I first heard Kamala Harris speak at the Verizon Center for AIPAC in March of 2017. It was a rather intimate audience of me and 18,000 others. It was my first in – person with the new Senator from California. I was impressed. She held the attention of the audience for her 20-30 minute slot.
A few months later in September, Kamala Harris came to NE Ohio for Sherrod Brown. So I found myself in the backyard of a stranger’s home in Shaker Heights. As a Communication Coach, I see communication as a wheel with many different spokes. One spoke is speaking to 18,000 people but it is not the only spoke. Another spoke is speaking to a few hundred in a backyard with heat and food and bugs and the ability to hear, all posing challenges. For the record, questioning a candidate for the Supreme Court, running for president, and running as VP, are all DIFFERENT SPOKES on the communication wheel. I wanted to see how KAMALA did with the backyard spoke.
That September day in 2017 she chose to speak about the penal code. I remember it clearly because when she started, I wasn’t all that familiar with the term. By the end of her comments, I was crying over people I have never met. Not just a stray tear. It was the ugly cry.
When she was finished speaking Moshe asked me if I wanted to meet her. Normally I would have jumped at the chance. I was the recipient of the ugly cry; I could not now go and meet a U. S. Senator. So I decided to hastily exit and slink down the narrow drive to await valet parking. As I started down the narrow drive, Kamala Harris was coming toward me. I had nowhere to go. I prayed my sunglasses would cover the ugly cry. I stopped and met her and told her how inspirational her talk had been to me.
I am grateful for the many strong female VP candidates. Candidates overall remind me of the Goldilocks fairy tale: this one is too thin, and this one too fat, this one too tall and this one too small. Rarely do we find one that is just right.
I’M WITH HER. I have waited four years to say that again. #KAMALA
