Editors at National Review Online assess Kamala Harris’ position at the top of the Democratic Party ticket.
Kamala Harris’s ascension to the Democratic nomination happened so quickly that one could have been forgiven for blinking and missing it. One moment, President Biden was insisting that only the Lord Almighty could remove him from his role as the candidate; the next, Kamala Harris had sewn it up. The King is Dead. Long live the Queen! Three cheers for continuity.
For the Democrats, the overwhelming emotion was relief. Relief, and then euphoria. Since the disastrous debate of June 27, the party had been on an emotional roller coaster. At first it experienced an untrammeled panic, which led to resignation, and then to resolve, and then, eventually, to Joe Biden succumbing to the pressure and standing ignominiously aside. Through the translucent pages of the newspaper, one could almost see the joy.
Soon, though, the Democrats will be brought back to earth. If we may borrow a phrase that was popularized during the Trump administration: This is “not normal.” In the space of just four weeks, we have seen a president embarrass himself on live television, a former president come within an inch of being murdered at a rally, the desperate removal of a presumptive nominee, and more. One of the peculiar side effects of interesting times is the sudden suspicion that anything is possible. It’s not, though.
That rule also applies to Kamala Harris. Undoubtedly, Harris will fare better than a moribund octogenarian. But that does not make her George Washington. On the contrary: Harris is still a representative of the most unpopular administration in modern history; she is still more disliked than any vice president since polling began; and she is still a California progressive whose voting record in the Senate was to the left of Bernie Sanders.
