Kamala finally emerges from Joe's shadow

The departure of Ballina’s most famous son, Joe Biden, from the US presidential race has opened up the opportunity for a woman to become the first-ever female President of the United States of America. The fact that Kamala Harris is a woman of colour adds a further intriguing dimension to the choice facing voters. Trump versus Harris. Harris versus Trump. Take your pick and live with the consequences.

Joe Biden was forced by the Democratic Party faithful to fall on his sword… if that’s not a contradiction in terms or even an out-and-out oxymoron. Biden was undoubtedly a genuine American patriot. He was a decent man who sought to do his best by the American people. He was hard-working and did his best to bring a divided country together. In that endeavour to bring unity, he failed. With Donald Trump around he was never going to win.

He also failed miserably to persuade his Israeli allies to stop the genocide in Gaza. He continued to supply the weapons of death to the Israeli Attack Forces. He contributed generously to the Israeli war effort and the deaths of over 40,000 Palestinians. I don’t know why and can’t understand what it is about American foreign policy that it can turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed in Gaza. The fact that the US can point the finger at Iran, a supporter of Palestine, as a danger to world peace is hardly a valid excuse. The US, with its allies, could wipe Iran off the map as easily as it did Saddam Hussein with his weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But, for some strange reason, it can’t rein in Israel.

It would say something for the US and its people if the decision to oust Biden from the presidential race had to do with his failure to bring about a ceasefire in the Gaza war. But no. The decision by the Democratic Party to oust Biden was purely and simply down to their conviction that Biden was not a winning ticket. His performance in the televised debate with Trump sounded his death knell. It was a sad way for a decent man to end a solid political career. But that’s politics and now it is all about Kamala.

Kamala did not exactly set the world on fire in four years as VP. I would find it difficult to come up with any single contribution to US or world affairs that Kamala was responsible for. But, she has a valid excuse. As Vice President, she lives in the shadow of the President and a sensible VP does not outshine the Boss.

And she was in no way slow to take the stage once her Boss announced that he was standing down. She was out of the blocks running and before any other potential challenger might show his or her hand, Kamala had the nomination sewn up. The Democratic Party convention was a foregone conclusion and, reluctant or otherwise, the party's big guns were lined up to celebrate their new candidate and her running mate, a previously unheard-of Tim Walz. Walz n Kamala. That could be set to music.

You would have to feel a smidgin of sympathy for poor old Donald. He would not be my favourite person and I don’t think that, if I had a vote, I could give it to him. Listening to the nonsense that qualifies as political nous coming from America, Tim Walz has gained considerable notoriety by coming up with the sobriquet “weird” to describe Trump. Weird? Jesus, even I could come up with something more exhilarating than that.

Trump does not get fair coverage in the Irish newspapers or on RTÉ. That probably does not worry him, but it should worry us because we rely on our media to provide us with a balanced view of the US presidential race. We are told about all of Mr Trump’s financial woes and his poor business acumen. But if you are not tuned into Irish business stories you would not become aware of the financial success of the Trump Doonbeg Resort where profits are up something like 50% this year. That sounds like a business success to me.

We had, recently, a snippet on RTÉ showing Trump welcoming Kamal Harris to the Presidential race. He referred to Ms Harris as a good-looking woman (which she is, but we are supposed not to say such things for fear of being sexist) and then went on to opine that “she was not as good looking” as himself. Clearly, he was having a bit of fun at Kamala’s expense (or perhaps his own) for the benefit of his audience. I thought it was pretty hilarious myself but RTÉ does not allow hilarity. Everything Trump says is serious and so is Kilnaskully.

I know some US citizens, not very many, but sensible people, some working people and some business people, who believe in Donald Trump. Not in everything he stands for but in his economic policies which they say benefit them. It may be a selfish reason to vote for Trump but, when we have an election here, don’t we give consideration to who will put something in our pockets?

I hope the weather stays fair for Kamala Harris and that the muck-rakers don’t find too much to throw at her between now and November. It would be good, I think, to have a woman president in the US.

Here, we have, in recent times lost some women who have made a considerable contribution to literature and journalism. It seems to me we tend to lionise and exaggerate the contribution of our writers and especially journalists but in the case of Edna O’Brien and Nell McCafferty, there is no need for exaggeration.

Both were giants in their own way. Edna O’Brien’s finest work was her first book The Country Girls, part of a trilogy, published in 1960. The fact that it was banned here because of its fairly explicit dealing with sex in a rural Irish context, drawing out Justice Minister, Charlie Haughey, no doubt encouraged by Dublin’s archbishop Charles McQuaid, to describe it as filth, would have contributed considerably to its popularity and the fame of its author.

O’Brien earned a reputation as a novelist, playwright, poet and short story writer and was a prolific writer. She became a celebrity long before celebrity came to mean what it is today. She was a genuine celebrity who did not require a Facebook following.

Nell McCafferty broke new ground as a journalist on the meanest of beats - the district courts. She took little interest in the fines imposed by the courts but sought an understanding of the lives and backgrounds of the miscreants. Her work showed how the law often discriminated between those who could afford a solicitor and those left to fend for themselves. The application of the law, very often, differed from the application of justice.

Nell was, well, Nell. She was not everyone’s cup of tea but she was herself and was at her best when she was taking the mickey out of those, especially men, who acted even a little above their station. She was a feminist when it was the thing to be, though she gave the impression she never took her feminist credentials very seriously. She had a wicked sense of humour and she will be missed.

Come on Kamala.

Thought for the Day 

The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.