Letters to the Editor: If Joe Biden picks Karen Bass as his VP, L.A.'s major loss would be America's gain
To the editor: I've been around a long time, and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) is the most proactive congressional representative I've ever had. ("Biden faces pressure to pick a Black woman as his running mate. Who should it be?" Opinion, July 25)
She holds regular telephonic town hall meetings and conducts outreach in other ways. I believe that she would be a most worthy vice presidential choice for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
My only regret would be losing such a superb representative, but it would be all for the greater good.
Liz White, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Earl Ofari Hutchinson assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the Black candidates for vice president without any contrast to the strengths of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who may be the strongest candidate overall.
Warren has a strong middle-class background and a history of fighting for the working-class people of this country. Not only is she a fighter, she also wins battles, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau being the most prominent example.
She can consolidate the progressive support in the Democratic Party, and she is a sharp policy negotiator, whose skills will be needed to help shape President Biden's initiatives. She is likely to gain the strongest support from suburban college-educated white women.
The only liability with Warren is that the Republican governor of Massachusetts would replace her temporarily with a Republican, which could jeopardize a Democratic majority in the Senate.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) may be the strongest choice among the Black women candidates, but Warren is the overall best choice.
Roger Madison, Gahanna, Ohio
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To the editor: Trump and the GOP would bait Bass for her "softness on the Castros"? Gee, I guess "softness on Vladimir Putin" would be a handy retort for Bass — all the more reason to make her the running mate.
John Godges, Santa Monica
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To the editor: What I can't figure out is why Biden ever put himself into a corner by publicly saying he'd pick a woman as his running mate. I don't recall anyone forcing him to commit to that.
Biden should have simply said that he'd pick the best and most qualified person to be his vice president, no matter the race or gender.
But by boxing himself in with the gender card, and now with the race card too, he may turn more voters off than on.
Angela Collins, Long Beach
