the race for the White House?

“I learned quickly that Beau was the kind of guy who inspired people to be a better version of themselves,” Harris said during her speech. “He really was the best of us. And when I would ask him, ‘Where’d you get that, where’d this come from?’ he always talked about his dad.”

This praising of Joe by way of Beau is puzzling considering Harris’ pointed takedown of Biden during the debates.

While they make a comfy team, some in the party aren’t sold on Harris as the best choice. It’s a generational thing.

Harris has taken heat for not being progressive enough to suit today’s standards — coming under fire for being too deferential to police during her time as a prosecutor. In this “defund the police” zeitgeist, that’s considered a bad thing.

Ernest Owens writes in the Daily Beast that as a Black millennial voter, the choice of Harris is an “underwhelming historical moment to witness another moderate minority who’s relied on centrist identity politics climb the ladder.”

For the progressives battling for control of the Democratic Party — and largely winning — the Biden-Harris ticket is disappointing. The real question is — is it non-progressive enough to win in November?