Kamala Harris is having a moment. In the space of a few days, the vice president has not only locked up her party's nomination for president, she has also become a meme. Depending on who you ask, Harris is 'brat' or 'Momala' while also intimately associated with the coconut emoji.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain the first two, but let's dwell on the third for a second. Harris, hitherto known as something of an awkward public performer in unscripted moments, was filmed last year telling this seemingly inconsequential personal anecdote:
"My mother used to — she would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, 'I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” [Laughs.] You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you."
This clip was initially shared as yet another example of the vice president's penchant for low level cringe. But Sunday's political earthquake has seemingly sparked a vibe shift. Harris has become the TikTok candidate, relentlessly memeing her way to the White House.
Now, if elected, Harris would be 60 when she takes the oath of office, making her older than all but 12 of the 45 presidents who preceded her. But there's that context of what came before again. Someone once told me that 'old' is always 15 years older than what ever age you are. In which case, Joe Biden and Donald Trump have made Harris look like a spring chicken.
Taking a step back, there are two senses in which the Democrats clearly feel unburdened. The first is that they no longer have to worry about their candidate getting through a public event without freezing or falling over. Harris, unlike Biden, can speak in complete sentences and deliver bog standard Democratic talking points, most notably on abortion. Second, the party secured this new and improved candidate without any bloodletting.
Still, I find it all a little unsettling. Not that I no longer get the memes – I'm not as online as I used to be. Nor the speed with which this has all happened. But rather, because everything has changed except the political fundamentals. In order to win the presidency, the Democratic nominee will still have to win all three of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. The 2020 version of Biden could. Can Harris, who not only ran to Biden's left four years ago, but now has to own his record, including weak spots on inflation and immigration?
Real talk: in an ideal world, the Democrats would not have started from here. Had Biden declined to run for a second term some time last year, the party would have held a normal primary contest. Harris still might have won it – she is the sitting vice president after all. But not necessarily. Indeed, Biden himself was a popular VP in 2016, but the party opted for Hillary Clinton.
If Harris wins, it'll be a case of all's well that ends well – with the not inconsequential addition of being the first woman to be elected president. If she doesn't, the recriminations will be intense. Expect a lot more anger directed at Biden and his handlers for leaving Democrats in a position of Harris or bust.
