Is Kamala Harris a fundi or a realo? Sunday’s article in the NYT strongly leaned towards the latter. So does her record as a sometimes, but not always, progressive prosecutor. And yet, the question persists, based largely on her apparent desire to keep a foot in both camps.
Her latest attempt to explain her position on Medicare-for-all is a perfect example of trying to thread the needle. Frankly, if I could give her one piece of advice, it would be to stop trying to poach votes from Sanders and Warren and to set her sights firmly on Biden’s supporters. Let’s face it; she’s never going to be able to out-fundi Bernie and Liz, but she can make a plausible argument on its face that Biden is too misty-eyed about bipartisanship, and that she has a program which, with a few exceptions, can get through the system by way of reconciliation and executive action. In that way, she could out-realo Biden, dominate the right side of the graph, and win the nomination.