Kamala Harris was the Only Reason I Watched the Vice-Presidential Debate
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We didn’t learn anything new.
After the presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, we all needed a shot of normalcy or just a shot. When the fiasco CNN’s Jake Tapper called a “hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck” ended, we had no more clarity than what we started with. So, the least we all could expect from the vice-presidential debate of 2020 was two adults having a conversation, which we got.
We also got Kamala Harris, the first woman of color to debate as a major candidate on the national stage. Since I am living in a dark history unfolding, this is the light I needed to see.
Of course, we still didn’t learn anything new about the candidates’ policies.
A lackluster circus
I normally don’t watch debates or political speeches because I don’t feel like I’ve learned anything when I do. I’m only paying more attention now because, as a history buff, I want to be present as it happens around me.
It’s not like I enjoy watching ringmaster politicians. Even after watching the grown-up in The White House, Mike Pence and the force that is Kamala Harris, I felt meh, overall.
Still, I felt represented on a platform that I never realized that someone with a similar cultural background could be a part of.
Harris’s highlights
Harris came out swinging from the first question about the pandemic. She called the Trump administration coronavirus virus response, “the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country.” She immediately backed up her statements with facts. Real ones, too.
She would not allow Pence to talk over her. She smiled and kept talking. Never losing her cool, she only said, “I’m speaking.”
While remaining calm, Kamala Harris brought the brown woman side-eye to the many times she was interrupted or mansplained. One Twitter user asked, “Can we make this a universal meme for responding to mansplaining?”
