“California girls, we’re undeniable, fine, fresh, fierce, we got it on lock …”
– Lyrics from Katy Perry song, “California Gurls,” released in 2010. (Yes, gurls.)
“I wish they all could be California girls.”
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
– Refrain from Beach Boys’ song “California Girls,” released in 1965.
Ah, those iconic “California girls.” For decades in the entertainment/showbiz genre, they were the alluring subject of songs, movies, books and magazines (especially those magazines). But now, “the times they are a-changin’” – with formerly carefree, fun-loving “California girls” morphing into politically active, hashtag-obsessed, Trump-hating, angry “California women.”
With a reality TV star in the White House, political reality has become more entertaining than traditional showbiz. Therefore, it’s no surprise that three California women have starring roles in the current season of Washington’s theatre of the absurd – and entering from extreme stage left are House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Maxine Watters and Sen. Kamala Harris.
This powerful triumvirate poses both tremendous threats and outstanding opportunities for the Republican Party and President Trump, now and stretching into the 2020 election cycle. Let’s take a closer look.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
Represents: California’s 12th District, including San Francisco
First year in Congress: 1987
Born: March 26, 1940
The “back to the future” title “Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi” is the GOP’s strongest argument for keeping control of the House of Representatives.
Ultimately, the midterms will shape up as an angry cage match between Trump and Pelosi. Symbolically, as the two most polarizing names in polarized American politics, Trump and Pelosi need be the only names on November’s ballot.
Currently, Pelosi is the subject of a TV ad airing in western Pennsylvania’s Congressional District 18 for a March 13 special election. The race is between Democrat Connor Lamb and Republican state Rep. Rick Saccone in a district that Trump won by 20 points in 2016. Last week, it was reported that a GOP super PAC is spending $1.5 million on the first TV ad cleverly telling voters that if elected, Lamb will be one of Nancy Pelosi’s liberal “sheep.” (It’s irrelevant that Lamb has said, if elected, he won’t support Pelosi as leader.)
Throughout 2018 expect to hear a constant replay of Pelosi’s insensitive, tone-deaf gaffes — gifts to Republican ad makers.
For example, in a national TV ad selling GOP tax cuts and timed with Trump’s State of the Union address, the American Action Network, a Koch-funded group, used a string of Pelosi’s latest hits. Most egregious and widely reported was her referring to wage increases and $1,000 bonuses given to tens of thousands of workers by major companies taking advantage of Republican’s recent tax reform as “crumbs.”
Not only does anti-Pelosi furor offer Republicans hope for an otherwise bleak-looking November, but she also gives new meaning to the old refrain, “I wish they all could be California girls.”
Rep. Maxine Waters
Represents: California’s 43rd District, centered in South Los Angeles County
First year in Congress: 1991
Born: Aug. 15, 1938
Instead of continuously denigrating President Trump, Maxine Waters should thank him for breathing new life into her decades-old and somewhat lackluster congressional career. It was in early 2017 when Waters began attracting attention by promoting President Trump’s impeachment before his Inauguration Day. Then she famously boycotted Trump’s swearing-in ceremony and his first address before a joint session of Congress. Subsequently, she has become an impeachment media magnet, African-American folk hero and cause célèbre for Trump Derangement Syndrome.
On Tuesday night, Waters boycotted Trump’s first State of the Union address with her usual media fanfare. Then, on Wednesday night, after much hype, Waters gave herself “equal time” with a pre-recorded five-minute rant on BET. She not only vowed to continue her quest for impeachment, but leveled these cringe-worthy accusations against the president:
He is a dangerous, unprincipled, divisive and shameful racist. Trump often works to convince dissatisfied elements in our society that all of their problems are caused by people of color.
Leading up to the midterms, Waters will continue bathing in a never-ending stream of self-generated Trump impeachment blather or cement her status as an iconic national figure – depending on your point of view.
Either way, Republicans must give Waters credit as a California woman who understands the power and value of entertainment.
Sen. Kamala Harris
Represents: The state of California as the junior senator
First year in Senate: 2017
Born: Oct. 20, 1964
Talk about pressure from grandiose media expectations! On Jan. 15, 2015, almost two years before Harris was elected a U.S. senator, the Washington Post ran a profile piece under the headline “Is Kamala Harris the next Barack Obama?”
If Sen. Harris is to fulfill her pre-ordained headline destiny, then 2018 should be her break-out year. At the top of the unofficial Kamala Harris 2020 Facebook page is this prophetic statement about the evolution of the civil rights movement:
Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Barack could run. Barack ran so Kamala Harris can fly! [Ed. – Interesting that she saw a need to include her last name, presumably to distinguish herself from all the other Kamalas.]
And fly she is, crisscrossing the nation as a keynote speaker, raising money on behalf of midterm election candidates, collecting IOUs for 2020, all while upping her national media profile.
In the above referenced Washington Post piece, Harris was also called “the Democrats’ next big thing.” Today, that moniker is even more prescient in an era where long political resumes have ceased to be an asset on the road to the White House.
With the Democratic Party largely comprised of race and gender identity groups, the party is desperate – not only for leadership – but for its next presidential nominee to be either female, non-white and, or under age 70 – making Kamala Harris a winning trifecta.
Mirroring former President Obama, Harris is mixed-race – the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica. She is also intelligent and well-spoken. But most importantly, a woman who in 2020 could avenge the 2016 presidential loss of Hilary Clinton.
A national GOP political strategist told me he believes Harris will be the 2020 Democratic Party nominee because Obama will pull the levers behind the curtain to make it happen. Harris not only avenges Hillary’s loss but wins Obama his “third term.”
It has been written that Harris is copying “Obama’s playbook” by breaking out of the Senate freshman pack and making as much noise as possible.
In fact, last June, a conservative op-ed asked, “Is Kamala Harris the future of American politics?” That question was in response to Harris bullying senators at hearings and then fundraising off her antics.
And the answer was “We should hope not.”
Moreover, in a piece posted here about Harris’s performance at those same June 2017 hearings, I asked if Sen. Harris – then widely described as the new “fresh face” for Democrats – was a little too “fresh” to “play in Peoria” in 2020. But the GOP must not downplay the potential prospects of a Harris versus Trump general election bully match. Kamala Harris, cheered and fueled by the anti-Trump media, could ride a left-leaning pendulum swing away from Trump – just as Trump rode a right-leaning pendulum away from Obama.
By the late evening of Nov. 6, 2018, we will know if Pelosi won back her speaker’s gavel, if Waters will star in impeachment hearings, and, if Harris has positioned and branded herself as “the Democrat’s next big thing.”
In other words, if “California girls” are Nancy, Maxine, and Kamala, “California dreaming” has become a GOP nightmare.
Cross posted at WND
