Kamala's Gotta Hawk

If you're voting Trump, I don't have any new way to talk you out of it. And the following certainly won't change the mind of anyone planning to vote Harris (who I very strongly endorse). But I'm just sayin'...

Here's the problem: Harris will need to be the most hawkish, shock-and-awe leader in memory. She will make Donald Rumsfeld look like a vacillating wuss. Because she absolutely can't play into the stereotype.

That's why Hillary was so leathery, overcompensating so strenuously that it was likely counterproductive. Our first female president, and the next few after her, will need to be Thatcheresque steel-spined high-testosterone bad-asses. No action or incursion unreciprocated, no threat unrequited. Prepare yourself for a quite a ride, foreign-policy wise.

I know black people (not just on Curb Your Enthusiasm) who will not eat watermelon in front of white people. I totally get it (and sympathize, because watermelon, as we all know, is delicious). Likewise, I decline to best anyone in a financial transaction. I'm allergic to it. "Clockwork-Oranged" out of it. I just willingly added 15€ back to an eBay purchase after the seller wearily dropped his price by 40€ to oblige me ("That's my final offer!" I proclaimed, confusing the bejesus out of the guy). And, as an American immigrant to Portugal, I once sat in a doctor's waiting room for three uncomplaining hours waiting for my name to be called, constitutionally unwilling to imperiously nag the receptionist (when I finally inquired, and the receptionist got sniffy, the other patients were so indignant on my behalf that they began translating and advocating for me, en masse; I never saw so many English-speaking Portuguese!).

It's an indelible aspect of minority status to fight against the damned clichés. So I hope we quickly get on with electing three or four more women presidents so it becomes less of an issue, and one can eventually rule with a softly judicious touch without looking "womanly".