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| Democratic Nominee, Kamala Harris and her VP pick, Tim Walz |
I guess Harris decided she can win without the help of centrist Democrats who may not be all that happy with her progressive pick. Or she thinks they will vote for her anyway. I assume that the pushback by the left against the Shapiro is what torpedoed his chances.
Why would they do that? Well for one thing - his common sense approach to education. Which is favored by many public school parents. They would love to be given the choice of which school to send their children. That’s right. Shapiro favors school vouchers.
I assume that’s because he appreciated his own education in a Jewish day school that – in addition to an excellent secular education - gave him an appreciation of his own Jewish heritage. Something public schools do not provide. Why not allow other parents that benefit instead of continuing to pour all that money down the ‘black hole’ of inner city public schools?
That automatically made him the enemy of teachers unions whose first and most important objective is to protect teachers jobs. Students at best come 2nd. So in a contest between a policy that benefit students and one that benefits a teacher – guess which policy a teachers union will support? ...and how they will feel about a candidate that puts students ahead of teachers? By not fully supporting the anti voucher position of teachers unions, Shapiro has alienated all union support.
I suppose another ‘problem’ with Shapiro is the fact that he is Jewish and a strong supporter of Israel. He condemned the massacre by Hamas on October 7th. And he condemned the campus protesters calling for Israel’s demise with chants like ‘Free Palestine – from the river to the sea’.And he has not withdrawn or moderated his support for Israel since then.
That obviously brought out the fury of the Hamas supporting protestors who see him as a Zionist and a threat to their view that Palestine (all of it) belongs to the Palestinian people. That the Jews have no right to that land at all and must be removed.
Harris does not want to lose that support – which might mean losing the electoral vote in Michigan and Minnesota where a lot of Americans of Palestinian descent live and might stay home in the next election. Thus tipping the scales toward Trump. (I doubt that would have happened even if Shapiro was on the ticket since the alternative would be Trump.)
What about Pennsylvania? That too is seen as a ‘must win’ state if she is to win in November. Shapiro is very popular in that state (65% approval rating) and would have surely given its electors to Harris.
I guess she thinks she can win it anyway. But without Shapiro on the ticket it is not a slam dunk. It is currently a toss up even after she became the Democratic nominee. In not picking a centrist like Shapiro after so many pundits thought she would - Pennsylvania swing voters might vote for Trump.
Why Trump? If the economy is the primary issue for voters in the coming election, (and I think it is) polls indicate that the majority of voters in the US think that they will be far better off under a Trump presidency than they will under a Harris presidency. There is no way of knowing whether that will happen. But in politics- perception is the reality.
What about Tim Walz? Who is he? What does he believe? Does he support Israel?
Walz is a retired teacher and a progressive. If you are a progressive voter, you will be thrilled with Harris’s VP pick. He does support Israel the same way Harris does. In the immediate aftermath of the October 7th massacre, Walz condemned the attack and supported Israel’s right to defend itself.
He was, however, one of the first to criticize Israel for all the innocent Palestinians in Gaza being killed in their war against Hamas. Without a word about the inflated number of casualties being reported by the Hamas run health ministry. Or the fact that about half of those casualties were Hamas terrorists. Or the fact that many of the actual innocent civilian casualties were the result of Hamas using them as human shields.
Nope. Walz just parroted what all the campus protesters and the mainstream media were saying - that it’s all Israel’s fault. Walz is completely ignorant of those facts. Whether that is intentional or not is anybody’s guess. But either way. I’m not comfortable with that kind of support.
Walz and Harris seem to share the same progressive values and attitude towards Israel. Based on her strong criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war - made well before she became the Democratic nominee - I do not like the prospect of a Harris presidency. Her progressive values and her qualified support for Israel do not inspire confidence
Harris may still supply Israel with what it needs to survive. But she will at the same time be critical of any Israeli prime minister that does not reflect her progressive values and does not share her belief in a two state solution. I’m pretty sure that the next prime minster will be just as opposed to a 2 state solution as is Netanyahu is. l’m also pretty sure that Harris will not veto UN resolutions condemning Israeli’ polices she doesn’t like. She may even reassess US policy towards Israel. Which her progressive base (starting with Tlaib and Omar) has been demanding all along.
Those who might blame Netanyahu for losing Democratic support have not been paying attention to what the increasingly influential progressive wing of their party has been saying. They can scream Netanyahu’s name all day long and blame him for everything. But what that wing of the party really wants is the end of the ‘Apartheid Zionist regime’ and the restoration of Palestine in its place. Netanyahu, Zionism, Israel... .it’s al the same to them.
Israel needs more than lip service about the relationship between it and the US being unbreakable. It needs to know that the US will always have its back even if there is major disagreement on policy. I’m not sure that support like that from Harris will be that forthcoming.
Had Harris chosen Shapiro, it would have been smart to choose a centrist running mate. That would have probably guaranteed her Pennsylvania and likely gotten her more swing voters nationally. And for me it would have meant that at least one of her key advisers on foreign policy would be someone that is unabashedly pro Israel. And might have also helped put the brakes on her likely progressive agenda. But she didn’t do that. And that’s too bad.
Bottom line - I am disappointed in the Democratic nominee for President as well as her choice for VP.
What Israel needs is a Republican administration. They will have Israel’s back regardless of any policy differences. Not that there is much daylight between them and the Israeli government right now anyway. The only thing stopping me from fully endorsing the Republican ticket is the person heading it.