I t was as if nice old Joe Biden was out on the street begging for votes when Kamala Harris walked by with a 50-pound handbag and slammed him on the head. He didn't recover immediately and might or might not make a comeback. The day was hers, a triumph for fraudulent bullying.
Back in the days of busy busing, I had friends who moved into a house they could barely afford in a well-to-do suburb near Louisville, Ky. The purpose was for their children to go to some of the most highly ranked schools in the area. Then they learned their kids would spend a long time every day going back and forth to schools among the lowest ranked in the area.
These people are not racists. They have spent years trying to help black people, but they did not like being ordered about by a federal government unconstitutionally deciding that skin color was basis enough to wreck their best laid plans for loved ones.
Busing didn't work. People moved out of cities where they were subject to its familial intrusions, and more and more sent their children to private schools. Just as Biden was sneakily portrayed as a racist, they were called racists, but surveys suggest otherwise. Largely because so many whites and blacks still live in different neighborhoods, schools are not well integrated, but all kinds of rescues, such as charter schools, have been devised. Going back to busing would mean our society had shamefully been fooled not just once, but twice.
Let's don't forget, in closing, how Harris objected to Biden negotiating with fellow senators who actually opposed him on many civil rights issues. Consider that talking and compromising with opponents was how one used to get things done in a democracy. Then consider Harris's promise to diminish the ideal as president by enacting gun control laws all by herself if Congress does not go along.
One debate is one debate, and who knows what will happen as the campaigning goes on, but while Biden did not shine, Harris cast clouds over herself.
Editorial on 07/05/2019