Political Siblings: Barack Obama And Kamala Harris Are More Alike Than Different
After Kamala Harris signed on to be Joe Biden’s running mate, many started thinking how similar the California senator is to Biden’s former boss, former president Barack Obama. Sure, both have been in politics for a while and have set historical precedents. Obama as the first Black president of the United States and Harris as the first Indian-American and first Black woman to be nominated for vice president on a major party ticket.
Even so, looking beyond policy and Party alliances, there’s a lot more to the comparison than what meets the eye. Here are a few similarities that are worth noting.
They Are Both Lawyers For The People
Obama began his experience in law early. He was the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review and in 1992 he accepted a position as an attorney with the civil rights law firm of Miner, Barnhill and Galland. Four years later, Obama launched his first campaign for political office as his district’s state senator.
Harris, meanwhile, graduated from the University of California, Hastings with a law degree and began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. In 2003, she became the District Attorney of the City and County of San Francisco. After completing two terms as San Francisco's DA, Harris was elected as the first African-American and woman to serve as California's Attorney General.
Their Mothers Remain Sources of Inspiration And Strength
Barack Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, passed away in 1995 when she was just 54 years old and the former president was in his early 30s. He described Dunham as "the dominant figure in my formative years” and said “the values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics." Harris, similarly, lost her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, in 2009 who died at the age of 70. Harris has said of her mom: “She’d tell us, ‘Don’t just sit around and complain about things. Do something.’” And in her acceptance speech tonight, Harris says, “[I am] committed to the values she [my mother] taught me, to the word that teaches me to walk by faith, and not by sight, and to a vision passed on through generations of Americans—one that Joe Biden shares.”
They Both Have A Mixed-Race Background
Barack Obama is the son of Ann Dunham, a white woman, Barack Obama Sr., a Black man from Kenya. Kamala Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father, Donald Harris, and Indian mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris. Their mixed race backgrounds have been the fodder for birther accusations from Trump supporters, but both Obama and Harris mirror the growing diversity of the country.
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