Kamala Harris isn't 'electable'? It could be code for not being a white man

[DesertRat]

Sen. Kamala Harris’ supporters were thrilled by a poll out this week showing she’s in a virtual dead heat with former Vice President Joe Biden in California, but the Quinnipiac University survey also contained a more troubling message for Harris.

Many California Democrats surveyed thought Biden “had the best chance” of defeating President Trump. They also thought he would be “the best leader.”

The not-so-subtle message in the poll brought up one of the most overused terms in politics: “electability.” It’s a word that Harris’ advocates say is loaded with racial and gender stereotypes.

“This (poll) shows that too many people are believing the fiction of electability,” said Aimee Allison, an Oakland activist and founder of She the People, which focuses on issues affecting women of color. “That because Joe Biden is a white guy, he will be able to stand up to another white guy like Donald Trump.”

Ideas about which Democrat is electable have to do “with Donald Trump and the campaign he ran in 2016” against Hillary Clinton, said Jennifer Lawless, a University of Virginia political science professor who has studied the concept of gender bias in politics.

Some voters think the message of 2016 was “that to beat Donald Trump, you need someone who looks like Donald Trump and talks like Donald Trump — and is a straight shooter that Middle America feels comfortable with,” Lawless said.

But given studies that show that women and people of color win elections just as often as white men, Lawless said, “I don’t know if there’s any evidence that is true.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Kamala-Harris-isn-t-electable-It-could-14106805.php

[Wounded Bear]

1. I generally disregard all "electability" arguments...

Apparently it only applies to Dems, because the most inelectable candidate in history is squatting in the White House right now.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Yah right,

figured this crap would start about this time. State Caucus Training is about to start in many States. Figured this bullshit was about to flow out of some newsroom.

[mopinko]

3. it is code, and sadly,

folks even here are buying it.
strikes me that much of biden's support is predicated on this. the frantic nature of some of his supporters makes me go hmmm.

[Merlot]

4. When it comes to "electibility" it's to often defined by centrists and republicans

who are more than happy to keep the status quo firmly in place.

[DesertRat]

5. Agreed. nt

[lambchopp59]

6. I believe the debates will reveal an obvious winner,

Someone who can lay out Donald Trumps confabulations with concise, irrefutable logic?
That person is:

[Odoreida]

7. Whatever "electable" is code for in this particular case (I'm not saying you're wrong) ...

... in general it's a psychological warfare tactic. A form of indirection.

My favorite is Harris, but I do admit that the other Democratic Party candidates have some good points.

Let's not pick someone on the basis of who can be sold to the electorate as the emptiest empty suit.