Kamala Harris Goes Sister Souljah on Biden’s Garbage Comment. It May Save Her Campaign.
In the dying days of this high-stakes race for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris was presented with a unique opportunity to turn a potentially devastating vulnerability into a winning message: by rebuking President Joe Biden’s “garbage” gaffe in the same way Bill Clinton condemned 90s rapper Sister Souljah.
Tuesday night, while the Democratic presidential candidate was giving her closing argument speech to tens of thousands of supporters at the White House Ellipse — drawing a contrast with Trump, who a few years ago spoke there ahead of the Capitol riot — Biden demonstrated precisely why he was deemed totally unfit to run for re-election.
On a Zoom call from the White House, Biden railed against the Trump rally speaker who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” on Sunday.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters – his– his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been,” Biden said.
He committed probably the worst sin in politics: appearing to attack the voters.
Immediately after, the White House tried to clean those comments up. A spokesman insisted that Biden was referring to the comments made during the rally and not condemning all Trump supporters as “garbage,” but he said what he said. Later, Biden shared a clarification on social media, writing:
Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.
Regardless of intent, Trump’s supporters in the media seized on the comments as irredeemably divisive. With a hotly contested election less than a week away, who can blame them? The comment bulldozed Harris’s closing argument, which was heavy on unity in an effort to draw a contrast with Trump, perhaps the most divisive political figure in modern American history.
Harris addressed the comments Wednesday morning during a gaggle with reporters on an airport tarmac. While her rebuke was kindly nuanced, her message that she “strongly disagreed” with Biden’s comments was a stunning rebuke of the man she wants to follow in the White House.
Harris was asked if she had talked to “President Biden since this comment last night about garbage.” She first noted, “He clarified his comments.” Then she drew clear distance from the president.
“But let me be clear,” she continued. “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for. As you heard in my speech last night and continuously throughout my career, I believe that the work that I do, it’s about representing all the people, whether they support me or not.”
She then returned to some of her unifying messages from Tuesday night’s speech: “As president of the United States, I will be a president for all Americans. Whether you vote for me or not. That is my responsibility. And that’s the kind of work I’ve done my entire career. And I take it very seriously.“
And lest we dismiss this criticism as something unplanned or improvised, the amplification of these comments by the Harris campaign social media team reveals that it was absolutely intentional.
This was a unique opportunity for Harris to contrast Trump with Joe Biden and appeal to a moderate faction of Republicans she clearly sees as a critical voting bloc in winning this election. And, of course, Trump regularly trashes America and Americans with crude broadsides, which get a pass from his supporters because, of course, that’s what happens. If you want a “both sides” argument, tune into MSNBC — you will get what you seek in very high volumes.
It’s a Sister Souljah moment, given to her on a silver platter, which she deserves credit for taking over the more dubious option of ignoring the firestorm altogether (which would be totally misguided.) In one brief statement, Harris demonstrated the independent thinking and reach-across-the-aisle approach she talked about during her closing argument speech.
What is a Sister Souljah moment exactly?
During a 1992 interview with The Washington Post, the rapper spoke hyperbolically about violence in the hip hop community and the power structures at the time. “If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?” she said, which caused a firestorm at the time. Then-candidate Bill Clinton surprised many by not agreeing with her broader assessment. Instead, he drew a distinction, condemning her remarks to Jesse Jackson and saying, “If you took the words ‘white’ and ‘black,’ and you reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech.”
Political experts at the time saw it as a pivotal moment in the 1992 election, which he eventually won. Thus, the “Sister Souljah Moment” was born and effectively used by many politicians since. John McCain distanced himself from televangelist Jerry Falwell in 2000, and President Barack Obama did the same when he called out Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Kamala Harris had three options in dealing with the garbage garbage: 1) ignore the comments in deference to Biden, 2) follow the White House’s lead in spinning what Biden actually said, or 3) confront them and make the point that it’s time to move past this sort of rhetoric, making that she intends to serve as president for all Americans, even Trump supporters who have been insulted in the past as deplorable. She was wise to opt for option three.
It was a unifying and brave route. With just six days left in what’s a neck-and-neck race, it might very well have saved her campaign.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.