In the days ahead, various instant experts on social media will second-guess Kamala Harris’s decision to pick Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate and fume that she didn’t choose Josh Shapiro. They’ll say that she blew the chance to lock down swing-state Pennsylvania, and that she caved to the lefty agitators who’ve denounced Shapiro’s criticisms of pro-Palestinian protesters.
Fine.
The time for grousing is now. Then it will behoove everyone to pull together, with all deliberate speed, and stick a fork in the fascist felon once and for all.
The first rule, when choosing a veep, is “Do No Harm.” Fairly or not, Shapiro had baggage. With the clock already ticking toward November, the Harris campaign didn’t want to spend precious energy on defense, defending him against the mud (“Genocide Josh,” etcetera) that’s been hurled his way. This is the time for forward action, not distraction. Shapiro will be stumping for the ticket non-stop anyway.
And here’s what forward action looks like:
Without missing a beat in the campaign messaging, Walz will bring to bear his vast experience and translate them into everyday language, especially while stumping in the crucial Rustbelt states, and certainly in the Pennsylvania “T” counties. He has the vibes to relate to rural and working-class voters, having grown up in rural Nebraska, serving for 24 years in the National Guard (including a deployment in Europe after 9/11), attaining the rank of command sergeant major, and earning three Army medals. He was a public school teacher in Nebraska and Minnesota. He was a football coach. Cast as “America’s dad,” he cancels the “elitist” Democratic stereotype.
Is he fit to be president in an emergency? Unlike the callow JD Vance (who’s been an elected official for all of 18 months, and who’d be decimated in an autumn debate), Walz served in Congress for 12 years (winning repeatedly in a rural Republican district) and has run Minnesota for the last five years, racking up the kind of policy wins that progressive Democrats covet: a child tax credit plan that’s designed to drastically cut child poverty; the safeguarding of reproductive rights; free universal school meals; paid family leave; legal protections for gay and transgender citizens; expanding background checks for gun purchases (despite being a hunter); a string of police reform measures (including restrictions on chokeholds) that he signed after Minneapolis police murdered George Floyd; and he capped the price of insulin three years before Joe Biden did it.
Meanwhile, the Trump propagandists are scrambling for a way to attack him. Tuesday morning they said he’s a “radical leftist” because – get this – he has “suggested stricter emissions for gas-powered cars.” They’ll need to do better than that. Matthew Dowd, a former pollster for George W. Bush, said it best this morning: “Walz fits so incredibly well to the voters Dems need. Progressives can win if they are aligned with voters’ everyday values. And Walz is.”
Most importantly, Walz can speak plainly and effectively about the grassroots concerns that animate most voters. And he’ll stick a shiv in the MAGA ticket when called upon, because, as we’ve seen already, Walz has cojones. He’s well suited to keep our eyes on the prize – a blue presidential election, and the final defeat of a sociopathic hate-fueled convicted criminal who’s been found liable for sexual abuse and financial fraud and whose criminal indictment for fomenting a violent coup is alive and well, coming soon to Washington courtroom.
Why did Kamala Harris pick Tim Walz? Because she wants to win.
Copyright 2024 Dick Polman, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes at DickPolman.net. Email him at [email protected]