Dear Vice President Harris

By Michael Posner

© Great Untold Stories Inc.

I know you have a lot on your plate these days. No doubt you’re preparing for the debate next week against your Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

It may well be decisive.

More broadly, you’re struggling to distance yourself from the Biden administration’s various disasters (the Afghan withdrawal and the immigration debacle on the southern border), while simultaneously trying to claim credit for its signal achievements — the nation’s economic growth, the infrastructure bill, and strengthening military alliances in Asia.

On the campaign trail, you’re engaged in a delicate balancing act, assiduously courting Muslim-American voters, particularly in swing states, without alienating the country’s Jewish communities, which traditionally have supported the Democratic Party. Good luck with that.

But bear with me. I only need a few minutes of your time. And what I have to say, I humbly submit, will make you the first woman president of the United States of America.

The first step Is simple. Get your pal, George Clooney, on the phone, and ask him to pony up ten percent of his next $30-million acting fee. George is a sweetheart. And he can afford it.

With George’s pocket money, approach the major TV networks — including Fox — and book a 15-minute prime-time address. Then, deliver the following speech. I hope you don’t mind; I took the liberty of providing a draft.

Have a read and, when you’re done, I’ll explain why I think it’s your ticket to the Oval Office….

Good evening, my fellow Americans.

It’s time for a serious heart-to-heart talk.

For far too long, the United States has been tiptoeing around international conflicts like a frightened old woman.

I’m a woman, and I’m no longer young — though I’m not nearly as old as what’s his name — but I’m not frightened. Far from it.

And nor should we be.

America is the strongest country in the world. We need to start reminding a few people of that fact. We need to stop being a pussy.

Let’s start with Russia.

If elected, I will allow Vladimir Putin one week to withdraw his forces from the Donbas, the Crimea, and every other part of Ukraine that they now occupy.

The territorial integrity of the Ukrainian nation must be restored.

When it is, Russia must agree to underwrite the entire cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction.

If Mr. Putin fails to comply, the United States will authorize immediate delivery of our most sophisticated offensive and defensive weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces.

It will further permit Ukrainian pilots, with American and other NATO protection, to bomb every Russian military base, oil field and major industrial site, from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg.

President Putin’s fantasies of empire have laid siege to the international order. It must and will be restored. Mr. Putin himself, if he survives, will be tried for war crimes in the International Court of Justice.

Enough is enough.

Turning to the Middle East, let me be equally direct. Although a two-state solution to the long Arab-Israeli conflict remains the desired objective, no one believes it can happen any time soon.

No one in Jerusalem. No one in Ramallah. No one in Cairo. No one in Washington.

We talk about it. We pay lip service to it. We don’t really mean it.

Yes, many ordinary Palestinians may want it. Many Israelis, too.

Unfortunately, the Palestinian people are hostage to a leadership that has yet to come to terms with the very existence of the state of Israel.

Not one of them, not Yasir Arafat, not Mahmoud Abbas, has ever endorsed the two-state solution.

That is why they have repeatedly rejected generous offers to partition the land. Rejected in 1937. Rejected in 1947. Rejected in 1967. Rejected in 2000. Rejected in 2008.

That last offer — not incidentally —  would have ceded control of the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, to the Palestinians.

Let me be clear. The Israelis are very reluctant to see another Arab state created on their border.

They are deeply skeptical that it will not quickly become another Iranian-sponsored terror base.

But they have been and remain willing to compromise.

There is no such flexibility on the Palestinian side.

Unless and until that changes, until the Palestinian leadership recognizes, and states without caveat or equivocation that Israel is here to stay, the dream of Palestinian self-determination, let alone statehood, will remain just that — a dream.

And that change cannot be imposed by America — or by anyone else. It must emerge organically, if at all, from within Palestinian society.

As for Gaza, let me concede that President Biden and I have had our differences with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

But these pertain largely to tactics, not strategy.

About the fundamental issues, he is correct. It is imperative that the remaining hostages, alive or dead, be returned to Israel, and no less imperative that Hamas be stripped of its military and governing capacity, and not permitted to reconstitute itself.

It is obviously true that no one can destroy an idea. The pernicious ideology of Hamas will continue to have adherents.

So does Nazism, even today.

What can be destroyed is the ability to act on those genocidal impulses.

When the war ends, I will work with all our allies and partners in the region to rebuild and restore Gaza.

But Israel faces other enemies. War is simmering with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, various jihadist cells on the West Bank, in Syria and Iraq, and ultimately with Iran.

Let me speak directly to the Iranian government, the master puppeteer. The United States of America will not allow you to win. We will not allow you to develop a nuclear weapon with which to attack the state of Israel, or intimidate other countries in the region.

We have the ability to destroy the foundation of the Iranian economy — oil. And make no mistake. If you continue to pursue these goals, we will use that power.

Friends, we cannot continue to do business as usual. The world is a dangerous place. It will remain a dangerous place.

But America is a beacon of light and liberty in that world, and we can no longer afford to turn our backs on those who threaten global stability.

I know my candour tonight may surprise some of you. But you are entitled to nothing less. You are entitled to know who I am and what I believe.

This is where I stand, and I make no apology.

Thank you, and God bless America.

…

Madam Vice President, I know that staking these positions constitutes a new version of Kamala Harris.

But it’s what you need to do. In the first instance, it will put light years between you and the Biden administration you served so loyally.

Because — let’s be honest — your nomination was an accident of history, the result of a bloodless coup, brilliantly orchestrated by Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.

After all, when you ran for president, in 2016, your performance was nothing to kvell over. This year, you didn’t win a single primary vote.

Even now, with the media’s full-throttle efforts to portray you as a combination of Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa and Joan of Arc, nobody in America really knows very much about you.

This speech —  not that treacle-drenched address you gave last month in Chicago — will define you. It will put you on the map. It will get people’s attention, not just in the United States, but around the world.

Yes, some elements of the Muslim-American community will be offended. They will boycott the polls in November. But those electoral losses, I maintain, will more than be offset by gains in other important constituencies.

More critically, on foreign policy issues, it will outflank the Orange Monster. A substantial portion of his base is attracted to his perceived strength. They want America to flex its muscle. This will help you match that strength — indeed, forgive me, it will trump it.

Thank you for your attention.

All good things,

Michael Posner