How Kamala Harris Missed a Chance to Make History

By deciding not to pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris didn’t just miss a chance to lock up a must-win battleground state. She also missed a chance to make history.

Picking Shapiro would have made a historic statement about the aspirational greatness of both America and any political party. She would have confronted head on the dark and rising antisemitic wing of her own party with a brave and honest message that would have resonated everywhere:

“There is no place in America or in any party for the singling out of Jews for special animosity, as we’ve seen with Josh Shapiro. Josh’s views on Israel– including his support for a two-state solution— are no different than those of the other candidates, and are clearly in the mainstream of our party. And yet, he was singled out for ugly attacks, including calling him “Genocide Josh.” That is blatant antisemitism. We must do better.

“Jews have been at the forefront of building this great nation since our very birth. It’s unconscionable that 80 years after the Holocaust, they should feel a need to hide or downplay their Jewish identity in a free country. Like any minority group, they are entitled to equal and fair treatment. Using Israel and Zionism to assault and blacklist Jews is wrong and destructive. We can protest the war in Gaza and criticize Israeli policies without denigrating the Jewish right to a homeland or bullying Jewish college students. Our State Department has designated Hamas as a terror organization. I share that view. Hamas seeks Israel’s destruction, not peace.

“Today, I am proud to stand with two great Americans and two great Jews– my husband Doug and my choice of running mate, Josh Shapiro.

“Now on to victory!”

Would she have taken serious heat from the left wing of her party? Of course! That’s the whole point. Taking heat would have shown her courage; it would have shown that she’s no one’s puppet; it would have told her party and the world that she puts principle above politics.

This is not a critique of her choice of Tim Walz. He may indeed end up as the best choice. There were strong arguments in favor of all three finalists, including Shapiro.

But Walz was a risk-free choice. Picking Shapiro was anything but safe. For starters, it would have shaken the unity flowing through the party after the many weeks of gloom and divisiveness when the party was forced to replace President Joe Biden.

And yet, in politics as in life, there is value in risk. Risk is electric. It cuts through the fog of predictability. It shows character. It’s creative.

Everything about the Harris campaign right now is risk-free. The team running the campaign is keeping her away from any situation where she might stumble. There haven’t been media interviews or press conferences where she would need to answer tough questions. Just as Biden was insulated as the “basement candidate” in 2020, Harris is being insulated as the “teleprompter candidate” in 2024.

Do they really think they can do this indefinitely? My guess is they’re trying to milk the honeymoon period for as long as possible. So far, with the mainstream media brazenly cooperating, it seems to be working. At least until a debate happens, the Harris campaign is the perfectly coordinated campaign with the perfect optics and the perfect press. Clearly, they want to avoid the kind of verbal blunders from their blunder-prone candidate that will come back to haunt them on social media.

Avoiding blunders, however, is not a sign of greatness. Fearlessness is.

Picking Josh Shapiro would have been a bold and fearless move. Yes, it would have caused a major stir within the party, but Harris could have used that stir to make an epic statement for the history books; a statement not just good for the Jews but good for her party and her country.

How ironic that given how popular Shapiro is in Pennsylvania, he conceivably could have paved her way into the White House by delivering that indispensable state.

And then, maybe even the Jew haters inside her party would have been grateful for the genocide Jew.