Kamala – The Song
Tag: kamala Harris
Why Trump Won’t Win
A central part of Trump’s personality is that he overvalues himself and devalues others.
Mind you, that tendency exists in most human beings but, if unexamined and unchecked, it grows to become a big problem.
In Trump’s case it comes across as grandiosity. ‘Look at me, I am the one!’
In a recent question/answer session with Black journalists, he stated that he had been the best president since Abraham Lincoln. He had done more for Black folks since Lincoln.
In his excesses, Trump is so obnoxious that sometimes he’s even funny, which has helped him keep his followers around.
The layer of overvaluing himself and devaluing others goes hand in hand with his divisiveness.
It does not take much to have people unwilling to think a little to be sucked in by Trump’s talk that all our nation’s problems lie with Democrats.
Republicans, in contrast, are flawless.
Trump’s song has that riff down.
But sowing division will not help our country find common purpose, which is essential to better use our resources in a world heavily influenced by dictators (Putin, Xi Jinping, Iran’s clerics).
Along with Trump’s divisiveness come his love to stir up toxic masculinity.
The effect of that led to the assault on Capitol Hill on January 6th 2021.
But toxic masculinity hurts us the most in the attitudes of many men toward women, the way our nation chooses to deny women the right to control their bodies.
It takes time to wake up from a historical slumber.
Women did not wake up when Hillary Clinton ran against Trump in 2016.
But now they’re getting a second chance, and this time it will be a Black woman confronting the White dude.
Trump’s already making every effort to demean Harris. ‘I didn’t know she was Black, I thought she was Indian (East Indian)’.
But it won’t work.
Kamala Harris is, first of all, a strong woman, and her appeal among other women is growing steadily, for she is sparking in them the reality that one of their own will soon be president of this country – 248 years after the nation declared its independence. That’s a hell of a long wait.
I say that Trump won’t win because he’s already sensing that Kamala Harris is better put together as a person than he is. And that hurts.
It doesn’t have to be that way, if he were kinder to himself, a little more introspective, and chose to learn from his mistakes, but he has trouble doing that.
Trump won’t win because his essence is clear to most Americans. He makes little effort to hide his flaws and instead prefers to tout them. There is no embarrassment in him. He thinks of his faults as assets instead.
And because he doesn’t change, it will be easier for most people to reject him as unsuited to be our leader.
Kamala Harris offers us something very different. An intelligent and ambitious woman eager to learn, joyous in the pursuit of her goal, willing to seek advice, and proud to be an American willing to fight the forces of the opposition in the name of all of us.
Will mail to Biden and Harris.
95 days to ballot day.
My short books ‘Putin’s Revenge – The Final Days of Yevgeny Prigozhin’ and ‘Letters to a Shooter,’ are out on paperpack and eBook. Go to Oscar Valdes Author Central (Amazon)
Black Woman Against White Man
Hello America!
We’re getting a chance to see how much we’ve evolved.
Are we really where we think we are racially and sexually?
To hear the Trump side, women should know their place. At home raising children. Mind you, that is a most honorable choice, but women in this country have been fighting for parity for a long time.
They only gained the right to vote in 1920, with the passage of the 19th amendment, two years behind England and 27 years behind New Zealand, the first nation to allow it.
Kamala Harris was born in 1964, only a year before the Civil Rights Act passed in 1965, outlawing discriminatory voting practices.
All these years in between it’s been a hard slog for women.
They’re still having old White men decide if they can have an abortion or not.
So, yes, it’s high time for women to form a solid block and beat Trump and all that he stands for.
Kamala Harris will be standing for all women this November 5th. Democratic women and Republican women and independent women. Women from the right, the left and the center.
Yes, because a woman president will open a different kind of dialogue for American women.
‘Baby, you know what it means to be one of us,’ they will be saying to Kamala as they march to the polling booth or make their contributions to the campaign.
Will Harris be a catalyst for parity in the workplace? Yes, she will.
Will women stand a chance to push up the so called glass ceiling? Yes, they will.
It will be most interesting to see leaders of industry (mostly male) having to speak to a woman president to try and gain favor.
Damn, it will be good to see that.
So Republican men who are casting their lot with Trump need to rethink their positions.
We don’t need testosterone to manage our nation. We need brains, empathy, imagination, moral strength, a commitment to the freedom of all human beings.
It’s time, fellows. If you’re falling behind in earnings, don’t blame in on women. They have as much a right to earn what you do. If you have the greater capacity, then you earn more.
If not, you earn less. And work on it if you want better.
The beauty of a woman running for president is that it puts all prejudices on the table.
So we can better deal with them.
It’s high time we did it. It will be good for us. Damn good, in fact.
I’m reminded of something the distinguished poet and writer Erica Jong once said about the feminist movement. I was in the audience when she said it. That the feminist movement had helped men become better fathers. And how right she was.
So, yes, the lack of barriers to women’s advancement ends up being better for all of us.
For we will be freer and wiser as a result.
So onwards, American women, this is your moment. Seize it, damn it.
Don’t let it slip away like you did when Hillary Clinton ran in 2016.
The world has been waiting to see tangible proof of your full powers. So, go for it.
And yes, Joe Biden made this moment possible when he chose Kamala. So thank you, Mr President.
My short books ‘Putin’s Revenge – The Final Days of Yevgeny Prigozhin’ and ‘Letters to a Shooter,’ are out on paperpack and eBook. Go to Oscar Valdes Author Central (Amazon)
99 days left to election day in the US
It’s Harris’s Moment
And she’s having a ball.
Flush with excitement, she addressed the crowd at her first rally in Wisconsin and earlier at campaign headquarters in Delaware and each time she exuded confidence.
‘People, I’m doing this and we are going to win!’
And she smiled broadly, her eyes sparkled and right in front of the cameras she went up to Doug, her husband, and gave him a big kiss in the mouth. And they both loved it.
She’s acting like’s she’s already won.
‘Fellow Americans, we got this!’
And news had gone out that in a 24 hour period, she’d raised 81 million bucks! Now that’s a lot of cash, folks. Lots of money to persuade the undecided that going Democrat is the only way.
By contrast, Trump is already depressed.
Angry, sensing that something is slipping away from him, he can’t take it. He’s bitter than the spotlight is not on him.
‘Where’s the love?!’ Trump is saying. ‘Goddammit, I took a bullet for all of you! Have you forgotten so quickly?’
And yes, Mr Trump, we very much regret that you were the target of an assassination attempt and are very glad that you are alive and there for your loved ones. But that doesn’t get you the election.
But Trump cannot resist.
Knowing that campaign funds allotted to Biden would now be transferred to Harris, he instructed his lawyers to file a suit with the FEC (Federal Elections Committee) to block the transfer arguing that it was illegal. It is not.
And then he heard that Musk was now changing his mind and that he would not be putting out 45 million dollars a month into a super PAC to help his campaign. And Musk added something about his not being into the cult of personality. Ouch! That had to hurt Trump when he heard it.
But it goes to show the impact Biden’s decision and Harris’s enthusiasm had on Musk. And I hope Republicans read that because, yes, you still have time to change your minds and vote Democrat. We welcome you, brothers and sisters. You know we love you.
And, secretly, Republican women are wondering, why in hell can we not have a woman be a candidate for President?
And they shake their heads and seem puzzled. It’s not like they haven’t had bold women step front, it’s that they have not got support. There was Margaret Chase Smith in 1964, Michele Bachmann in 2012, Carly Fiorina in 2016. Pioneers, all of them, ahead of their times. But ignored by most Republicans.
And while Trump stews in his frustration, envious of the energy and enthusiasm that Harris is showing, angry that all Americans are not thrown into fits of ecstasy when they hear him or see him show up, President Biden has quietly found his peace.
Biden can say to himself, ‘I picked Kamala Harris to be my vicepresident and she became vicepresident – the first one ever – and now I’ve endorsed her to be president and she will become president – the first one ever.’
But it gets better. Biden can say, ‘I was essential to Kamala’s political development. I chose her to be my running mate after she’d dropped out of the race in 2016, then I nurtured and guided her all these years she’s been at my side. And she learned what she had to learn, and I transmitted to her the joy of being the leader of this country, the profound satisfaction and honor that is to work hard on behalf of the American people. She learned fast and I know she will not disappoint. She is my legacy. So I now can breathe easier and accept that though my time to lead is coming to an end, I can be proud that I lent a hand in the making of our next president.’
Biden recognized that he had got stuck for a moment after criticism of his performance against Trump in the June 27th debate.
But then he fell ill with covid and he got away from the lights and the public attention that come with being president. And being alone as he isolated to recover from the virus, he reflected at length on his role as leader of the United States.
And he recognized that he had done his work and he was proud of it.
He smiled as he thought about it, feeling relieved. He enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm Harris radiated when she spoke to people about the tasks ahead.
And he knew that she was ready and she would become the 47th president of the United States.
And he remembered a little private moment she had with Harris a few months before the debate had triggered the events that followed.
They were alone in the Oval office, Biden and Harris, talking about something and he had had a rough time sleeping the night before and so he paused and looked at her, ‘Kamala, do you have trouble sleeping?’
And smiling, she said, ‘I sleep like a baby. But every now and then, I may have a little difficulty, and I will just get up and read something and then go back to sleep. You know how they say that it’s not good to stay in bed if you can’t sleep. But if I’m having trouble falling asleep and I turn and see that Doug is awake, I then ask, ‘baby, will you read me a story?’
‘Sure, honey,’ he answers. And when he reads to me, I just relax and five minutes later I’m sound asleep.’
Biden laughed.
‘And the funny thing is, it works for him, too,’ continued Harris, ‘because he tells me, “the moment I see you fall asleep, I put the book down and I fall asleep, too.”’
Good night, folks.
My short books ‘Putin’s Revenge – The Final Days of Yevgeny Prigozhin’ and ‘Letters to a Shooter,’ are out on paperpack and eBook. Go to Oscar Valdes Author Central (Amazon)
104 days left to election day in the US
Biden Talks to King Salman
On February 25th , President Biden made a phone call to King Salman to discuss state matters.
Present in the Oval Office for the call were Vice President Harris, Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, and Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor.
The king and the President had already discussed Iran and Yemen, with Mr Biden emphasizing that Iran would not be allowed to have nuclear weapons which would pose a threat to the kingdom as well as other neighbor countries.
President – King Salman… we will be releasing an intelligence report on the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in Ankara, in October 2018.
King – We have been expecting it.
President – I want to make clear that the question of human rights will be high on my agenda during my term. We owe it to the world. From the start, I have sharply disagreed with the way my predecessor handled the assassination of Mr Khashoggi, a US resident and respected journalist and contributor to the Washington Post. It is inconceivable for us that such action would be carried out without the Prince’s consent.
King – I understand.
President – King Salman, did you know of the operation?
King – I did not.
President – For us to keep quiet about this would make our nation an accomplice. We cannot tolerate that.
King – I understand. As you know, Saudi Arabia is trying hard to become a modern nation, but there is much work to do. As long time allies, we ask for your patience and tolerance.
President – I welcome your government’s opening up opportunities for women. And the release of the young woman activist who had been held for a year. But she still will not be allowed to travel abroad.
King – Mr President, give us time. We want to join the rest of the world, we do. My son, the Prince, has good ideas. Due to my age, I am now 85, I’ve entrusted him with the day to day operations in the Kingdom, but I assure you that I have now resumed oversight of key decisions so as to prevent a repeat of what happened to Mr Khashoggi.
President – That is welcome news.
King – I have also considered, the possibility of reparations for the family of Mr Khashoggi and his fiancée and intend to pursue the matter.
President – I hope you will. It will not bring back Jamal Khashoggi but it is an acknowledgment of responsibility.
King – Yes. The actions were committed by Saudi Arabians in positions of influence, by Saudi Arabians in my service.
President – Thank you, King Salman. I look forward to a fruitful relationship. We will talk again. Best.
King – Good bye for now.
They hang up
Oscarvaldes.net
Biden because…
We need to restore sanity to America,
We must have a president who will not shirk from confronting a foreign leader,
A president who is not preoccupied with every criticism that is made of him and who can think before he tweets,
We need a president who is comfortable with thinking and reflecting,
Who is open to having the best people around him, regardless of what party they’re affiliated with,
We must have a president who can hear a dissenting view,
A person who values independent thought, men and women who can stand on their own and choose to serve the nation out of a sense of patriotism rather than personal gain, men and women who’re not quick to say, ‘yes, mr president, of course you’re right, sir, absolutely right, you’re the greatest, the most wonderful human being I’ve ever met,’
We need a leader with the courage to address the nation in the face of abject cruelty, as when George Floyd was murdered in public view, and then step out and denounce the abuse of power and stand and grieve with the rest of us,
We need a leader who believes in science, who doesn’t feel diminished because he has to wear a mask,
We must have a leader who doesn’t lie to us, repeatedly, shamelessly,
A president with the courage to not blame China for the enormous losses of life we’ve suffered and who not once has said he takes responsibility for any of it.
In his view, whatever he does, is a masterful move.
We need Biden because he’s committed to bringing women to the center of our political world,
Women, who in this land of the free, have not been elected to the presidency or vice presidency in 231 years, yet all the while they’ve been nurturing men, educating, strengthening, helping to guide us, inspiring and comforting us, and we have the gall to turn around and deny them the right to control their bodies and to not think they are fit to lead.
We need Biden because in bringing women to power, he opens the door for them to govern the nation for the next 50 consecutive years, at least, and so make it possible to have racial and gender equality in our land.
Men simply could not do the job and need to move aside and let women do it.
We need Biden to reach out to the president’s supporters and remind them that we must sit down and have a dialogue,
We need Biden, who will tell the president’s supporters that they are essential in the struggle to improve our nation,
We need Biden
To remind us of our true powers, and that this is not the time to step back from acting with concern for the plight of the downtrodden anywhere in the world, for their suffering is ours too. Embrace it and we will embrace our own, and as we do brighten the flame of hope that has always lived in our hearts and minds.
So, go Joe, go Kamala,
Fight for our land as you know how,
And let not the winds of hatred and envy blight our future
Oscar Valdes oscarvaldes.net oscarvaldes@widehumr
Harris Beats Pence
In last night’s debate, Kamala Harris attacked early and kept it up through the 90 minute exchange. She did it elegantly, firmly and with a smile for good measure.
The most consistent feature in Pence’s performance was his long windedness, repeatedly going over his time limit, causing the very polite lady moderator to keep insisting, ‘Please Mr Vice President, please,’ which Pence kept ignoring as if entitled to it, no doubt making sure that the audience knew that he would copy Mr Trump’s style, regardless of propriety.
It reminded me of the time Pence paid a visit to the Mayo Clinic some months ago. While escorted by a group of doctors who all wore masks, he chose not to.
Something about the Trump Pence administration and science. Oil and water.
‘Biden is raising your taxes!’ said Pence last night, as if he had found the magic words to bury his rival.
Harris calmly replied, looking straight into the camera, ‘Biden is raising taxes on people earning over 400 thousand.’
Pence again, ‘Biden is raising your taxes!’
‘Biden is raising taxes on people earning over 400 thousand.’ repeated Harris, unruffled.
In response to a question about fighting systemic racism in America, Harris gives a clear answer. Yes, the Biden administration was making it a high priority.
Pence replies, ‘There’s no systemic racism in the country…’
No systemic racism? Which country are you living in Mr Pence?
Harris was steady, confident, purposeful. The democratic side may not have all the answers but they are willing to work with the opposition to find them.
That is not what the Trump Pence administration has done and is the reason they have botched their chance at making a difference.
Harris had many salient moments, one of which was when she proudly defended the Obamacare health program’s coverage of people with preexisting conditions. Trump Pence have fought the program during their entire term, while offering nothing better in its place. But whatever they came up with, people with preexisting conditions would lose out.
So Harris made her point. ‘People with preexisting conditions? That is you (the viewer) they’re coming after, yes, you,’ she said with verve.
Whatever Pence said in reply was unforgettable except for his going over his speaking limit, finally prompting the very kind moderator to say, ‘Please Mr Vice President, we have agreed to rules to be able to hold this debate,’ or something to that effect.
Surely Trump was proud of him.
And so it is, folks. Twenty six days left before election day. One hundred and four till Biden Harris are inaugurated.
We’re making it happen. You and me. And if you can, watch the debates. It’s not the same to read about it. Writers have filters of their own. Please vote. And God bless America.
Oscar Valdes
Oscarvaldes.net
No More Stimulus! Until After I Get Elected.
Powell, the Federal Reserve Chairman whose monetary policy has played a crucial and salutary role in softening the economic effects of the pandemic, had said earlier that the absence of further fiscal assistance would severely slow the nation’s recovery.
Then yesterday, fresh from ‘deep’ introspective moments while hospitalized at Walter Reed Hospital for a few days, Trump rebuffed Powell, saying there would be no further fiscal aid until after the election.
The message is clear. Elect me and you’ll have the money.
It’s the message of a drowning man.
The message of a man who could not find a way to govern the nation, a man who has only 105 days left in the White House and only 27 days before he watches on his adored Fox News, that Biden/Harris beat him soundly.
Soundly. As in not by a thin margin.
Meanwhile, there will be privations and hardship for those who have lost jobs that are not coming back as the economy restructures.
But their troubles are not Trump’s concern.
Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, are mum about their leader’s whims. They’re hoping against hope that Trump will pull off another miracle. But it won’t happen. We’ve had it.
Twenty seven days from now, after the vote comes out in favor of Biden/Harris, these same lawmakers, no longer feeling bound to the president, will rush to stand up against him and join with the democrats to pass a delayed stimulus bill and so stave off a grim Christmas.
Trump’s decision to not move forward with the stimulus bill is petty. Manipulative. Cold.
He’s going down because of the cumulative weight of his poor decisions and doesn’t mind piling on yet another burden on people without jobs.
But people who will not have enough will remember. Remember Trump and his lawmakers.
Oscar Valdes
Oscarvaldes.net
PS: Trump, sinking as he is in the eyes of the nation, cannot resist the chance of seeing how the markets react to his decisions. It feeds his vanity. He will need to really feed it, though, because the election results will deliver much grief.
American Women. Moral Reconstruction in America. The Dawn of A New Era.
White American Women had been waiting a long time for the chance to be president and, suddenly, they’re having to queue up behind Harris. What happened?
The riots did.
Of course, they can look back on Hillary Clinton’s effort and find consolation there, saying that in the very first try by a white woman as presidential candidate for a major party, she won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.
That will have to do for now, though, since if all goes well, it will be Harris going up as party favorite once Biden chooses to step down (Yes, Biden will win the election, unless we’re insane)
To the credit of White American women, there has been widespread support for the Harris choice. That should give us men inspiration in the struggle against racism.
Come 2024, Kamala may end up being challenged for the presidential nomination by other women, as they are entitled to, but if she does a good job supporting Biden it will be a Democratic woman versus a Republican one in that presidential contest.
A man running on the Republican side would have a harder time beating Harris.
The problem of racism in our land is viewed by most of us as a critical matter. Addressing it fully cannot be postponed without additional damage to our moral fabric.
Obama projected an image of conciliation that has gone a long way to start the process of healing in our land but it now seems clear that it will be up to an African/Asian American woman to carry the task further.
Men are more conflicted than women on matters of dominance. They are more easily wounded by it and less forgiving.
This opens the way for women, of any color, to lead us for the next few decades until we resolve our racial differences.
Overall, the feminine psyche appears more likely to evoke forgiveness and understanding in the rest of us.
The fact that women had to struggle so hard to get out from under the oppression of men has much to do with it. It has helped them develop empathy.
So what do we have to lose?
Since inception we have been governed by men and we have not settled the racial issue. Imagine a Senate, supreme court or cabinet composed mainly of women?
It is time.
Are there qualified women today, in every field of endeavor, in politics, banking, science, medicine, etc.?
Yes. Resoundingly.
Well, we need to open the doors widely for them to enter politics and let them govern. And when it happens, it will be a gigantic step toward uniting the country.
We have great women leaders in the world now. Germany and Europe have benefitted enormously from the unique leadership Angela Merkel has provided. Her courage, wisdom and even handedness have set a standard to emulate. What other world leader has governed for as long as she has with such aplomb?
Sex alone won’t make for gifted leadership, but a combination of ability and sex may work wonders in challenging long held misconceptions about race that have stood in the way of our full evolution as a nation.
Oscar Valdes is the author of Psychiatrist for A Nation and other books. Available on Amazon.
Oscarvaldes.net
Oscar Valdes 