“Yeah… She’s a D.E.I. Hire.”

When name-callers say more about themselves than the target of their attack

When I took a debate class in college, we were warned that ad hominem was prohibited. Proper debate protocol does not allow for personal attacks on your opponent. Instead, you deal with the issues, the arguments, and the evidence that supports your point of view. Yes, debate is by definition point/counterpoint. Agree/disagree. For/against. It’s not personal. It’s a debate.

The rules of engagement were well established. Violations were penalized. Everybody knows this.

So why, in American politics, do we call these high-profile stand-offs “debates”? 

They’re not.

Personal attacks have become standard operating procedure in our public discourse. I’m old enough to remember it was considered bad taste to stoop to mud-slinging. Politicians once honored a tradition of mutual respect. It was enough if a majority of voters in your district elected you to represent them. We may disagree on issues, but we are here together - to serve our people. It’s basic dignity. Professional decorum. We will treat each other with the decency due a fellow public servant… a fellow human being, for that matter.

Some say this era of political rancor began with Newt Gingrich when he launched his “Contract with America” in 1994. He told his colleagues then that if we are to win, we must be overtly, unapologetically aggressive. This is no time for negotiation or compromise, he said. It’s time to go on the attack. 

Two years earlier at the 1992 Republican Convention, Patrick Buchanan declared that his party was engaged in a “religious war” for the “soul of America.” Newt took that to heart. The gloves have been off since. In 1994, it worked beautifully for Gingrich - Republicans won both the House and the Senate, incapacitating the Clinton presidency and launching an era of legislative stalemate - which remains in place to this very day. Now we call it a “Culture War.” 

So, goodbye Mr. Nice Guy.

Republicans like to complain about being called “racist” and “right-wing bigots.” They believe their “freedoms” are being stolen from them - though frankly, I’d like them to identify exactly what cherished freedoms are in jeopardy.  (That’s my next Substack piece.)

As a registered Democrat, I’m deeply offended over being called a “baby-killer,” a socialist, a leftist radical, a communist, and a hater of America - out to destroy my country. (OK - I am left-handed.)

This kind of talk has become standard fare on social media, cable news, and all around our “polarized” nation. 

* * * * * * * *

I want to unpack a particularly egregious example of ad hominem.

Kamala Harris has sparked the kind of political excitement that takes us by surprise. It brings to mind the explosive enthusiasm around Barack Obama when he said, “There's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America!”¹ 

It was a call to the better angels of our nature. It’s happening again with Kamala. The better angels have come to call.

Joe Biden decided to pass the torch. Vice President Kamala Harris not only stepped up, she has received so much heartfelt support that she’s already secured the nomination of her party. Her megawatt smile is only the beginning. There is substance there. She’s a seasoned public servant. Her voice is strong. Her message clear. And she is a fearless, present threat to the man who would be coronated as The First American King.

So her Republican counterparts are nervous. They are, starting with their nominee, caught off guard. At the close of the Republican Convention, many assumed it would be a landslide victory for the 45th President. But how quickly things change. 

Scrambling to find a way to dampen her momentum, they resort to ad hominem.

“She’s more radical than Biden… she’s a lunatic,” says the Republican nominee. “She’s a childless, unhappy cat-lady,” says the candidate for Vice President. And then, the party and the conservative media parrot talking points created by the Trump campaign…

“Yeah, she’s D.E.I. hire… everybody knows that.”

“A D.E.I. hire.”  Hmmm. What’s that?

That’s one I had to stop and think about.

* * * * * * * *

D.E.I. - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

It’s become another one of those tropes - a pejorative dog-whistle from conservatives who want you to think that “woke” America is imposing the history of race to make you feel bad. Right in there with C.R.T. - Critical Race Theory. But making these words and phrases a battle cry in the culture war tells us as much about the person making the claim as it does about the candidate herself. 

These people must believe that diversity is bad. That equity is a communist plot. That inclusion is tearing away at the fabric of our social order. In their mind - unAmerican. Huh? Maybe they would prefer U.H.I. - Uniformity, Hierarchy and Exclusion.

From the beginning, diversity has been as American as apple pie. “E pluribus unum” (out of the many - one) is right there on our coins along with “In God We Trust.” Equity is our aspiration as a nation. “All men are created equal,” declares the Declaration of Independence. We’ve evolved to affirm that “all persons are created equal,” right? Inclusion means that opportunity in this country can be accessed by all. 

D.E.I. programs have been initiated in government, corporations, religious institutions, hospitals, and academia because it’s the right thing to do. Are they perfect? No. Do people resist them? Yes. To improve them is one thing, to characterize them as the enemy of democracy is quite another.

For some Republicans - Kamala Harris is a “D.E.I. hire.” In other words, Joe Biden committed to Affirmative Action, lowered the standards, and appointed an inferior “black woman” in the liberal spirit of D.E.I, passing over qualified white males (reverse racism) to win the support of the minority population, who shouldn’t be voting anyway.

It’s code - a racist, misogynist, supremacist trope. She’s a “D.E.I. hire,” they say.

We know better.

Men and women like Kamala are raised by parents and teachers and mentors who regularly say, “In this country, you’ll need to work twice as hard to get half as far as your white friends.” And they have.

Barack and Kamala did their homework. They passed the exams. Read and understood the books. They wrote the essays. They showed up for class. They secured the certifications. They excelled. We white folks are impressed - “they are so articulate.” Yes, they are. Because they did the work.

Kamala Harris is, perhaps, among the most qualified of anyone who has pursued the White House. To suggest anything less is to ignore the facts. Check out her résumé. To dismiss her as a D.E.I. hire is more than an insult. 

It’s evidence of an ice-cold heart.

It tells me something about the character of the people making the charge. How they view race. How they view gender. How they understand integrity. How they grasp what it means to be human.

Today, our nation is experiencing a revival of those better angels.

Go ahead - along with me: smile and cheer. Cut loose and let it go.

It feels good. It feels right.

1. Barack Obama, Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The speech put Obama on the political map - four years later, elected President.