By Sally Sara: Well, after the withdrawal of Joe Biden from the presidential election, as we’ve heard, his vice president, Kamala Harris, is vying for the Democratic nomination. But what do we know about her history and ambitions? Dan Morain is author of the biography Kamala’s Way, An American Life.
Dan Morain : That’s an interesting question. She’s quite a force. You know, she has taken her share of criticism, certainly as vice president. I know her well from her California days, from her California political days. When I say, well, it’s not as if she is an open book for somebody who will be on the national stage in the most public of campaigns. There are things we don’t know about Kamala Harris because she is keeps her personal life very close.
Sally Sara: What do you think drives Kamala Harris more than anything?
Dan Morain : Well, you know, she’s very ambitious, which is to be expected. People don’t get into politics and operate at the high level at which she’s operated without ambition. Ambition is a good thing. Nothing much gets done without it. She’s a very good debater. I think you could attribute that to her time as a courtroom prosecutor, sent people away to prison for long periods of time.
Sally Sara: What do you think is Kamala Harris’s greatest strength?
Dan Morain : Certainly as a politician, she can be a very good politician. She is quick on her feet. You know, she’s very smart. She can also be incredibly charming. I mean, I’ve seen her in rooms where she’s doing retail politics. So she can be very, very good.
Sally Sara: What do you think are her greatest vulnerabilities or weaknesses?
Dan Morain : Well, she’s starting out as an underdog. The polls suggest Donald Trump is winning this race. You know, she’s been an underdog before. She’s been behind in the polls before. So her vulnerabilities are she has stumbled as a politician. She has been hesitant to take positions as a politician.
Sally Sara: How does she see her identity with her father having history from the Caribbean? Her mom has Indian history. How does she see herself?
Dan Morain : She was so much closer to her mother than to her father. You can read her autobiography and she goes on and on at great length about her mom. Doesn’t really talk about her dad much at all. She very much identifies with her mother, who was from India. She went to Howard University, though, which is a black college in Washington, D.C. And so she’s, you know, she identifies as as as black. She identifies as South Asian. You know, she identifies as American. I mean, this is a truly an American story and a California story. She you know, she is a daughter of where she came from. Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco. You know, I think she identifies as all of that.
Sally Sara: Do you think she’s got what it takes to become the United States’ first female president?
Dan Morain : Could she rise to that level? She could. She gets underestimated. Who knows? Who knows? I mean, and there’s a long way between here and winning. This is Donald Trump’s election to lose at this point. But she you know, she is formidable. She she’s not to be underestimated. Whether she can win is a wholly different question. We’ve never elected a woman president, let alone a woman of color. So it’s going to be quite a ride between now and Election Day. It’s going to be quite a ride.
Sally Sara: That’s Dan Morain there, author of the biography Kamala’s Way and American Life.
