Kamala Harris is not an influential leader, and that may be her greatest strength

By: Simon Jenkins / The Guardian
Translation: Telegrafi.com

For the most powerful job in the world, Kamala Harris is now leading the race as the Democratic Party candidate. She seems very unqualified, though no more so than the two men she wants to be the heir to. Criticism of the failures of leaders brought about by American democracy has long been a European vice. Instead, it may be more helpful to suggest their potential strengths.

Harris is a 59-year-old lawyer from California and the daughter of immigrant academics – one Jamaican and the other Indian. Ambitious, she became the attorney general of her state and eventually a senator. She was the first black American woman and the first South Asian American to hold the office of vice president. While it seems likely that Trump's campaign will focus on its lines of attack on race and gender, Barack Obama's two election victories — despite the endless conspiracy theories that center on his legacy — suggest that this will not play out. necessarily role of the voter. And, the US is certainly ready for a woman in the White House.

Much has been made of her lack of accomplishments as vice president, but accomplishments are rare in that role. Biden first charged him with the poisoned chalice of the Mexican border crisis; her critics deliberately assert this. It was an insoluble problem. Domestic politics are also fraught with divisions over abortion and crime. At first Harris has been an outspoken activist. He wrote a conservative book about the second.

Harris's urgent task is to unite the fractured Democratic Party into a capable fighting machine, if not to stop Trump in his tracks, then at least to a Congress capable of thwarting his wildest ambitions. Different leadership skills are needed for this. In his challenging work, The myth of the strong leader, political scientist Archie Brown refuted the thesis that personalities who "dominate colleagues and concentrate decision-making in their own hands" are more charismatic and successful. Finding evidence on both sides of the Atlantic, he concluded that "collegial leadership," so often seen as a weakness, is actually a strength. He mentioned Eisenhower and Reagan in the USA and Attlee and Wilson in Britain.

In Britain, power derives from the leader's ability to act in harmony with the cabinet and parliamentary parties. Likewise, in the US it stands in the order of parties in Congress, in the negotiation of checks and balances. Leaders rarely win by towering over the institutions of government and bending them to their will.

Harris' strength must lie elsewhere, in supporting a united Democratic Party organization traumatized by the manner of Biden's exit. This institution now has great interest to gather around it. It has no constituency. It will need partners, supporters, allies and helpers, experienced team and talent. They should foster support in key states, promoting its strengths and minimizing its weaknesses.

Many past presidents have lacked the experience of high office, but this should not be a defect. Harris's demanding powers as a prosecutor and on Senate committees testify to her keen intelligence. A willingness to learn is often more useful than the belief that we have already learned. As long as Harris listens to the advice, she can win. Moreover, Americans desperate to avoid another Trump presidency now have no other option. They must help Harris to succeed. /Telegraph/