Joe Biden announced has running mate section, which immediately set off rounds of speculation as to why he picked Harris over the other options. The most interesting thing about running mates is the reason the candidate picked them. Otherwise, they tend to be forgotten. Look through the list of Vice Presidents and you see some familiar names, but you see guys like Elbridge Gerry and Hannibal Hamlin. Both were prominent men of their age, but meaningless today.

The curious thing about the Biden choice is it does not fit the popular theories for running mate selection. The most popular reason for selecting a running mate is they help in their home state. We know the old Rust Belt states will be where the election is decided, so picking a brown senator from California does not help there. Harris also has a strong hate-whitey vibe to her, which tends not to go over well with the white working-class types in these states.

Then there is the fact that Harris as the charm of a DMV clerk. In fact, she reminds people of every trip to get their license renewed. She is sour and unpleasant, even when she is professional and efficient. There is a reason she could not draw flies during the primaries. She was so obnoxious in the debates she was forced to drop out before the Iowa caucus. If it were possible for people to cast negative votes, she would have been the first to poll less than zero percent.

Usually when a candidate picks a former opponent, it is someone with an actual constituency or maybe they complement the candidate. Al Gore was a good partner for Clinton, because of his squeaky-clean image. George Bush made sense for Reagan, as Bush represented the traitor wing of the GOP. In this case, Harris has no constituency and she highlights the many flaws of Joe Biden. The only people who liked her were the executives at Google, who were already onboard.

That is the most popular theory at this stage. Biden is not all there, so it is assumed the selection of Harris was as much of a surprise to him as the rest of us. Instead the decision was made by his handlers and it was decided he needed more support from the tech oligarchs. He had the financial oligarchs and Israel was okay with him, so the final piece of the puzzle was to get the blessing of Google. He now has the blessing of all the power centers that run America.

There’s also the theory that Harris is fully compromised, so she will be easy to manipulate by those dark forces everyone is sure exist. Her long career under Willie Brown, literally and figuratively, means she has a lot of skeletons. After the election, someone will put a pillow over Biden’s face and Harris will be installed as Google’s handpicked president. If Biden escapes the pillow, then she will be right there to make sure he follows instructions from Silicon Valley.

It’s possible that the tech oligarchs put pressure on the campaign, but those are the sorts of just-so narratives that appeal to the conspiratorial minded. The truth is, Warren would have brought plenty of tech money and support and she would have revved up the strong woman vote. Warren raised more money for Biden than anyone thus far, so she has strong support among the oligarchs. She’s also pretty good at getting under the skin of Donald Trump, something Biden does not do well.

The thing is, the process used to select running mates is well known. The staff starts with a wide pool of interested candidates. They poll all of them in various markets to gauge how they would do with voters. Then they quietly look into their backgrounds for the usual problems. Once they have the list down to a workable field, they get serious on the background checks and poll testing. Powerful party people are consulted on the options. Finally, the short-list interviews with the candidate.

In other words, all of the options put before Biden had the blessing of all the people that needed to bless the choice. The reason Harris was the choice rather than the governess of Michigan or the syrup lady from Georgia is Joe Biden liked Harris better than the other options. The most likely reason for that is she called him a racist, but was still willing to be his running mate. Biden picked the black looking woman who was willing to give him absolution for his white privilege.

It sounds nutty, but we live in a deranged age. This summer, the Left has been convulsing the country with demands that white people atone for their privilege and racism, so what better way than a ticket that reflects that sensibility? For people like Joe Biden, this is the national unity ticket. He is the symbol of the white people being pushed aside by the riot of non-whites. Harris is the symbol of the ascendant class of non-whites, ready to take over and forgive the old whites.

To most people, this does not register, but inside politics and inside the Progressive warrens, this is powerful magic. They really believe this stuff. An article of faith on the Left is that the sin of racism will only be cleansed from the nation when whites are no longer in charge of the country. The statue toppling and erasing of names from the history books are a symbolic spilling of blood to cleans our soul. Rather than human sacrifices, we are renaming celestial bodies.

For white liberals of Biden’s generation, race is the only salient issue. Most of these old Progressives came into politics because of the race issue. Those who came in for other reasons were soon bathing in the baptismal waters of race. They have spent their whole lives immersed in racial politics. They really do think racial justice is the key to their salvation. Biden was certainly hurt by Harris in the primary, so when she was eager to join the ticket, he felt like a man getting absolution.

This most likely means the narrative of the Biden-Harris campaign will be built around healing the nation’s soul. They will make the case that a vote for them is a vote to end the racial unrest. The peaceful and voluntary transfer of moral authority from the sinful whites of old America to the noble non-whites of new America will bring all of us into the valley of redemption. The salvation that was supposed to come with the election of Obama will instead come with the last breath of his running mate.

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