I’ve often assumed Harris didn’t want to insult her boss by going against him, because I got the impression she was planning to give Netanyahu what for once she took over - especially with him escalating things further and further. Did anyone else get that vibe, or was it just wishful thinking on my part?
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By that logic nobody would be allowed to run on foreign policy.
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They really aren’t negotiating an end to the conflict though. That’s the problem. Biden wasn’t seriously trying to end the conflict, as he isn’t using to use a single ounce of US leverage to force Israel to the table. The Gazans are being massacred; they have plenty of incentive to come to the table and negotiate in good faith. The Israelis currently have zero incentive. Their territory is expanding while their adversaries are being exterminated; they’re doing great by this conflict. Israel has zero reason to come to the table, and the talks are just stall tactics and charades.
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She didn’t have to condemn him, she could have just said “I feel we should be doing more and take a firmer stance saying that genocide is not ok”. Something as simple as that would have rallied a lot of the Arabs to her side.
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The problem with it is that it was more or less the same thing Biden said and it’s been abundantly clear Biden does not care for a ceasefire. The Arabs wanted more than that. They wanted her to admit that what Israel was doing in Gaza and Lebanon was wrong. They wanted her to say that she would take a firmer stance than Biden would on Israel. They didnt want her to say that she supports Israels right to defend itself, or for Tim Walz to say he supports Israels right to expand its borders, or even to campaign with Liz Cheney. The icing on the cake was Bill Clintons very stupid attempt to justify Israels killing of civilians a day or two before the election. What she said clearly wasn’t enough and she repeatedly ignored them as well as the DNC actively trying to silence them.
I believe she did end up taking a slightly firmer stance a few days before the election, which is likely due to her not polling so well. I’m not sure if your quote is from that time or from before. But I think a lot of Arabs saw it as “too little, too late” kind of thing.
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I thought the same as well, for a time at least. I’m not sure if it was just me being hopeful or what. I got the impression that she was slightly more sympathetic to the whole situation than Biden was for sure though. That being said, I definitely think her stance hurt her more than helped her. There’s polls saying she would have won a lot of votes in several swing states if she changed her stance. And we know that the war was unpopular with majority of Americans, especially Democrats. My guess is that lobbying money seemed to good to pass up. It’s shitty that the world has to deal with a fascist wanna-be dictator because of these kinds of stupid situations and decisions.
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This is complete nonsense. The vice president isn’t duty bound to never contradict the president, especially when running to succeed him. When a boss orders you to do something that’s wrong, you can say no, particularly when you don’t need the job anymore and are already applying for a better one.
Harris didn’t say more on Gaza because she didn’t want to, whether due to personal beliefs or because she for some reason thought it was a better electoral stance, not because of all-powerful orders from Joe Biden.
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