Will Kamala be progressive or centrist?

 So, there seems to be a very wide coalition coming together around Kamala ranging from die hard centrists and corporate dems to former Bernie supporters like me. And it seems like we're all kind of injecting our own politics into what we think the Harris administration will look like. Some dude on CNBC was going on about how she might be "great for wall street", but then I think she has the potential to be progressive, and based on her past experience as senator, she WAS progressive. She did embrace policies like a green new deal, and medicare for all lite, and free college with some student debt forgiveness, and I honestly respect that. But at the same time, a lot of centrists who soured on Biden's relatively progressive streak think she could be a return to form for them.

What direction will she go in? We don't really know. Right now she kinda seems to be hitting some progressive notes, but I do have to consider that the centrists are trying to circle the wagons and salivate over her administration. And if they had their way, they'd pressure her into being a pro corporate dem.

This is, btw, why in 2020, I didn't like her. Because as long as we had someone like Bernie who we KNEW couldn't be bought, why would we ever settle for Harris? She might be good, but she might merely fake left and run right after the election. That's why I created the "dedication to progressive goals" metric in my main purity test.

Well, here's the thing, in 2024, the stakes are higher if we lose IMO, with trump being an outright threat to democracy, and the standards are lower. Harris is looking good right now, and I'd rather it be her than some full blown centrist who we KNOW is gonna be centrist and won't even be a HINT of progressive. So Harris is the pragmatic option to try to leverage the country left. My own personal mental model is gonna be "basically Joe Biden, but slightly more progressive on some key issues" based on past stances taken in congress. Again, I'm trying to go by her actual congressional record here. And there, she hasn't been half bad. So, she has A RECORD of being relatively progressive. But yeah, i do know the centrists are gonna try to work their way into her administration and push her right, just as I hope the voters push her left. 

And yeah, we don't know where this will end up. This could be Obama all over again, where campaign it's hope and change, and in office, it's Bill Clinton 2.0. We don't know. But what other choice do we have right now? We're kinda between a rock and a hard place. I just hope Kamala herself is strong enough willed to do the right thing and AT LEAST be as progressive as Joe was, if not better.