Outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden himself called his Vice President, Kamala Harris, a pick focused on “diversity, equity and inclusion” just two months ago, which of course means Biden himself called Harris his DEI running mate.
In late May 2024, while Biden was still running for president, and prior to the debate with Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, in late June, Biden spoke alongside Harris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the speech, Biden explicitly referred to Harris as his DEI vice president.
“To me, the values of diversity, equality and inclusion are literally, no joke, core strengths of America,” Biden said in his speech. Transcript from the White House website“That’s why I’m proud to have built the most diverse administration in history, one that fully utilizes our nation’s talent. And it starts at the top, with the vice president.”
The fact that Biden himself touted Harris just two months ago as the epitome of the “most diverse administration in history” and someone who represents “the values of diversity, equality and inclusion” is significant because several of Harris’ allies now claim they are uncomfortable calling her the DEI vice president. But Harris did not dispute Biden’s assessment of her at the time. Only now, as Harris is the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer — less than 48 hours after Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday and now entrenched as the new Democratic presidential frontrunner — are some on the left taking issue with Biden’s own reference to her as vice president.
In fact, the only reason Harris was chosen as vice president was because she is a black woman. Democrats have long been proud of this, and in early 2020, then-House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) (now a veteran Democratic congressman from South Carolina who is no longer in the Democratic House leadership) made a deal with Biden to hand South Carolina’s votes to Biden, ensuring the 2020 Democratic nomination to Biden. The deal was that in exchange for Clyburn’s support, Biden would choose a black woman as his vice president. The deal was so well-known that those involved publicly bragged about it. Clyburn kept his deal, and Biden later kept his promise by choosing his former rival, Harris. Harris ran against Biden in the 2020 nomination race, but withdrew before the Iowa caucuses after her campaign fizzled under intense scrutiny.
many Established media and Several Democratic Party Republicans have called Harris a racist for claiming to be a DEI VP candidate, but it’s unclear whether those same people believe Joe Biden himself is a racist for saying the exact same thing Harris said in Philadelphia in late May. Only time will tell.
