The start of the election campaign of US Vice President Kamala Harris, who, after the withdrawal of the candidacy of President Joe Biden, is on her way to securing the support of the majority of delegates at the Democratic National Convention, is a central topic in the world press today. Western publications have commented that it would be "political suicide" for any member of the party to stand against her in the race for the contender's nomination for the November 5 election, while at the same time assessing her chances against the Republican candidate - former President Donald Trump.
"Political suicide": Will any democrat dare to stand against Kamala Harris?", asks the British newspaper "Independent" in a headline. It would be “political suicide” another Democrat to face Harris, who has moved quickly to bring Democratic convention delegates to her campaign for the White House after President Joe Biden withdrew his endorsement on Sunday, the paper said, calling the decision by the head of state to suspend his re-election campaign as "seismic". "In the hours after Biden's statement, Harris took advantage of the advantage he received and said that he accepts his support and will fight to defeat Trump, adds the "Independent".
The analyst from the American "Washington Post" Phil Bump compares on several points the chances of the current vice president of the United States against the former president of the country. The first of them is age.
"Almost immediately after President Biden announced his decision to step down, some of his more moderate supporters began developing a new line of attack against Republican nominee Trump. Can you ignore the fact how old this man really is?'' Bump wrote of Trump, 78, noting that the parallel with criticism of the age of 81-year-old Biden was "inevitable, but not misplaced.
Now Trump is going from the (relatively) young challenger to the (obviously) old one — even if the person he faces in November ends up not being the (relatively) grumpy Vice President Harris, the Washington Post analyst also notes. ;. Trump would now be competing against an opponent who is two decades younger than him — Harris is fifty-nine — and doesn't have the same propensity for missteps and ramblings, Bump noted, commenting that now the former president will be the one whose flexibility of mind will be appreciated.
If Kamala is the Democratic nominee, this year's election will mirror 2016 in terms of the gender distribution between the parties as well. Much of the opposition to the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, who ran against Trump eight years ago, was rooted in sexism, the Washington Post columnist points out, noting that it "will almost certainly be a factor in the opposition to Harris as well." .
"However, the landscape has changed. Harris has taken a leading role in the administration's efforts to protect abortion rights, whose Supreme Court overturn is directly attributable to Trump. For obvious reasons, many voters will find her more likable along those lines than the former president," concluded Bump, who said "one of the underrated aspects of American demographics is that younger Americans tend to be Asian, black, Hispanic or of mixed race" and accordingly with his Caribbean and South Asian genes, Harris epitomizes "increased diversity among US citizens".
Another American newspaper - "New York Times", highlighted the support that Kamala Harris received from former Speaker of the House of Representatives in the US Congress Nancy Pelosi - one of the most influential figures in the Democratic Party. "While Pelosi endorsed Harris yesterday, the two top Democrats in Congress, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries (Senate Majority and House Minority Leaders, respectively - ed.), were among the few who abstained, the publication notes , noting that Harris quickly rallied Democrats to her side.
Nicholas Nehamas and Katie Glueck write in the "New York Times" that Democrats are eager for the party's new presidential nominee to launch an attack on Trump on issues where she "fits in more naturally than Biden," such as for example, the right to abortion and the rule of law. "From the very beginning of President Biden's ill-fated re-election bid, Democrats tried to portray the race as a choice between two radically different visions, rather than a referendum on Biden's age and abilities," the New York Times authors point out.
However, now that he has stepped down and his vice president is headed for the nomination, her party sees new opportunities to direct the public's attention to former President Trump's vulnerability on key issues for voters, the publication adds. Democrats hope that the prosecutor by profession can offer voters a bright counterpoint and use arguments with which the eighty-one-year-old Biden has no touch, starting with age and reaching the importance of personality in politics, the publication believes.
The American "Wall Street Journal" notes the strong campaign start of Kamala Harris, who received the support of Democratic Party delegates from states such as Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee - "a strong showing that gives her an advantage over possible party challengers".
And according to the British in. "Guardian" Harris moved closer to the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday, largely thanks to Pelosi's support. "While Harris' nomination must still be formally confirmed by Democratic delegates at or before their national convention in Chicago next month, the “official, personal and political support” of Pelosi (as she herself stated), practically clears the way for the vice-president", the "Guardian" points out.
The support of the "highly influential Democratic veteran" gave a significant boost to Harris's campaign and dispelled doubts raised by the silence of some party elders (at least as of yesterday evening) that her nomination was not yet finalized, the British publication concluded.