Vibrant Kamala Harris is Biden her time to bypass slow Joe
HE’S an honourable and decent man but I can’t help thinking Joe Biden is like one of those “seat fillers” used during the Oscars to give the impression of a full house when the A-listers pop to the loo.
Let’s face it, when the dust has settled and the lawyers have become richer and fatter, Joe is just keeping that seat warm for the real star of the show, his potential Vice President Kamala Harris.
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She’s incredibly intelligent and charismatic, but above all young and full of energy and passion.
This is in stark contrast to the two old white blokes who slugged it out for the White House in one of the most bad tempered and divisive elections we’ve ever witnessed.
Trump is a sore loser and currently indulging in a series of temper tantrums that are both embarrassing and dangerous.
Any hopes he would somehow become statesman- like and behave with dignity have evaporated.
As I write this, it’s looking highly likely Biden will become the next President at the age of 78, and although he has tried valiantly to exude vim and vitality, there have been times during this exhausting campaign he has seemed even older.
Nowhere was this more apparent than when he was campaigning with former president Barack Obama.
In probably the coolest moment of any campaign, Obama picked up a basketball on his way out of a school gym and made a perfect shot.
Poor old Joe shuffling behind the virile ex President looked frailer than usual.
Even if he serves a full term, Joe would be 82 at the next election in 2024, and there’s no way he would be able to go back out on the campaign trail.
So step forward Kamala, who could well be handed the keys to the White House sooner, rather than later.
If Joe wins, but then finds the heavy responsibility and burden of being President impossible and threatening his health, he could step back in favour of his 56-year-old Vice President, who is a mere stripling in comparison.
She would not only be the first female President, but also the first person of both African-American and Indian-American heritage, with a Jamaican dad and a mum from Chennai (formerly Madras) in India.
Of course, catapulting Kamala into the Oval Office would not go down well with swathes of white, middle- Americans where Trump had his heartland.
They are angry, armed and dangerous and need to be calmed and reassured.
The Byzantine US election process means that even if Trump loses, he can stay in the White House until January, and if he wants to leave any sort of lasting legacy and not be dismissed as a nightmarish blip, we must pray he doesn’t abuse those limited powers to continue to add fuel to the fire.
Otherwise it will be an utter disaster for America and could escalate into more ugly scenes of violence.
A responsible adult needs to take his phone away to prevent any more incendiary tweeting and put a stop to those speeches full of bile and lies.
Maybe his daughter Ivanka could talk some sense into her father, because his henchmen and Yes men simply don’t have the balls.
Meanwhile, and most probably in the not too distant future, Kamala’s biggest task would be to somehow try to heal the divisions in the fractured and dis-United States of America.
That’s not going to be easy, but I reckon the vast majority of Americans have simply had enough of the grandstanding, game-playing and toxic posturing that defined the Trump years and just want the chance of a secure job, a decent standard of living and being able to feed their kids.
They don’t want to live in constant fear of Covid-19 or in terror of civil unrest.
Kamala would have to surround herself with experienced statesmen, with Joe Biden and Barack Obama in particular giving wise counsel, but also enlist and encourage a new generation of democrats.
She needs to bring back hope and gravitas to a White House that is looking decidedly grubby round the edges. I hope she gets the chance.
A real insult
TWEETING about the US election, tone-deaf Amanda Knox bleated: “Whatever happens in the next four years can’t be as bad as that four-year study abroad I did in Italy, right?”
She was, of course, referring to the four years she spent in a prison cell there after being convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in 2007.
Knox was acquitted in 2015 and went on to write a book and, weirdly, became something of a minor celeb.
I suggest she keeps her sick attempts at humour to herself, out of respect to Meredith’s devastated family.
Hail the movie movers
I HAVE wine, crisps and chocolate at the ready for watching Strictly tonight – and we are in for a showstopper.
It’s Movie Week, when the costume and make-up teams and the set designers can go to town, even in these days of lockdown.
I can’t wait to see what our Ranvir Singh comes up with this week dancing the foxtrot to a number from the film Dreamgirls.
Nicola Adams and Katya Jones have opted for Greased Lightnin’, from Grease.
And my lovely pal Luba Mushtuk and her dancing partner, former American Football player Jason Bell, are doing a paso doble to the Star Wars theme, complete with lightsabers.
As Yoda would say: “Joyful to watch, they will be.”
Gwyn's bigger than the Beadles
ONE day Gwyneth Paltrow is going to take off her mask and reveal she has been carrying on the work of TV show Candid Camera, or the late prankster Jeremy Beadle – and that she is nothing more than a practical joker.
How else do you explain her utterly bonkers list of Christmas presents on her demented website?
It features a lamp made out of bread and continues her fascination with her noonie – by offering up a vulva colouring book, a vagina-scented candle and a steam cleaner for one’s entire nether regions.
None of it comes cheap, even just one roll of “sustainable” bog paper will set you back £26.
It’s like that old Harry Enfield sketch where he ran a shop full of old tat in an achingly trendy part of London that he would sell to gullible posh people for fortunes.
Harry, Jeremy Beadle and the Candid Camera gang were playing it for laughs.
Surely Gwyneth is doing the same thing.
Norton's novel
GRAHAM NORTON has written a real page-turner, with the kind of warmth and magical storytelling that puts me in mind of the late, great Maeve Binchy.
His latest novel, Home Stretch, is about family, secrets, love, misunderstandings and acceptance.
It’s the chat show maestro’s third offering and his best to date.
He’s matured into a writer of real strength and talent.
I’m looking forward to the next one already.
Care home common sense, please
WE need to bring some common sense into the emotional and upsetting rows and rules over care homes.
It was ridiculous to have the police involved when a desperate daughter wanted to take her elderly mum out of one and back with her to be looked after.
The police officers showed compassion but should never have been put in this situation in the first place.
Nurse Ylenia Angeli, who is in her seventies, ended up being arrested for wanting to take her 97-year-old mum Tina home.
It was heartbreaking to see the bewildered elderly lady clearly distressed while her daughter was put into a police car.
I feel so sorry for both Ylenia and Tina. We know care home staff have been incredible, with many of them even opting to stay with residents and not go home to their own families to keep them safe, but the rules are very hard for relatives who want to visit.
Social distancing, Perspex dividers, peering through windows and being unable to hug each other are all taking a toll.
Ylenia was “de-arrested” and freed, but how many others would love to bring their elderly relatives home, especially as we head towards Christmas?
There has to be a better way.
Real heroes we all respect
I WAS delighted to see Democrat and former astronaut Mark Kelly win his race to the US senate in Arizona, a seat previously held by the late John McCain.
Mark is married to Gabrielle Giffords, a former congresswoman who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.
She was shot in the head by a 22-year-old gunman who killed six people during an event in Tucson, Arizona, where Gabrielle was meeting her constituents.
She made an astonishing recovery and was able to see her husband command the space shuttle Endeavour a few years later.
I happen to think astronauts make the best possible political leaders.
They are extremely bright, brave and tenacious.
They never lose their cool in a crisis and are trained to act quickly to solve problems before they become life-threatening.
Even more invaluable and relevant, they have viewed our beautiful planet floating in space and realised the Earth’s vulnerability, as well as the fact there are no visible borders and we are all in this together.
That gives them a unique perspective on the world and an appreciation that life is precious.
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Every astronaut I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with becomes fiercely protective of their planet and having them in charge would mean cool heads, faultless logic and forward thinking.
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I would love to see Mark Kelly in a position of power in the White House, and how about our own Tim Peake as our PM?
Can you imagine having a proper hero that you could look up to and admire as our leader, while at the same time knowing they have a sense of responsibility and decency?
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