She was still just a supporting player. On the evening of Joe Biden’s inauguration, on January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris gave a short speech, all smiles. Her glossy phrases celebrated American voluntarism and imagination. “We not only dream. We do. We not only see what has been, we see what can be. We shoot for the moon, and then we plant our flag on it.” On Tuesday, November 5, Kamala Harris’s election moon landing ended in a historic disaster.
Her ambition was to become the first woman elected president of the United States, avenging Hillary Clinton for her failure in 2016. The vice president ran up against the same ultimate glass ceiling, marking a new setback in the arduous but steady advance of women to the highest position of power, in a country with an infinite capacity for regeneration, but deeply fractured. A powerful symbol of diversity, the daughter of Jamaican Donald Harris and Indian Shyamala Gopalan, she embodies the America of the 21st century. But this century is also that of right-wing populist movements, with authoritarian leanings, launching an assault on the rule of law and institutions, capturing popular resentment and taking advantage of a polarized media ecosystem.
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Contrary to the claims of her most zealous supporters, Harris has not generated the kind of mass support for her that Barack Obama did. A significant proportion of the votes cast for her reflect a rejection of Trump, the same sentiment that benefited Joe Biden in 2020. Biden’s withdrawal in July brought immense relief to the Democratic ranks, who saw an inevitable defeat looming. Biden’s 60-year-old replacement was physically and cognitively sound, which meant she could at least fight the battle in good condition. But Biden’s decision was too late to deploy a bold strategy.
Difficulty telling her story
On the campaign trail, Harris barely mentioned her work as vice president, constantly referring to her experience as San Francisco district attorney (elected in 2003), then California attorney general (from 2010). A woman of justice, battling criminal networks, drug trafficking and powerful corporations: This idealized Marvel comic-book narrative, a 2024 Captain America, was more fitting in the face of Trump, criminally convicted, found responsible for a civil sexual assault and expressing his admiration with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Good versus evil – the eternal drama of American politics. The Democrats thought it would work in their favor.
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