How Kamala Harris Is Already Changing the Face of Presidential Power

The New York Times ^ | Aug. 11, 2024, 6:00 a.m. ET | Tressie McMillan Cottom

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I have not been the biggest fan of Kamala Harris, but to my surprise, the candidate who underwhelmed in 2020 is gone. I have watched all of candidate Harris’s public appearances since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee for a sense of how she intends to run and possibly govern. The audiences have been vastly different, among them: the annual conclave of Zeta Phi Beta sorority, a National Federation of Teachers convention and the Philadelphia rally where the Harris-Walz ticket made its first official appearance.

What I took away: Kamala Harris is a different candidate than we saw four years ago. She is even a different rhetorician than we saw six months ago.

Nominee Harris lands her applause lines. The former prosecutor is comfortable going on the attack. Her most consistent message is that Donald Trump wants to send America back to the Dark Ages. Unlike her predecessor, she relishes calling Trump out by name. Even her wacky humor, which has been mocked on social media, suddenly works. She sounds authentic. That’s the holy grail of electoral politics. Every wide-jawed cackle she offers the audience, every twinkle in her eye as she pokes at Trump — it all comes off as someone who is in on the joke. That is hard for any candidate but it is an almost impossible tightrope for a Black female candidate to walk.

[FlipWilson]

Quote: “ Simple thoughts for simple minds.”

Or tired cliches from unoriginal minds.

Look, I said that I understand wanting to know what the enemy is up to. I am not Level One. I watch and read other perspectives. My point was that one article from the NYT pretty much sums up the entire paper for a day. Why beat a dead horse? (Hey look, I used a tired cliche).

[E. Pluribus Unum]

My point was that one article from the NYT pretty much sums up the entire paper for a day.

And yet those articles get lots of comments from lots of people who read them.

That should not be allowed because you don't like them.

[FlipWilson]

Nah, but I can express an opinion like anyone else.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

And some of us are just plain jealous. Spent most of my life avoiding corporate politics. Now I see that Harris is the template for women sleeping their way to the top. Nothing new but it was never mainstream until now. So now were sitting where if Harris wins, thousands of women will join these opportunists. And here I am, too old to enjoy it.