Should Biden’s VP be a Black Woman?

by with 5 Comments FeaturedhighlightPolitics

In an unenthusiastic race for president the light and fire for the Democratic side will come from the vice-presidential pick. Former Vice President, Joe Biden is the presumptive nominee after a long primary that hasn’t officially ended.  After the last round of primary races in March, Biden announced that he would pick a woman as his running mate. To no surprise women and many liberals were ecstatic at his announcement. 

That was over a month ago. 

Now as we approach June many are wondering whom Biden will pick. Several women have already made their intentions clear about their desire to run alongside Biden. California US Senator Kamala Harris, Massachusetts US Senator Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota US Senator Amy Klobaucar have all expressed interest after failed primary bids for president. There’s also Stacy Abrams, who ran a tight and unsuccessful bid to become the Democratic Governor of Georgia in 2018. 

While a woman as a vice presidential running mate would be historic, having a Black woman would be monumental. But does Biden owe it to the Black community to pick a black woman as his running mate? South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn doesn’t think so. Considering the Biden campaign’s win in South Carolina was a major turning point during the primary, especially because of Clyburn’s endorsement, it’s reasonable to think Biden might listen to his advice. But that advice hurts Black women and their chances to become VP, and deprives the Black community of actualizing a national Black candidate outside of former President Barack Obama.

Joe Biden should pick a woman of color and that woman of color should be a Black woman.

Black voters in America have been the driving force behind the Democratic party for decades. And Black women are the most consistent voting bloc of the Democratic party. But Biden shouldn’t pick a Black vice-presidential candidate because he owes it to loyal Black voters, but because it would signal that he values the Black vote beyond election day. It would signal he values Black voices in the policy realm and more importantly it sets up his pick to run for president in the future.

Similar Read: The Demise of Kamala Harris – the Good, the Bad, and What’s Next

What Does It Mean To Have Two Old White Men Running For The Democratic Primary In 2020?

by with No Comment FeaturedPolitics

The 2016 election was historic. Hillary Clinton became the first woman ever to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. While her run for president was historic, unfortunately, she did not win against Donald Trump. 

However, after her run, unprecedented drives of women – more than ever before – began stepping up to run for office across the country and at every level. So, it was no surprise that the 2020 election for president would see a historic level of women running. Major Democratic ticket contenders included NY Senator Kristin Gillibrand, MN Senator Amy Klobuchar, CA Senator Kamala Harris, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, author Marianne Williamson, and MA Senator Elizabeth Warren. Of these six women, Gabbard remains in the race, but her campaign is not viable.  Warren was the last serious candidate to drop out, falling hard after Super Tuesday where she had a poor showing. 

So what does this mean for a primary that has seen upwards of fifteen-plus candidates enter and leave the race? 

Some Americans are saying this country is ready for a woman president; however, their actions are not matching their words. Arguably, Warren was the Democratic Party’s best chance for a woman candidate, but she did not win a single state during the four early primary contests (IA, NH, NV & SC) and she fell flat during the 14-state Super Tuesday contest. She didn’t even win her home state which is a bad indication of support. 

Even more than her loosing and ultimately dropping out, we now face a primary that is likely to showcase a contested convention with two old White men. Our moderate candidate being former Vice President Joe Biden and our liberal candidate being Bernie Sanders. 

As a self-proclaimed woman advocate, it’s extremely hard to look at a contest that seemed so promising with a diverse field of candidates running from age, gender, race and sexual orientation to dwindle right back down to what we’ve been used to in this country – old white men. 

While Gabbard remains in the race, clearly unviable, Warren dropping out sends a strong signal that what this country preaches it clearly doesn’t practice. We already have a president who has proven himself to show clear bigotry and sexism towards women. What we should be running toward are more women who can represent the more than majority voting population of this country – women. 

While I believe we will have a woman president within the next decade, I can’t help but wonder what message we are continuously sending by advancing old White men.

Debate Takeaways From An Unaffiliated Voter

by with No Comment FeaturedPolitics

Warren’s continuous attacks on Bloomberg seem to be excessive. Now, he may be all the slimeball a person can possibly be and if he is then he shouldn’t be running. I have zero tolerance for a slimeball presidential candidate. However, without knowing the details behind the attacks it just seems like a cheap shot because people are not going to look into it.

Sanders is consistent; not always right but he is consistent. If he wins, the debates with Trump will be nearly impossible to watch. Two advanced aged people stuck in their ways. Trump will win and people will be trying to get rid of the electoral college… again.

(Selfishly) Biden should’ve run in 2016. I think he’s losing his ability to make his points, and he needs to stop talking about how he wrote all the bills.

Steyer is good but he needs to drop out and endorse someone. Clearly, he doesn’t like Bernie. He’d be better off boosting Klobuchar or Pete.

Klobuchar is likely the best candidate but she’ll be out after Super Tuesday. I wish I could say more. I really like her.

Bloomberg looks annoyed with the process, his jokes are bad and he needs to get Warren to sign an NDA. ??‍♂️ He nearly said, “I bought the”… rather than “I donated to” the Democrats in the house.

Pete is gifted, but feels like he’s memorized talking points to court people of color. He seems very composed and I think he’ll be the best person to take on Trump attacks.

Gabbard (#NotPresent #PunIntended) will be the 3rd party candidate. Why else is she still running when she hasn’t been on a debate stage on 3 months?

Debate Winner: Trump. This debate was a mess due to the awful moderating by CBS.

Losers: CBS Moderators, clarity of points and the filibuster.

Look, I get that people want to get rid of the filibuster and go to a simple majority vote in the Senate. Put it this way, think about all of the laws that would’ve passed in the first 2 years of the Trump presidency if he only needed 50 votes. I would much rather have a rule law that states all bills passed in either chamber have to be voted on within 60 days. It’s time to put our elected officials on the record. If that doesn’t make you happy then reduce the super-majority to 57 votes, but don’t get rid of it altogether. I agree something has to change, but change can’t be as easy as getting a simple majority in both chambers.

Still don’t know who I’m voting for.

Similar Read: Warren and Pete Showed Up… Bloomberg Hit, Amy Flustered

My Summary of the Democratic Debate in South Carolina

by with No Comment FeaturedPolitics

No one won this debate.

Steyer – Seems like a nice guy. He’s not afraid to speak his mind. I used to actually think he was a Bernie Bro. ? Nope.

Klobuchar – I guess she was solid. No one went after her though that I can remember. I didn’t like how she pivoted away from condemning Bloomberg (because I loathe him). ?

Buttigieg – He seems like he’s fading and he’s fully aware. He still seems phony to me but I liked his facial expression at a certain point when Warren went after Bloomberg.

Warren – I loved her at the last debate but she should have changed the formula for this one. I felt her attacks on Bloomberg were useless tonight.

Biden – I want him to retire and be with his family. ??‍♀️

Sanders – He was on defense tonight. I’m miffed he didn’t get to respond to Pete saying something about private insurance still being offered in countries with universal health care while Sanders wanted to abolish private insurance after four years. From what I understand Buttigieg is incorrect. M4A would just limit what private insurance companies could do to avoid competition with public. Sanders had the best answer regarding marijuana.

Bloomberg – He came across as ignorant on race and marijuana. His paid for cheering section was annoying.

I think they all had somewhat equally good and bad moments. Some had more bad moments than others.

It’s all a blur.

I’ll definitely want to see the fact-checking for this debate.

Similar Read: Amira’s Debate Summaries

Amira’s Nevada Debate 2020 Summary

by with No Comment FeaturedPolitics

Warren was the clear winner. ?

I feel like Sanders needs to do a better job explaining how his plans won’t cost Americans more money in taxes. For instance, when he brought up the Green New Deal and he mentions “job creation” – all I think of is that taxes will be raised to fund all of these federally guaranteed government jobs. ? If you’re a Sanders supporter maybe you can explain this in the comments. I understand taxes will go up for M4A. Sanders is clear about that. I feel like it’s time for Sanders to say MORE about his policies during the debates to make more people feel confident in him as a leader. I’m not a fan of Sanders but if it’s between him and Bloomberg in NY, Sanders will have my vote. I’ll vote for anyone opposing Bloomberg.

Klobuchar might not have the most perfect record BUT she responds very well, isn’t evasive which is a pretty unheard of for a politician, and she seems to learn from her mistakes. I honestly like her more after each debate. I understand why her polling numbers go up with each debate.

Bloomberg IS evasive (he never answered the question regarding allegations) and doesn’t learn from his mistakes.

Besides his rambling ?, I was really disappointed with Biden’s comments about Bloomberg’s Stop & Frisk ramp up. I was expecting him to say that Bloomberg cut back after the policy was deemed unconstitutional.

Mind you, Stop & Frisk is just one of several things showing how regressive and, as Pete describes, polarizing Bloomberg is. Choosing him as the nom would give us a loss similar to 2016. He’s a bad candidate just like Clinton was.

Bloomberg likes to say he’s not taking any money. That’s not a good thing. Yes, we want corporate donors out of the equation. Receiving support from the average American; however, is a GOOD thing. It means you want to work for OUR interests instead of corporations’. Bloomberg self-funding means that he’s doing this for his own interests. He’s beholden to himself. It’s a power move. The fact that he wants to throw a ton of money behind whoever the nominee is another power move. He wants to be able to pull the strings no matter what.

Buttigieg was his typical self. He’s condescending and continues to sound manufactured. I can understand why people who miss politicians who act and sound like politicians favor him. I, personally, really don’t like him – but Bloomberg makes him look better. Oh, Pete really lost me when he attacked Amy for nonsense and NOT Bloomberg. Warren ended up swooping in and came out the victor.

1. Warren ?
2. Klobuchar (confident, clear)
3. Sanders (needs to get more specific)
4. Buttigieg (childish and got facts wrong)
5. Biden (rambled and got facts wrong)
6. Bloomberg (was ill-prepared for the expected attacks, won’t own up to his faults unless he feels he’ll benefit)

In terms of who I feel is most genuine, here’s my ranking:

1. Sanders and Warren
2. Klobuchar and Biden
3. Buttigieg and Bloomberg

EDITED TO ADD comments I’ve seen in my feed:

“It might have been just been on my stream from MSNBC, but there were multiple ads against Medicare For All (and any other options). The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are at work trying to keep their large profits by confusing voters. The interests of big business many times doesn’t align with that of the people.” – Anonymous (not a public post)

“Let’s say it comes down to Trump and Bloomberg. Sexual assaults/harassment of women no longer matters. (especially if you can afford to get away with it.)

Singling out minorities through stop and frisk laws is ok (Bloomberg) and opposing it is divisive. (Trump)

New Muslims won’t be admitted (Trump) and those here can expect to be spied on. (Bloomberg)”

Similar Read: Amira’s Debate Summaries 

Warren and Pete Showed Up… Bloomberg Hit, Amy Flustered

by with One Comment FeaturedPolitics

Bloomberg has spent nearly $400M in political ads, but nothing could save him from getting his ass handed to him by every candidate on stage at last night’s debate in Nevada. Unprepared, arrogant… considering his campaign spoke highly about his debate prep his performance was frankly embarrassing. But did anyone expect him to shine in his first debate? I don’t think so. With that being said, he better do better in the next debate or that might be the worst use of a half a billion… ever. Every candidate took their shots, but Elizabeth Warren probably landed the biggest and most memorable blows.


Speaking of Warren, she was the clear winner last night. For the first time, she realized she was in a fight and came out swinging… at everyone, particularly Klobuchar, who was the clear loser last night. Amy came across defensive and flustered. I think many would even say she lost her cool by suggesting Pete was calling her “dumb” for questioning her committee seats and apparent lack of awareness and knowledge of the region. In frustration, Klobuchar said, “’I Wish Everyone Was As Perfect As You, Pete,” which was evidence that he had gotten under her skin, and it showed. Klobuchar was under so much fire Warren decided to defend her by suggesting the moderator’s question was unfair. 


Biden was typical Biden. He didn’t impress… as usual just average, and average isn’t going to get it done. If you’re a Biden supporter, watching his decline and slip in the polls I’m sure has been hard and sad to watch. He didn’t do well in Iowa or New Hampshire, and if he doesn’t do well in Nevada or Super Tuesday (especially South Carolina), the once presumptuous 2020 Democratic presidential nominee’s political career will come to a disappointing end. Bernie was Bernie… screaming instead of talking and reminding us that billionaires are evil people, it’s immoral to have that much money, and again… billionaires are evil people. But as the poll leader in Nevada and the overall race for nominee, the distraction of newcomer Bloomberg served him well. He left unscathed, will likely win Nevada, and go on to do well on Super Tuesday. 

Pete shined… he was polished, he stung Bloomberg and Klobuchar often and hard. 

If NBC wanted a fight, that’s exactly what they got. I’m not sure the Democratic Party and the DNC can be proud of what took place last night. But if one thing’s for sure after last night, the Dems have some fighters… and it’ll take a fighter to beat Trump.  

My Summary of the 7th Democratic Debate

by with No Comment FeaturedPolitics

My debate summary:

Sanders started out the strongest but started to fall back when it came to health care.

Biden started out the weakest but picked up when discussing foreign policy. He had an OK night.

While I’ve never been a fan of hers, Klobuchar had a solid night.

Buttigieg didn’t stand out at all and I still see him as manufactured, smug, and condescending. 

Warren made great points throughout but she lost it for me when the beef with Sanders came up. It made me think her camp concocted the Sanders smear so that she could go on stage to make her case on why women can win a presidential election. I didn’t like that. In previous debates, Warren acted as though she and Sanders were friends. Now she’s suddenly bringing up a supposedly old conversation? NOW she’s upset? I don’t get it and it feels disingenuous.

I don’t dislike Steyer.

If I had to choose the winner for this debate I’d say Klobuchar. Sanders and Warren follow in a tie for second place. Biden would be third and Buttigieg last. Buttigieg represents what I think a lot of people don’t like in politicians. On the other hand, some people love that he seems very “politician-y.” I’m torn on where to place Steyer. I could place him in first with Klobuchar or I could place him last with Buttigieg. Go figure.

I don’t think this debate will move any needles but then again, who knows! Maybe Buttigieg will drop? Maybe Steyer will get a boost? ??‍♀️ What happens on the ground is most important.

I don’t think the Warren-Sanders spat will do anything. From what I’ve seen, Sanders supporters feel Warren is lying and Warren supporters think Warren made a slam dunk on stage with her well-planned performance regarding their beef.

Although he gets the least bit of speaking time, Yang was definitely missed. Plus if you follow me you know he’s my #1 in this race.

I agree with Van Jones when he said this post-debate:

“Democrats have to do better than what we saw tonight. There was nothing I saw tonight that would be able to take Donald Trump out. And I want to see a Democrat in the White House as soon as possible… I came away feeling worried for the Democratic Party. It felt like a big bowl of cold oatmeal, and I got to say this: I missed Andrew Yang tonight.”  

Kamala Harris Could’ve Been President, but Black People Wouldn’t Let it Happen

by with One Comment FeaturedPolitics

On January 20, 2019, Senator Kamala Harris entered the race for president. She had a huge campaign rally in Oakland with 20k+ attendees, which was much larger than a lot of the major candidates. She had a great start. On December 4th, she suspended her campaign due to lack of funds to continue. 

Kamala Harris was seen as the next Obama. She was the first elected official to campaign for him in Iowa in 2007. Hillary Clinton’s donors groomed her right after her historic Senate race win in 2016. She was a District Attorney, Attorney General, and a Senator in California. She had the makings of a great presidential candidate. So what happened you ask?

4 days before she entered the race, the NYT wrote a hit piece on her titled, “Kamala Harris Was Not a Progressive Prosecutor” – that was the beginning of the end. From there, she never received adequate press coverage with the exception of any negativity that was going on in her campaign. Even her much-lauded debate performance in November received little coverage. AM Joy did a panel on why Kamala wasn’t receiving the media coverage she deserved. (you know there is a problem when the media says you aren’t receiving enough coverage). Her poll numbers were low due to several factors such as name recognition, no media coverage, and her reputation as a “cop who locked Black people up.”

What I have found is that most people wrote her off from the beginning due to the fact that she was a DA. Without giving her a fair chance or actually reviewing her record, she was doomed from the jump. Amy Klobuchar was a DA too with a far more troubling record. Joe Biden wrote the crime bill and Bernie voted for it. Did they receive any negative coverage for it? NO.

Many will say her campaign was flawed. But I am here today to tell you that EVERY CAMPAIGN IS FLAWED. I believe with Trump in office and the media pushing this white savior complex since 2016, no woman or person of color will be able to win this race. 

Black people have overwhelmingly supported Joe Biden due to the fact that he markets himself as the only one who can beat Trump and he was Obama’s VP. In 2016, the fear of Trump did not win us an election and it will be the same in 2020. The treatment of Kamala Harris by Black people has by far been the worst I’ve ever seen of any candidate. Even after she dropped out, Black social media continued to drag her. They said she wasn’t the one, but maybe she would be a great AG or VP. If you criticized her record as AG of California… why would you want her to be AG for the entire country? If she isn’t good enough to be President… why is she good enough to be VP? I believe Black people have always made it harder for other Black people to succeed. 

The day after she dropped out, campaign vultures began to swarm around Kamala’s supporters and donors. Elizabeth Warren even created an ad with a picture of her and Kamala stating that Kamala was forced out of the race due to low funding and billionaires got to stay in the race and if she was president she would fix that problem. That is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen in my life. She used the demise of a Black woman to boost her own candidacy and gain her followers. That’s how America treats Black women… uses them up and throws them away.

I was deeply invested in the Kamala Harris campaign for many reasons. The main reason was because I believed in her ability to win and get things done. I believed she would have dragged Donald Trump across the debate stage and trounced him in an election. I believed in her vision for America – to uplift people instead of put them down and to speak truth. When she was on the debate stage, she was the only candidate that would bring up issues that directly related to Black people. That will now be gone forever as there are no Black candidates able to qualify for the debates. Her impact was felt as you have seen in the days following her announcement to drop out.

She has received more media coverage in the days following her exit from the race then she ever has. It’s a sad state of affairs. 

Similar Read: The Demise of Kamala Harris – the Good, the Bad, and What’s Next 

My Summary of the 5th Dem Debate

by with No Comment FeaturedPoliticsRace Relations

MSNBC/WaPo should be banned from hosting debates. Too many of the questions were centered on Trump’s personality. That shouldn’t be the focus of the questions for a presidential debate, but talking about DT has been excellent for MSNBC’s ratings. DT has especially helped Rachel Maddow’s career.

The debates took place in Atlanta, at Tyler Perry Studios. Buttigieg’s camp just had a week of race-related issues and the only people who got questions concerning race were Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang. ? Yang’s response was spot on though. 

Warren – She’s good when she’s prepared to answer non-surprise questions so this performance wasn’t bad for her. I appreciated that her responses were more specific than most of the other candidates’ responses. At one point she said: “And in the first 100 days, I want to bring in 135 million people into Medicare For All at no cost to them. Everybody under the age of 18, everybody who has a family of four income less than $50,000. I want to lower the age of Medicare to 50 and expand Medicare coverage to include vision and dental and long-term care.” This doesn’t sound too different from what is available now through the ACA. ?

Booker questioned Warren’s wealth tax much like Yang did in the last debate. Booker had a great night. I’m miffed that the media puts so much glory on Buttigieg, the Rhodes Scholar, when Booker is ALSO a Rhodes Scholar. I’m glad Booker let people know! ??

Buttigieg – If I weren’t following the race and only saw this debate, I might think Buttigieg was great. He claims the progressive title but he totally isn’t. He has a lot of big money backing him. The moderators favored him so much that instead of addressing him on his manufactured Black endorsements, people from his camp using stock images of Kenyans to show Black support, and being dismissive of his own constituents in South Bend – they tried to bait Kamala to attack him. Kamala didn’t take the bait. I wonder if she didn’t because she thought that if he were to win the nomination he’d seek her out as his VP since she’s a Black woman and he polls at 0% with Black voters. The moderators were really SOFT on him.

Gabbard went after him, but I doubt her attack will affect his polling numbers. He’s a big-money establishment candidate. She is not.

Harris came into the debates with planned statements. Not once did she answer a question. LOL, She’s very evasive. She also seems to get a thrill out of criticising people. I think she’d make a horrible Commander in Chief. A leader who gets off in criticizing others isn’t a good thing. We already have that!

Neither Harris nor Biden could respond to how they could get Republicans to work with them. I think that says a lot.

I’d feel so badly for the person put in charge of typing up the transcript of a Biden vs Trump debate. ?

Klobuchar – She brings absolutely nothing new to the table. She’s a younger Biden in a dress.

Steyer annoyed me. He also isn’t offering anything new but he thinks he is. He also kept saying he’s the only candidate talking about term limits. He’s wrong. Yang has been talking about term limits too. In fact, Yang is for 12-year Congressional term limits and 18-year Supreme Court justice term limits.

Yang made the most out of the little time he was given. He isn’t the establishment and is obviously not an MSNBC/WaPo favorite. All his answers were substantive and teachable moments. Who knew the only other country without paid family leave for new mothers was Papua New Guinea? What other candidate has concluded that we should have a WTO, but for data (new world data organization) and that this would get Russia to the table and make it so they have to join the international community and stop resisting appeals to the world order?

Sanders offers great teachable moments too. He’s the best at revealing the country’s problems and realities.

Similar Read: Who Did Well in the 4th Debate… Sanders, Yang, Buttigieg? 

Who Did Well in the 4th Dem Debate… Sanders, Yang, Buttigieg?

by with 4 Comments FeaturedPolitics

My thoughts…

Buttigieg – He expresses himself well but everything about him seems so contrived. Why does he seem so disingenuous to me? He seems like someone who talks over people. I can see how some people might view him as the winner of this debate. I didn’t.

Biden – I wonder if he can respond to a question without saying “Look” and pointing his finger at people. I really hate that. Every response he gave was horrible plus he was patronizing to Warren.

Warren – How she shaded Biden after the patronizing was great ??! Problem with her is that she is vague. She isn’t a straight-shooter when responding to questions and when she’s taken by surprise she gets flustered and grabs her notes. I can’t see how anyone would think she won this debate.

Booker – I’ve either gotten used to his theatrics or he’s toned them down a bit. He made some good points but my takeaways are that he lives in an area with gun violence and he’s a vegan.

Beto – He had to remind us that he can speak Spanish. He couldn’t answer the simple gun question. I think he’s hurting his chances of running for Senate in Texas.

Steyer – It was his first time hitting the stage. He didn’t do badly but I hate the fact that he essentially bought his way onto the stage.

Tulsi – She tripped up Warren as expected. Her interaction with Buttigieg was interesting too. But Buttigieg expresses himself more convincingly even when he might be wrong.

Yang – His best debate performance to date. The post-debate interviews allowed him to get a little more in for people who aren’t familiar with his platform, but I loved how at the end he invited everyone to his website on Friday where he will be answering questions from all tuned-in Americans for 10 straight hours. Brilliant. #AskYang #AskYangAnything #AskAndrew

Bernie – I can’t say I’m a fan of his but I feel like he won the debate. What a way to come back after having a heart attack and the death of his daughter-in-law these past two weeks!

Harris – Lost. It was a huge waste of time when she started pressing Warren on booting Trump off Twitter.

Klobuchar – She was able to get a lot of talking time.

Castro – I think this was his weakest performance to date. I’m glad he stopped attacking people based on their age.

1. Sanders
2. Yang
3. Buttigieg 

Do you agree?

Similar Read: Kamala or Bust?