Will Kamala Harris’ political future go up in smoke as she re-invents her foggy past?

As California Sen. Kamala Harris rises in the polls for the Democratic presidential nomination, it is worth keeping in mind that this political animal is inventing herself as she goes along. Even her own father doesn’t recognize her, or possibly like who she has become.

In a radio interview on Feb. 11, Sen. Harris proudly boasted about smoking marijuana in college. That got her in trouble with the mainstream media because she said she was listening to Snoop Dogg and Tupac when she was high in college — even though they didn’t record music till after she had already graduated law school in 1989.

In the same interview though, she said something even more interesting. When asked if she had ever smoked marijuana, she laughingly replied, “Half my family’s from Jamaica — are you kidding me?”

Well, the half of her family that’s from Jamaica was not amused. In particular, her father, Donald Harris, a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University, said she had hurt the entire family by spreading the “fraudulent stereotype” that Jamaicans all smoke pot. He told Jamaica Global Online:

“My dear departed grandmothers (whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website), as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics.

“Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty.”

Wow. Talk about a tongue-lashing!

The underlying issue, of course, is that Kamala Harris came to the Senate via a career as a prosecutor and state attorney general when she opposed marijuana legalization and sent folks to jail for what she herself had done and possibly was still doing. Now that we know of her own past, a follow-up question on how long she smoked marijuana is in order, as well as a question on what other drugs she had used.

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Frank Miele writes from Kalispell, Montana, at www.HeartlandDiaryUSA.com and is a columnist at Real Clear Politics. To see more of my columns about the Dishonest Media, the Deep Swamp, the failed presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and Trump’s war to restore American greatness, read my “Why We Needed Trump” trilogy. Part 1 is subtitled “Bush’s Global Failure: Half Right.” Part 2 is “Obama’s Fundamental Transformation: Far Left.” Part 3 is “Trump’s American Vision: Just Right.” They are available at Amazon in paperback or Kindle editions. Also please considering leaving a review in support of my conservative commentary on one or all of my book pages at Amazon! Thanks!