Kamala Harris

This book was written in 2019 before Kamala Harris was tapped to be Joe Biden's running mate for the 2020 federal US election. But she was, obviously, thinking of that election because much of the book deals with what she sees as her accomplishments both as a prosecutor and as a senator. She did run for the Democratic presidential nominee race but withdrew and announced her support for Joe Biden. If she ever does ascend to the office of President, judging by this book, she would do an admirable job.

Throughout the book Harris mentions her mother, breast cancer researcher Shyamala Gopalan, as raising her to be strong, independent and principled. Kamala and her sister Maya were raised by their mother from the time Kamala started school because their mother and father separated. (Although she doesn't mention it in the book her mother took a position in Montreal when Kamala was twelve and she lived there until she graduated from high school in 1981.) After graduating with a law degree Harris took a position in the Alameda County District Attorney's office. Positions as Assistant District Attorney, DA, and California Attorney General gave her the opportunity to develop programs to curb recidivism,truancy and the death penalty. Coming to the AG's office in 2011 just after the 2010 subprime mortgage crisis, Harris devoted much time and effort to investigating and prosecuting banks for fraud, coercion and abuse. She was also a proponant of gay rights and campaigned against a proposition in California that restricted marriage to between people of opposite sexes. There were other meaningful initiatives taken under her leadership but she always credits the members of her teams for assistance. She ran for Senate from California in 2016 and won but tells how the celebration of that victory was diminished by Trump's win of the presidency. For the next four years she was quite the thorn in the side of the Trump administration. It is unfortunate that she was unable to stop the niminations of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court but she certainly did her best. She also opposed other Trump nominations to high government roles. Now that she is Vice-President, the first female vice-president and the first African-American and Asian-American vice-president as well, she must have considerable influence on what appointments Joe Biden makes.

I hope I live to see the day that a woman becomes President of the United States. Maybe it will be Kamala Harris!… (más)